WooferHound
Well-Known Member
A Speaker cable and an Instrument cable can not be used interchangeably.
Instrument/Mic cable carries signals that are millivolts and do not need heavy conductors. They need to be shielded to keep out electrical interference. They need to be flexible because instruments and mics move around a lot.
Speaker cables carry High Voltage and High Current and need to be a thick heavy gauge wire. Amplifiers have a Damping Factor which controls the speaker from ringing or over extending the cone. This damping works by using Low resistance and the wiring needs to be very low resistance to provide optimum damping to the speaker. For Full Range or Bass speakers it is best to use 12ga or even 10ga speaker wire to maintain good damping which lets the speaker produce a deeper tighter more pleasant sounding Bass Note. A speaker wire should not be shielded because this creates unwanted capacitance which interacts with the high voltages and degrades the signal, outside electrical interference is not a problem with speaker systems.
Instrument/Mic cable carries signals that are millivolts and do not need heavy conductors. They need to be shielded to keep out electrical interference. They need to be flexible because instruments and mics move around a lot.
Speaker cables carry High Voltage and High Current and need to be a thick heavy gauge wire. Amplifiers have a Damping Factor which controls the speaker from ringing or over extending the cone. This damping works by using Low resistance and the wiring needs to be very low resistance to provide optimum damping to the speaker. For Full Range or Bass speakers it is best to use 12ga or even 10ga speaker wire to maintain good damping which lets the speaker produce a deeper tighter more pleasant sounding Bass Note. A speaker wire should not be shielded because this creates unwanted capacitance which interacts with the high voltages and degrades the signal, outside electrical interference is not a problem with speaker systems.