CD player and radio for the shop

[ponytug]

I think you need speaker wire specifically for the best results.

I'm sure that @jaxs' shop has tremendous acoustics, but I don't know if he wants to sink a couple of grand into wiring the speakers...

Most low cost wire marketed as speaker wire is pretty light weight, and not really up to the task of longer runs due to the resistance in the wire. It would work, but not well. As audio signals are basically DC, and travel almost exclusively in the copper, not the surface of the copper, so lots of strands only buys you flexibility and resistance to fatigue from repetitive flexing (think elevator power and control cables). Go for the really pricey "oxygen free copper speaker wire" if you like paying extra for no practical advantage. "Oxygen free copper" has conductivity and impedance virtually identical to normal copper. Of course, it does make for bragging rights in certain crowds...

I would strongly discourage the use of copper clad aluminum (CCA). It is an inferior product, fragile, prone to mid-circuit breaks from bending, corrosion at the terminations, and higher resistance. If you do use CCA, I would recommend the use of Noalox, or similar products on all the connections.

Speakers are very low impedance, so having straight runs of low resistance wire will make for better sound quality. Romex, stranded, all work well.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ericm979]

Getting the polarity reversed on some speakers will have an effect on sound quality. The twin lead cables are easier to run and manage than separate wires.

I've always used regular speaker wire, no Monster cable or oxygen-free wire.

If your shop has metal siding you may want to run an external antenna for radio reception.

 

[gstrom99]

If your shop has metal siding you may want to run an external antenna for radio reception.

Absolutely. I'm rural and FM is sketchy anyway, but the indoor antennas are no good inside my pole barn shop. I drilled through and have a real antenna outside. It's sitting perpendicular, and not up on the building or special pole - yet... Pulls in FM pretty good, but I'm still going to find a MP4 player.

 

[jaxs]

Thank you to everyone for your input. That I even considered using 18 ga solid wire must be laughable to those who understand sound systems. Probably laughable that i would mess with 4 components and bunch of speakers that would fill the trunk of a car but I'm frugal and having modern equipment instead of my cell phone and BT speaker for music isn't worth +/- $1k to me.