Speaker Cable

What is the difference between Car speaker wire and home speaker wire?


What is the difference between Caraudio RCA cables and Homeaudio RCA cables?

Just the packaging that they're sold in.

So there is no difference between RCA cables used in cars and the one's used in home

Nope. Wire is wire. No matter how many times you've heard otherwise. One time I do remember when I went to a Best Buy and this sales person tried to convince me that if I didn't buy the cable labeled for car speakers instead of some home speaker wire which was a lot cheaper, I would run the risk of catching my car on fire.

I think the only difference is insulation. Car wires are made to endure more extreme temperatures.

there is truth to all of these statements...some car audio RCAs are better insulated, but dont be fooled by their claims of better noise reduction with that insulation, because its mostly crap advertising...I dont think the insulation is as much for temperatures as they are for durability...

as far as power wire, its all wire, as long as you are using OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) wire, and the appropriate size, you will not hear a difference in between any 2 different wires...despite what others may have to say...

if you are buying wire, buy whatever most appeals to you and suits your install (colors/designs) as long as it fits in your budget...the only REAL difference is cosmetics...

Some car RCA cables are better shielded to stop noise induction. If you are pertaining to just plain old BRAIDED speaker wire, that is from AMP to SPEAKER, then nothing really.

I use Telephone wire, for the shortest possible distance to travel. See, braided wire is actually longer than the wire itself. If you were to take the braids out, the wire would stretch to maybe 50% or more in overall length. The longer the length, the more power you need to PUSH the sound to the speaker, so they say.

I have NO problems with standard .22-guage phone wire, on places where noise induction would not be a problem. I also use it on my REAR home theater speakers. IF the amp is only 1-3 foot away from the speakers, like everyting in the trunk, then I'll use the Telephone wire. Using a 2 foot braided wire is actually, MAYBE, about 3+feet total wire length when unbraided, something to that effect.

I do not use TWISTED pair phone wire either, that would be the same as using braided wire.

You are definitely right Big Purds. I had a unscheduled and unscientific experiment when I had a customer ask me to put in some speakers and an amplifier in his car. He had a very expensive speaker wire (which I am not going to say) that he wanted me to use in the installation. He asks me the same question that we are discussing. I reply to him the same way the marketing people had told me on their product. It oxygen free copper, etc…. And that it should be better than the Dollar Store speaker wire that I was selling. Out of curiosity, he ask me to connect one of the speaker with the oxygen free speaker wire and the other speaker with my Dollar Store speaker wire and listen and see if there were any subtle differences. To our surprise we didn’t hear any. I have a pretty good ear and still do and I didn’t pick out any difference, and neither did my customer. I am sure there are some improvement in the wire if it is scientifically tested, maybe it’s just not enough to be detected if you are not purchasing and installing the most expensive system that money can buy. I have oxygen free wire stuff in my car as well, that’s when I didn’t know any better then. I guess my analogy to all this is like paying a lot money for a new computer that you only use a factions of it’s capability, but in the back of your mind it makes you feel good that your computer has so much computing power.    

As for RCA patch cable, I have not yet find out if there is any differences between the different brand using my unscientific method.   I have tried it out a few different brands, but not enough to form a conclusion. However, I do know that the white and red tip RCA cable that comes in all the audio equipment around the world is pretty lousy.

Here a thought everyone can ponder about. Go pick out the most of expensive head unit and take a look at the RCA input cable. They are like spaghetti string thin probably cost a quarter to make. Wouldn’t you think company would spend a bit more money on the RCA input cable if you spend about $800 on a unit? At the same token, they sell you thick, shielded, triple shielded, gold plated…etc. RCA cable kit for you to use to connect you head unit to your amplifier. Any thoughts guy? Scientifically? Sure why not.





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Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

there is alot of truth there thepencil...

I have honestly tried running several different RCAs beside eachother in a test in my own car once...I think it was 5 different pairs if I remember correctly...and yes, I even had a generic set of the RED / white tips...

I could not hear, and neither could anyone else, any difference whatsoever in any of the 5 cables...the only variable I didnt add, because it would have been too time consuming, was running the wires as you would through the car...I just ran them from the back of the deck straight up the middle on top of everything instead of properly installed under the carpet of the door sill...

but, through any kind of track, whether it be all low end oriented or upper scale oriented, was the same...I attempted this after talking with a friend of mine who is an IASCA world champion...I was asking what kind of RCAs I should buy, and he laughed at me...he told me that if he was paying for them, he would simply run a piece of primary wire between two RCA jacks for all the difference it would make in the sound quality...of course ,he is sponsored, so he never has to pay for anything, but I decided to conduct this experiment after talking to him...I had Monster Cable RCAs, Stingers, RF, generics, and I dont remember the last set...and like I said, not a single difference...

I agree that through the car, where there is alot of chance of noise inductance, that an insulated RCA should in theory do better as far as noise rejection, but in my little test, where that wasnt an issue, all checked out the same...

and as far as your little test, if you take any 2 wires that are exactly the same as far as length and gauge, they are going to be exactly the same...try a more scientific experiment and use an oscilloscope...if all other things are kept the same, and the only variable is the wire itself, an oscilloscope will produce the same readings...

There is shielded phone wire too. I was toning out a cable, and could get "tone" from the interace terminals, and on the floor where it came out, but could not get tone, AT ALL, anywhere along the run of wire to see WHERE it was actually going.

AS it turned out, someone used a cable with an aluminum or something, shield in it, and that worked great I guess, because I could not trace the wire with the Toner. I would like to find some of that, because I was INJECTING a warble tone into the line to trace with an inductive AMP, and could not get ANYTHING from the thing except at the bare ends. . . I woul use that for speaker wire.