Inexpensive, thin speaker wire normally 16 or 18 gauge. This type of speaker wire is often used in inexpensive audio systems, however, it does not offer sufficient capacity to carry high-quality music signals from amplifiers or receivers to speakers and retain the optimum sound quality. gher quality speaker cable with quality terminations in spade lugs or banana plugs are recommended whenever possible for the best sound quality. These higher quality wires need not be exotic and expensive – there are many alternatives for very reasonable prices using 12 or 14 gauge copper wire with gold plated terminations available for systems of almost any price range.

Thinner wires typically have higher resistance to current flow (impedance – measured in ohms) than their thicker counterparts. It is always advisable to use a heavier wire when there will be long distances from the amplifiers to the speakers since thinner wire’s impedance will mount up foot by foot making it difficult for power to flow to the speakers.