The 10 Best Audio Wire Of 2024, Researched By Us

Harlan Ellison By, Harlan Ellison
Updated
Best Audio Wire
Best Audio Wire

The Rundown

1. Best Overall: InstallGear Speaker Wire

InstallGear Speaker Wire is engineered for use in high-performance audio, video, and computer systems. Designed for easy installation and a clean appearance, InstallGear wire is strong, flexible, and highly elastic. PVC jacketing protects the wire from abrasion and provides impact resistance. Read Review

2. Best Bang For The Buck: Amazon Basics Audio Wire

Enjoy high-quality sound with amazing clarity with this wire. This wire's 99.9% oxygen-free copper construction provides distortion-free transmission and is strong yet flexible enough to bend easily. This durable wire can be used for a variety of audio applications including speakers, headphones, and intercoms. Read Review

3. Best Quality: GS Power 18 Gauge Audio Wire

GS Power 18 Gauge Audio Wire is a soft copper-coated aluminum CCA zip wire that is perfect for radio applications, home theater, and other audio applications. It features PVC insulation and is easily disassembled. This material is ideal for wiring in your car or anywhere you need to install wires quickly. Read Review

4. Best Durable: Fancasee Audio Wire

This is a really easy way to replace your old speaker wires with more modern, better-performing, and better-looking ones. This audio wire is perfect for most speakers and PA horns, CBs, amateur radios, and scanners,... Read Review

5. Best Efficient: Bullz Audio BPES10 Audio Wire

Bullz Audio BPES10 Audio Wire is a professional platinum-plated audio wire with a super flexible and high-current design. This flexible, oxygen-free cable is perfect for speakers, home theater systems, soundbars, and more. The platinum-plated connectors will give you maximum signal transmission and the materials are resistant to heat and corrosion. Read Review

If you are looking to buy the best audio wire, then you should consider some of the following factors. There are different types of wires available in the market. Some wires are suitable for some devices and some are not.

Before buying any wire, ensure that it is compatible with your device and other things. There are many brands that offer different types of wires to meet different requirements of users. The key to choosing an audio wire is to know about the compatibility with your device, source, and other components you have at home. In this article, we will discuss some of the important factors that you need to think about before buying an audio wire, from different types of wires to their compatibility with various devices.

You can count on our team of experts who have spent over 22 hours conducting results through 13,220 real customer reviews. Because of this, We came to the conclusion that the best audio wire is InstallGear Speaker Wire. And Amazon Basics Audio Wire is another choice for you while keeping the product's quality and functionality.

Our Top Picks

TOP Choice #1 InstallGear Speaker Wire
Our Score:
9.7
InstallGear

100-FEET (30.5m) [FROSTED BLUE/BLACK 14 GAUGE SPEAKER WIRE ] - The lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire. Thicker wire presents less resistance to current flow.

COPPER CLAD ALUMINUM (CCA) - CCA wiring provides a good conductor for transmitting audio. This is the most economical option when choosing speaker wire.

RUGGED PVC JACKET - Allows free, wide and seamless adjustment of the required physical properties of this wire such as flexibility, elasticity, and impact resistance.

SOFT TOUCH JACKET - The jacket on our cable is designed with the installer in mind. The flexibility of this jacket allows for easy routing and has a low memory.

EASY POLARITY IDENTIFICATION - This two color jacket allows for easy polarity identification. Making a polarity mistake could be damaging to your audio equipment.

TOP Choice #2 Amazon Basics Audio Wire
Our Score:
9.5
Amazon Basics

COLOR CODED: Red and black color coding for clear polarity

CONVENIENT: Ideal for connecting speakers to an A/V receiver or amplifier

DURABLE DESIGN: Strong yet flexible insulated exterior jacket

IN THE BOX: 100 feet of 14-gauge audio speaker wire cable

CLEAR SOUND: 99.9% oxygen-free copper construction helps deliver high-quality undistorted signals to and from audio equipment

TOP Choice #3 GS Power 18 Gauge Audio Wire
Our Score:
9.3
GS Power

Soft stranded copper coated aluminum CCA Zip Wire

Perfect for Radio, Home Theatre, Automotive, Stereo, Robotics and R/C applications

Automotive Grade "GPT" PVC insulation. Oil & gas resistant. Temperature Range: -40 deg F to +176 deg F

200 FT Red / 200 FT Black Wire Bonded Together (400 FT total). Pull apart easily

4 Fancasee  Audio Wire
Our Score:
9.1
Fancasee

Perfect replacement 3.5mm male plug connector cable apply for most speaker, PA horns, CB, amateur radios, scanners, voltage trigger applications like morse key, cooling fans, power amp & other devices.

Wiring diagram: PIN 1 - red wire is mono audio; PIN 2 - black wire is ground.

Package contents: 2-Pack 6 ft length, 3.5mm mono TS male plug connector to bare wire replacement audio cable.

3.5mm mono 2 pole male plug to bare wire replacement audio cable.

Easy to handle, you really don't have to be a professional to do this. Connect the corresponding bare wires together, wrap and seal the bare wire with insulating tapes.

5 Bullz Audio BPES10 Audio Wire
Our Score:
9.0
BULLZ AUDIO

10 Gauge AWG

Oxygen Free Cable for maximum signal transfer

Ultra Flexible and high current

Bullz Audio Professional Platinum Edition Speaker Cable

Comes in Spool of 25 ft.

Automotive Grade "GPT" PVC insulation. Oil & gas resistant. Temperature Range: -40 deg F to +176 deg F

True 20 Gauge wire (2 conductors, 10 Strands per conductor. 0.25 mm diameter per strand)

Perfect for Radio, Home Theatre, Automotive, Car Stereo, Robotics and R/C applications

99.97% OFC stranded zip cables. 100' red and 100' black wires bonded together. Pulls apart easily

Unmarked PVC walls for a clean sharp Red / Black look

7 JAVEX 16-Gauge AWG Audio Wire
Our Score:
8.6
JAVEX

【Stranded wire structure with great performance】High-stranded copper ensures wire flexibility and transmission fidelity. Blue and black color strap indication makes distinguish polarity connection with ease for a proper audio system set up.

【High quality made by world’s top-tier reliable manufacturer】 JAVEX, who has constantly been providing speaker wire and cable products with excellent performance, is renowned and widely adopted over 40+ countries worldwide.

【Exceptionally great premium speaker wire】 JAVEX speaker wire adopts 16-gauge 99.9% OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper), which offers stable signal frequency, ensures high fidelity sound quality, and further provide corrosion resistance.

【Widely applicable】 Designed for professional performances, JAVEX Speaker Wire comes wrapped around a eco-friendly paper spool, making dispensing convenient and easy. It’s widely applicable from indoor (clubs, restaurants, wedding halls, hotels, projectors in meeting rooms) to outdoor (pool parties, outdoor TVs, car radios, open cinema.) JAVEX provides professional customer service and product liability insurance. Return or refund of all products within the 30-day warranty period.

【Flexible, durable and reliable】 The premium PVC jacket design of the speaker wire is smooth and flexible. It helps to deliver high-quality and long-lasting undistorted signals connection in home A/V application as well as automotive, education or business set-ups.

8 Jelly Tang Audio Wire
Our Score:
8.5
Jelly Tang

Wide Applications: Connect your phone, laptop or similar device to a mixing console, home theater devices and amplifiers. Work with any devices with standard 3.5mm aux Jack, such as MP3 players, Laptops, PCs, Cell Phones, Tablets, Home theater, speakers etc.

Solid Connection: 24k Gold plated metal connectors with strong interior soldering points ensures firm connection with any instruments, pedal and amp jack.

Our Service: Precisely machined and carefully hand assembled, Our cables are made for years and years of reliable performance. We are so confident in their durability. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions during use.

High Quality: 23AWG Oxygen-free copper core with very low capacitance provides superior signal conductivity and enhanced sound. High-density OFC 99% braided shield with flexible rubber insulation avoids handling noise and noise interference.

Tangle-free: Super durable and flexible material prevents twisting, kinking and tangling. Easy to be packed and disassembled.

9 GearIT 16/2 Speaker Wire
Our Score:
7.9
GearIT

16 GAUGE IN WALL SPEAKER WIRE - GearIT Speaker Cable copper wires come in 2 conductor stranded copper wire designs. Suitable for in wall, in ceiling, attic, basement, and other office indoor home speaker setups. Suitable for 12V wire gauge (12 volt wire gauge), but max voltage of 30V.

COPPER CLAD ALUMINUM WIRE (CCA) - Solid bulk speaker wires made of CCA are copper clad wire construction for high quality sound. GearIT CCA Speaker Cables provide true surround sound and high end audio sound wire experience without breaking your budget.

SOUND WIRE WITH POLARITY - GearIT 16 Ga Speaker Wire copper wire cables come with colored pvc jacket for easy polarity identification. Typically, red speaker wire (light color) is positive and black speaker wire (dark color) is negative.

FOR IN WALL, IN CEILING SPEAKERS - Our GearIT CL2 speaker wire cable comes in 75ft, 100ft, 125ft, 150ft, 200ft lengths and white colored trailer wire. Search on Amazon for GearIT 16 AWG Speaker Cables to find all our 16 ga speaker wires. All GearIT indoor in wall speaker copper wires come with a limited lifetime warranty.

SURROUND SOUND SPEAKER WIRE SETUP - Our thick copper wire and speaker wires are perfect for most in wall home theater sound system setup, subwoofer, tower speakers, bookshelf speakers, center channel, home theater, radios, loudspeakers, and more. Made compatible with Klipsch, Sony, Onkyo, JBL, Yamaha and other speaker systems.

10 Skar Audio 12 AWG Audio  Wire
Our Score:
7.7
Skar Audio

Multi-strand Wire Design - 0.15mm x 189 Strands

12 Gauge (AWG) Premium Car Audio Speaker Wire for Connecting Speakers, Subwoofers, and More

Ultra Flexible and True to Spec Color Coded (Blue/Brown) Soft Touch Jacket with Matte Finish

Length: 30 Feet

Copper Clad Aluminum (CCA) 2-Conductor Wire allows for Excellent Signal and Current Transfer

Product Images, Product Titles, Product Highlights from Amazon Product Advertising API

What to Look For in a best audio wire?

Length

The measurement of the system is an important part in selecting speaker wire. However, this step has far greater impact than just visual appearances. The length of the wire will affect how resistant it is. Even though the effect isn't usually noticeable at long distances, it can significantly reduce sound quality. The longer wires can pick up interference from radios and static, which could affect a listener's enjoyment.

Gauge

It is also known as the cross sectional area of the wire. The wire gauge is often also known as its thickness. You should be aware that speaker wire is generally thicker if it has a lower gauge than the other. Two acceptable gauge standards exist: the American Wire Gauge and the Standard Wire Guage. You should purchase a lower gauge speaker wire if you plan to place your speakers more than 50 feet from the amplifier. This will allow you to keep your resistance low.

Connectors And Wire Type

You can get speaker wires with or without connectors. It's your choice whether to buy a bundle or a raw wire package and choose your termination. If you do that, make sure to purchase a wire stripper/cutter. If your speaker uses circular sockets, a banana plug will work best. However, a pin connector is required for spring clip terminals (square-shaped clips that clamp onto the wire and slide up). Although you can use either bare or plated wires, they are difficult to manage.
You don't have to be concerned about the wire type if you run speaker wire between desk speakers or monitors on bookshelves. You should look for units rated CL2 and CL3 if you plan to run wire within your walls. You should only use wire that is rated for direct burial if you plan to run wire outdoors and/or underground.

Inductance

Inductance is the resistance that results from a change of electrical current. Inductance is a property of all conductors, including speaker wires. You might encounter resistance more frequently if your speaker wire is used in an area where electricity voltage fluctuates. To minimize resistance, it is best to use speaker wires of a lower gauge.

Wire Material

Any speaker wire's wire material is made up of the conductor metal contained within its wire cover. Copper is a common choice for speaker wires due to its low cost and high conductivity. Copper can oxidize if it is exposed to oxygen, which can cause higher resistance. Copper is still the most efficient conductor of speaker wires. Although gold can conduct well, it's quite expensive so most people don't consider buying speaker wires with this metal.

Capacitance

Capacitance is the capacity of conductors for retaining very little electricity. When electricity travels through conductors, small amounts of electricity are retained along the length of each wire. It can cause adverse reactions if there is an excessive buildup of electricity in these conductors. This can lead to an increase in resistance and damage to your speaker. You can reduce the likelihood of excess capacitance by using shorter speaker wires.

Price

It is a matter of debate whether higher-priced speaker wires are better than those at lower prices. There is general agreement that speaker wires of higher quality will perform better than lower-priced models. This conclusion comes from extensive listening tests, as well as research by audio professionals. The best speaker cables are those that fall in the middle price range. While the least expensive may be more durable, they will not have a greater impact on the audio quality. You should save some money on more important gear, like amps and receivers or interfaces.

Resistance

Before you purchase any speaker wire, you must first look at its resistance. A speaker wire with a lower resistance means that the amplifier is able to send more power through the coil. Because speaker wires of this type have low resistance, they are shorter in length and thicker. It can cause a dangerous audible effect if the resistance exceeds 5% of the loud speaker's impedance.

FAQs

What is an audio wire?

An audio wire is a type of cable used to transfer an audio signal from one device to another. It typically consists of two insulated wires, one for the left audio channel and one for the right audio channel, which are then connected to a source and a destination device.

What is the difference between audio wire and speaker wire?

Speaker wire is designed to carry a much higher voltage than audio wire and is used to connect loudspeakers to amplifiers. Audio wire, on the other hand, is designed to carry low-voltage audio signals and is typically used to connect audio components such as CD players, turntables, and receivers.

What types of connectors are used with audio wires?

The most common connectors used with audio wires are RCA connectors and 3.5mm (1/8-inch) mini-jack connectors. RCA connectors are typically used to connect audio components such as CD players and receivers, while 3.5mm mini-jack connectors are often used to connect headphones, headsets, and portable audio players.

How do I know which type of audio wire I need?

The type of audio wire you need depends on the type of connectors used on the source and destination devices. If you are connecting two audio components, such as a CD player and a receiver, then you will need an audio wire with RCA connectors. If you are connecting a portable audio player to a set of headphones, then you will need an audio wire with a 3.5mm mini-jack connector.

Conclusion

Choosing the best audio wire for your purposes might be a difficult challenge. It is critical to remember what you want to achieve with the purchase as well as any factors that may influence your selection. 
Whether it's as basic as reading reviews before purchasing or inspecting images of best audio wire on the market from numerous perspectives. When you wish to locate another one, you may also look at the Monoprice 18 Gauge AWG Audio Wire. Now, let’s pick one for you!


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About Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison is a writer and audio equipment enthusiast. He's particularly interested in home theater HiFi audio, and he has been the editor of The Audio Insights since its inception. Harlan is known for his sharp wit and scathing critiques, but he also has a great love of music and audio gear. When he's not writing or editing, Harlan can be found listening to music or watching movies with his wife.