Speaker cables are, quite specifically, the cables that connect your speakers to your power amplifier (or integrated amplifier if you don’t have a separates system) which will be connected by interconnects (or audio cables) to the source of your choice – be that the phono stage of your turntable, your digital streamer, your CD player or another source of your choice. A speaker wire is – in its most basic terms – a passive electrical component, the specs of which are described by its impedance, which is the measure of opposition to the alternating current, or AC. What determines the performance of impedance is condensed into three properties: resistance, capacitance and inductance. A low (or non-existent) resistance, capacitance and inductance is the goal, which means the ideal speaker wire has none of the above, but what really affects the performance of a cable is ultimately its resistance.

In the olden(ish) days, speaker cables were constructed out of simple copper – either solid or stranded – insulated with cloth tape, rubber or even waxed paper. Copper has always been the most common base material, owed to its naturally low resistance The make-do insulation would be stripped away, with the bare copper wire connected directly to the speaker. Termination was sparse, and when it was used it would typically involve the likes of binding posts, spade lugs and terminal strips – which would enable the wire to be attached by the tightening of a screw.

As effective as this method of termination was, by the 1930s, an increase in the mobility of sound systems called for a less fiddly option. The use of tipped phono jacks – 1/4 inch versions – became commonplace in loudspeakers especially, which paved the way for the style of termination we use to this day. Haiyan Herun Machinery&electronic Co.,Ltd. - http://www.china-cables.net/