It is undeniable that a speaker cable can make a significant difference to your sound system.

While it will not make your system better than it already is, it will ensure the performance sent from your amplifier to your speakers is the best.

However, a feeble speaker cable will certainly make your system sound worse than it is already.

So, choosing the right cable when you buy or upgrade a sound system is of high importance.

You can wind up with a cheap, poorly built cables that waste away the potential of your valuable, and probably costly, equipment.

Best Speaker Cable

The most popular and utilised cables are made from copper, considering copper is a great conductor of electricity.

Our recommendation for a budget speaker cable is that you opt for a wire that is copper-plated or copper-clad aluminium if you are on a budget, as they are both good substitutes for the wire composed entirely of copper.

But before you choose a cable, there are a few aspects to be considered such as the quality of your sound system and the budget you have.

If you have a hi-fi system, it may be worth investing in an Oxygen free copper cable to ensure the greatest quality wire.

These types of cable use polyethylene insulation instead of the traditional PVC one. They suit oxygen free copper conductor ideally.

Types of Speaker Conductors

It is commonly accepted that different conductor materials have distinct sound characteristics, despite the fact that there are no discernible changes in how these materials measure in terms of frequency response. By definition, frequency response is a rudimentary metric that cannot quantify all audible, interactive, and idiosyncratic non-linearities and other features.

• Copper – the most common type, it sounds warmer and has more body, but it is slower and less harmonically rich
• Silver-plated copper – exceptionally good at carrying musical information precisely across a wide frequency range but it is a more costly option; sounds livelier and harmonically rich, but with a colder character and lighter and thinner body
• Pure Silver – used in professional environment
• Pure Gold - used in professional environment

Relationship Between Conductors and Insulation

This is a critical area because pairing the wrong sort of insulation with the wrong type of conductor can result in a speaker cable acting like a tone control and bringing plenty of undesired colourations into the music you listen to.

The issue with these colourations is that they might emphasise specific frequency ranges, affecting degrees of apparent detail and, more importantly, the coherence and timing of a piece of music.

Conclusion

Choosing a speaker cable for your sound system depends on the type of system that you have and for what purpose you use it.

If it is in a more professional environment, we recommend you invest in more costly materials.

However, that does not guarantee that there will be a sound improvement if your sound equipment does not already have the range to achieve it.