What is Speaker Wire?

Speaker wire is wire that is used to make the electrical connection needed to transmit sound from the power amplifier to the speakers. Speaker wire can be used in cars, in live PA systems, and in home stereo systems, though often there are different types of wires used for each of these.

It is important to have speaker wires as opposed to instrument cables when you are hooking up speakers to a power amp, as regular instrument cables will not work right.

Speaker wire is definitely different, and making sure that it is available is one of the most important things to remember when setting up a PA system.

Speaker wire is mostly made out of copper, as it has a low resistance and is cheaper than other materials.

Copper, like aluminum, does oxidize, but when copper oxidizes it is actually still conductive, unlike aluminum, which insulates upon oxidization.

Speaker wires that are used for PA systems generally have a quarter inch plug at one end, and a banana plug at the other. The quarter inch jack is commonly used to plug the speaker cable right into the speaker, while the banana plug is used to plug into the power amp.

One thing that you need to be very careful about when using a banana plug equipped wire is that you do not accidentally plug the end into an electrical outlet! This can cause injury and destroy equipment.

You can buy speaker wire at most electronic stores, or from stores that sell musical and/or DJ or car stereo equipment. Car speaker wire is usually sold on a spool, while PA speaker wires usually come in specific, pre-constructed lengths, such as 50 footers or 25 footers. Home stereo speaker wire can also be bought on a spool, such as some available 12 gauge speaker wires, so that you can run sound to your home theater pieces easier.