Speaker Cable

ICBM

Power_Freak said:

"Technically" a thicker wire should be "better" - lower resistance and higher power rating... In practice not so much (assuming you're not doing anything strange and it's just a basic short cable run)

That's true, but you don't need to go very thick before its resistance becomes insignificant compared to the speaker impedance and the output impedance of the amp, which is what matters as to whether it will affect the sound or not.

smudge_lad

ICBM said:

Power_Freak said:

"Technically" a thicker wire should be "better" - lower resistance and higher power rating... In practice not so much (assuming you're not doing anything strange and it's just a basic short cable run)

That's true, but you don't need to go very thick before its resistance becomes insignificant compared to the speaker impedance and the output impedance of the amp, which is what matters as to whether it will affect the sound or not.

So then it doesn’t REALLY matter what I go for?

I’ll be using a 30w Bad Cat, JVM410h or SD170 into 8/16ohm cab

ICBM

smudge_lad said:

So then it doesn’t REALLY matter what I go for?

I’ll be using a 30w Bad Cat, JVM410h or SD170 into 8/16ohm cab

No, it doesn't really matter - 5A/6A mains cable is fine for anything up to 100W into 4 ohms. Less power and/or higher impedance reduces the requirement.

Bear in mind that the current rating for mains cable is 'worst case' - continuous maximum current draw indefinitely, with the cable trapped under a carpet or something that stops it cooling down via air circulation. A musical instrument signal is not continuous or indefinite, and the cable will be hanging loose in free air behind the cabinet.

Mains cable is physically robust and cheap. You can spend more on higher-spec 'proper speaker cable' if you want, but it won't improve the sound.

SquireJapan

viz said:

If you have a broken lawnmower, use the cable from that. Orange looks nice.

A long dead flymow's power cable did exactly the same for me on quite a few cables. Its spirit lives on.