Help & Frequently Asked Questions

 Why does Van Damme speaker cable seem so cheap?

 What speaker cable should I use ?

A good speaker cable provides the electrical connection between the amplifier and the speaker with minimal resistance and should allow the signal to be transmitted without degradation or colouration. That said, speaker cables tend to vary in the follow ways;

Conductor size
The main factor that affects the quality of the cable is the amount of conductor that is used in the cable construction. The more conductor that is used, the lower the resistance of the cable and therefore the more transparent and accurate the signal transmission. The amount of conductor used in the cable construction is usually displayed as the “cross sectional area” of the conductor and is measured in square millimetres. There is also another system for measuring the amount of conductor and that is the American Wire Gauge. The size of the conductor is expressed as a number e.g. 16 AWG. For conversion of AWG to metric please see our conversion chart.

As a general rule most people find that cables of 1.5 or 2.5 square mm are good for home cinema systems where you have purchased an AV receiver and a speaker package. If you have a cable run of over 20m we would recommend that you use 2.5mm cable. There is no problem using larger cable for home cinema but you may find that apart from it becoming rather expensive, the larger cable can be a bit cumbersome when used with smaller speakers. 6 square mm cable is usually used for stereo systems, critical monitoring or very high specification home cinema.

Conductor type
Speaker cables generally have conductors made of copper because copper is the best electrical conductor. Of course not all copper conductors are the same so there is usually some indication as to the purity of the copper, often quoted as a percentage of the purity of the oxygen free copper or other details that describe the manufacturing process of the copper such as “ultra pure, linear crystal oxygen free copper”.

There are several cables on the market that use silver plated strands of copper. The silver plating is designed to make use of the ‘skin’ effect and improve the high frequency transmission where as having a larger solid conductor improves bass response. Many cables use a combination of these factors or alternative ways of arranging the strands to create hybrid speaker cables.

Cable construction
The physical construction of speaker cables also varies. The traditional construction of speaker cable is to have the conductors arranged side by side and coated with insulating plastic. These types of “figure 8” cables have a lower profile but are often not as flexible as the round cables. The round cables, and in particular the Van Damme are easier to use if being installed in walls, ceilings and floors. Some “figure 8” cables, like the Profigold BassFlex, are designed to be flatter and the lower profile make them better for installing under carpet.

All things considered
So when it comes to choosing your cable you need to consider conductor size, construction and the type of materials used but most importantly you need to consider your budget. As with all audio and video connections your system will only ever be as good as the weakest link in the chain. So choose a quality of cable that is in tune with the quality of your other components. We offer a broad range of cables and there should be something that suits most systems and accommodates most budgets.

 What is meant by AWG and cross sectional area ?