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[Bob Leonard]

a friend that did multitrack to 2 track stereo studio master work also worked at several audiophile (including Christopher Hansens) stores in la. as there were audible differences between amps and speakers there were small audible differences between cables. we even experimented with our own cables and he liked 2 rg6 catv cables for speker wire. i like 10 gauge because the bass is a little stronger and i have dynaudio 30w100 woofs that can handle 300 watts rms. i use fine stranded automotive power cable because its very flexable and the insulation is tough. my stereo is powered by a qsc 3500 that rated 300 watts into 8 ohms and i crank it up.

my firend and i did a lot of comparisons between conrad-johnson , manley(used in lots of recording studios) , audio research , vtl , cat , mit cable , kimber cable , monster cable , and other brands of high priced junk. save your money and buy zip cord. if you crank it like i do use 12 or 10 gauge. i use canarie star quad and make my own rca interconnect cables.

for a home stereo 12-14 gauge zip cord is fine. the larger gauge seems to have better bass and just for you guys that might mock me , i am a drummer , sound man , recording engineer and can easily make a recording and compare it to the real instrument.

There is some large gauge zip cord out there in the world, but that is not the type cable we're speaking about here. Zip cord by definition is a cable that has a pair of insulated conductors that can be pulled apart by hand. One side of the cable will be plain, and the other side will be ribbed, making it very easy to designate plus minus withing the pair.
 
Zip cord also comes in many colors including white, clear, gold, black, red, and brown and combinations, usually black and red, for use with DC circuits and devices. Brown was the dominent color until the mid / late 60's, and the most common use for zip cord is table lamps and speaker wire.
 
The single most common gauge for zip cord, is 18 guage. I am aware of other type cables that come in pairs, may be red and black, can be pulled appart by hand, and are not 18 guage. These should be considered speciality use zip cord, such as the zip cord designed for automotive work. These type zip cords can be found at Radio Shack and other distributors. None of these cables should be used for home wiring that will be hidden in a wall. Fiber cable also has a zip cord designation for certain types.
 
When used for lamps zip cord should never be run under rugs, and zip cord should never be used to manufacture extension cords.
 

[Tim Perry]

Well I dug up the book but the single has gone missing somewhere in my library.

The boingers were just a watered down version of Deathtongue.

[John Halliburton]

The boingers were just a watered down version of Deathtongue.

Had to bring the large flightless waterfowl with large proboscis down from his perch above my desk for a little photo op...

Opus rocks.

John

[Tim Perry]

Had to bring the large flightless waterfowl with large proboscis down from his perch above my desk for a little photo op...

Opus rocks.

John

I didn't know they were hall-of-famers  http://tyrannyoftradition.com/2012/04/09/deathtongue-honored-by-imaginary-rock-roll-hall-of-fame/

[Lester Seidenberg]

This hits at the other part of my experience as a home theater designer/ installer

Electrically zip or regular speaker cable is fine 18ga - 14ga stranded  is fine. Any larger you hit a point of diminishing returns and most home gear won't take anything bigger than 14ga.

BUT (and this is a bigger but than my butt) if you are penetrating a fire stopping  plane (wall, floor or ceiling) you should use CL rated wire.  If you go through an air plenum you need at least CL-3 rated.  That is assuming you are not running conduit.

If you are doing new construction, the inspector( if he or she has a clue) will make you tear it out.  If you are doing it for yourself, some day when you sell the house, the home inspector (code enforcement wannabes) will raise holy hell.

As to jacketed vs Non Jacketed- I find it is easier to pull a round cable through a round hole.
the jacket also adds a little extra protection from what the electricians around here call "shortages"

I would ask this on the hi-fi boards, but everything it seems they all swear by the $300/ft oxygen free magical twist french braided speaker wire.  Is there any difference compared to using a quality 12/2 or 14/2?  I have a friend who wants me to move his equipment to the back of his listening room and fish the wire through the floor and back up the wall.  Right now he has cables that are about the size of my thumb (didn't check the gauge) but they're only about 10' long each because the gear is in a bookshelf in the front of the room.  If we move it to the back we'll need about 30' per run.  The speakers are Ascendants by Avalon Acoustics, 4ohm impedence and rated for 50-200 watts each. I told him we could connect them with his magical wire and my West Penn 224 and see if we notice a difference, but I was hoping someone could give some input on what to expect.

[Ryan C. Davis]

If you go through an air plenum you need at least CL-3 rated.  That is assuming you are not running conduit.

CL-3 doesn't mean that that the wire is plenum rated. You'd have to see something ending with a "p" such as CL-3P, but there are also CL-2P Cables out there.

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