Originally Posted by Tim.C:
“Wrong = crap speaker leads is the MAIN reason for cheap gear sounding crap. A bad piece of wire WILL degrade the sound.”
I agree the right cable is the decent quality and the sane choice.
Technically, what matters for a speaker cable is twofold:
Firstly, the cable has to deliver the peak amperage to the speaker. This is a good, but commonly overrated, argument in favor of strong cable. The correct cable size is determined by the length of the cable run, the peak wattage of the amp, and its slew rate. We're talking "cheap amplifier", combined with "centre speaker". That is, the length will be short (centre speaker), the slew rate not too exciting (cheap amp), and a cable with 2.5sqmm OK OK 4 sqmm will suffice.
Secondly, the cable has to return voltage that is induced in the speaker as a result of the membrane's physical movement. The amplifier couples this in its feedback loop (part of the internal circuitry) and uses this to keep the speaker in a tight crip. This is what we want: the speaker shall not go off with vibrations of its own account. Since the induced voltage is very tiny, a little bit or resistance along the speaker cable will reduce the amount seen by the amp, and thus reduce the tighness of control. This is in most systems the real reason for thick cables, as the resistance is a function of the cable's cross section. It is also a function of the cable length (short in this case as discussed above). However, there's no point throwing excessive cable at the problem: the combination of amplifier, speaker, and speaker cable has a damping coefficient. The higher the better, but each the maximum reacheable is determined by the weakest link. Again, a 2.5sqmm or 4 sqmm cable will be plenty in this case. Investing more simply goes to waste, as the rest of the system can't benefit form it.
Thicker cable, cable using "extra-pure copper crystals", oxygen-enriched copper, transparent isolation, teflon isolation, etc etc - this is all just marketing hype.
peckhamlad, nice choice of gear. I like the design.