Things to consider before you buy speaker cables
It is true that the technology used in the manufacturing of speaker cables has not enhanced to a great extent since the time when first speakers came into view in the market. There is a range of quality of speaker cables in the market and therefore there are differences in performance due to the use of different quality speaker cables. The design and the raw material used have not made a significant improvement for speaker cable performance to have much impact on the quality. ̉ The most important feature in quality of speaker cables is the raw material used to produce them. A high-end cable must be made of an excellent wire material, which has least amount of signal loss and reduce attenuation.Three parameters which decide the quality of a cable are resistance, capacitance and inductance, and ultimately affect the performance of speaker cables. The two commonly used materials in manufacturing of speaker cables are silver and copper.
Concluding parameter in the quality of a cable is conductivity. Silver has a better conductivity compared to copper. Conductivity is inversely proportional to the resistance of the wire, so with greater conductivity the signals get less attenuated. It also provides a much better signal response. Silver is expensive as compared to copper but there are cheaper solutions available, for instance, copper wires are used with silver plating to get the desired results.