# Should speaker wire be shielded?



## easytim

I have 16GA - 2 conductor wire I'm going to use for speaker wire, this wire is also shielded, is it necessary to use this shielded wire? I know It won't hurt to use it, but what are the pros and cons of using this shield? Is this a good thing?


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## tonyvdb

It wont make any audible difference. The signal going to the speakers is far to low a frequency range to be affected by any other magnetic or other fields in the room.


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## OZZIERP

I would just make sure its CL3 rated if you run it in the walls.


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## RBTO

Also speaker load impedance is quite low (4 to 8 Ohms) so induced noise is not usually a consideration (the low impedance helps eliminate and induced noise). As for the shielding, it could well serve to prevent the audio signal in the speaker cable from being radiated _into something else._ That too, is seldom a problem, but it will be even less of a worry in your case. Bottom line: no negative effect; probably no positive either. Probably more of an issue - what power are you running (and how far) and is 16 gauge large enough? Normally #16 is sufficient, but be sure before you commit.


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## WooferHound

Unshielded speaker wire will radiate the signal slightly and the sound can get out and affect signals in other unshielded wires.

Shielded cable will act as a capacitor and is not recommended for speaker cables as the higher capacitance will color the sound.


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## OZZIERP

I like to refer to this . http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm


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## ozar

OZZIERP said:


> I like to refer to this . http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm


Not a fancy webpage by any means, but quite an informative one... thanks for the link to that, _OZZIERP_!


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## OZZIERP

You are welcome and yes it is informative.


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## easytim

So the collapse of the outer field is creating a hysteresis loss generated by the EMF force of the electrical impulses going thru the wire.:yikes:

Nice thing is:blink:, its only the shield and doesn't effect the wires being used to power the speaker, so it shouldn't effect the sound.


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