Speaker cable
A two-core unshielded cable of adequate current capacity used to connect an amplifier's output to a speaker cabinet.
A speaker cable carries high current at low impedance, so it needs thick conductors and no shield, unlike an instrument cable which carries a tiny signal and is shielded against interference. Using a guitar cable in place of a speaker cable is a common and expensive mistake: the thin centre conductor overheats, and the capacitance and resistance can destabilise some valve amplifiers. Speaker cables are also unpolarised in the sense that polarity matters only for keeping cabinets in phase with each other.
Example: A thick, unshielded two-wire cable running from the back of a valve head to a 4x12 cabinet is a speaker cable.
See also
Related
- PageSpeaker
- PageCabinet
- PageWattage
- PageAmp in a box
- PageAmp stand
- PageAttenuator
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley