Its small, lightweight wire size is good for cable flexibility it needs to follow you around onstage, remember , and the shielding prevents much of the noisy external electromagnetic interference that low-power signals are susceptible to. Your speaker cable, on the other hand, is just the opposite — high power and low impedance. Unlike the instrument cable, it has not one but two wire conductors, both with a relatively large diameter in order to allow greater signal flow from amp to speakers.
If you reduce the size of that pipe, you restrict the flow of water to the other end. Speaker wires work much the same way—smaller-diameter wires present more electrical resistance to the signal flow, wasting energy in the form of heat. Where things get complicated, however, is in its use as both an instrument cable, and as a speaker cable. With each application requiring its own unique manufacturing, the result of confusing the two cables can be detrimental to both your tone and to your amp.
The components that differentiate an instrument cable from a speaker cable are the wiring and shielding. The smaller wires of the instrument cable are shielded in order to cope with its high impedance setting, acting to reduce disturbance from other electronics and nearby radio signals. Now, if the pipe size is reduced, the flow of current will be restricted. Having such a small space to go through will create resistance, which is wasted energy in the end.
Imagine the power of your amp attempting to go through a tiny hole. Speaker cable typical internal configuration. The white part is not a conductor but filler material. Cables come in different thicknesses or gauges. High-end cables are often made of copper cores free of oxygen and they have corrosion-resistant gold connectors.
Most people would agree that thicker cables are better because the gauge can handle power transfers of signals remember the water hose? Luckily, cable manufacturers indicate their cables according to where they should be used.
However, there are instances where telling the difference can be difficult especially to the untrained eye. This is the best way to identify which is which.
A speaker cable is specifically designed to handle this type of signal. The size, or gauge, of these wires varies depending on how much current is required to adequately power the speaker. If you need a speaker cable, I recommend going with something like this Rapco Horizon speaker cable. In the video at the top of this page, I demonstrate this by connect my guitar to the amplifier using a speaker cable. In the demonstration, you can hear that there is quite a bit of noise in comparison to the guitar signal.
Using an instrument cable results in a much better signal-to-noise ratio. In fact, using an instrument cable to connect an amplifier to a speaker can be really dangerous to you and your equipment. Remember — instrument cables are designed for the relatively weak signals produced by guitar pickups.
If you use an instrument cable to power a speaker, it will not only limit the performance of your system, but it might even damage your equipment.
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