Best low cost speaker cables for my system?

With the length you need you might want to give the Home Depot power cord a try. There are numerous threads about them on the AudioAsylum website and they faired pretty well against some much more expensive name brand cables in a shootout.

Every cable web site claims that the best cable is no cable. So I went that route. No cables at all. It's definitely cheaper, and provides a blacker background than any of the high priced offerings can ever hope to match.

I found the Goertz Veracity MI2 the best possible solution as far as speaker cable concerned. But still, I dont have the slightest idea how it would sound in your system to your ears. None the less, I heartily suggest to have a try. Pick upone used here, you could sell within a day if you dont like.

24' is too long for any speaker cable, but with that in mind, you better look for something that is reasonably low in both capacitance and inductance, heavy in gauge, relatively low in nominal impedance and has some type of geometry that isn't overly sensitive to EM fields.

Too much capacitance per foot, because of the long length required, and the amp could oscillate and / or shut down at random. Too much inductance per foot, because of the long length required, and the treble response can become rolled off and dull. Too small of a gauge of wire will increase series resistance, reducing the amount of control that the amp has over the driver. Too high of a nominal impedance and you'll decrease the power transfer characteristics of the amp. Without attention to EM fields, a long run of speaker cabling could act as an antenna.

As such, the use of a 2 x 14 gauge or 2 x 12 gauge twisted pair or 4 x 16 gauge or 4 x 14 gauge spiral wrapped star quad would be best electrically and probably economically. No matter what you choose, you're never going to get "great" performance out of your system with speaker cables this length. Nor are you going to have an easy time selling such long length speaker cables on the used market, should you decide to reconfigure your system at a later date. Sean
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I have used 30' runs of both Canare 4S11 and MAS Signature Hybrid speaker cable, and my system does not have rolled of highs or radio channels playing. None of my amps...SS or tube...have ever shut down unexpectedly. I think my system sounds great, and others have thought so, too.

Try some inexpensive Canare 4S11 for $.69/foot from Markertek. If it doesn't do it for you, then consider auditioning MAS Signature Hybrid (sold by Audioparts, Inc on Audiogon) with no risk.