Common Mistakes to Avoid When Installing Speaker Wire

Being a music enthusiast, I am always fond of high quality audio gadgets, such as headsets, earbuds, and speakers. Whether I have to go somewhere at a picnic or enjoy at my home, these products are my true companions. Among all of them, speakers have their own worth as they provide a pure vibe without any damage to the ears.

Many people like me share the same interest and that’s good enough. However, installing the speaker wire truly is the most critical thing to pocket the desired entertainment. In this guide, I have highlighted some common mistakes you must avoid when installing speaker wire.

I am a musicophile and have a great taste in music. Even, I am unable to work without listening to my favorite tracks during working. Therefore, I have installed speakers in my bedroom. In the beginning, I have made several mistakes that have disrupted the whole entertainment level. However, with time, I continued overcoming them.

In the undersection, I have explained them all so that you can learn about them and take your experience to an advanced level.

1- Not Using Enough Guage Wire

One of the worst mistakes you can ever make when installing a speaker wire is using a wire with improper thickness. I also have been in trouble so many times for this reason. The thickness of the wire is commonly referred to as gauge.

I often used 9 gauge wire which has delivered an incredibly bad level of entertainment. With time, I used different gauge wires and found the 12 and 14 gauge wires to be the best pick. However, if you want to invest more, you should go with 16 gauge wire.

2- Mismatched Polarity

The other common mistake during the installation of speaker wire arises due to mismatched terminal polarity. There are chances that you may connect the positive terminal of your amplifier with the negative terminal of the speaker.

Besides causing the distortion of sound, you may bring irreparable damage to your speakers because of the polarity issues. Therefore, it is essential to install the speaker wires correctly by picking the correct terminals.

3- Poor Connections

A proper wire connection is also necessary if you want to get good sound from your speakers. However, most people do not focus on this aspect. Thus, the loosely connected wires can cause a partial or complete loss of audio.

You can use different types of equipment such as banana plugs or spade connectors to make sure that you can establish a solid connection. It will guarantee a brilliant audio experience.

Read More: Best Smart Speakers for Your Home

4- Electric Cables Interference

I made the above mentioned mistakes for so many times and even after overcoming them, I was unable to remove the distortion from the speaker’s voice. While researching, I eventually found that my electric cables were running parallel to the speaker wire.

As soon as I changed their angle to 90 degrees, the distortion was removed. Later, I discovered the reason behind it. The parallel cables cause electromagnetic radiation to be produced which interferes with the voice.

5- Not Enough Wire Length

You have to follow the measure twice and cut once policy when choosing the speaker wire of appropriate length. It is important to make sure that your wire can reach from your amplifier to your speaker quite comfortably.

If you cut the wire which is too short to cover the distance, there may be some cracks that will result in the poor quality voice. No matter if you are using outdoor speakers or for home purposes, you must purchase a more lengthy wire.

6- Environmental Factors

If you do not consider the environmental factors when installing the speaker wire, you should be ready for low quality voice outcomes. Moisture and high temperature can deliver damage to the coating of the wire.

Make sure that you have placed the wire in a place where there is no direct sunlight or any other heat source. If you do not find such an area, it would be better to insulate the wire so that you can prevent it from damage.

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7- Not Labeling Wires

If you are using multiple speakers, there is a chance that you may mix up the cables. Generally, it happens when the cables are not labeled properly. It is better to label each wire to avoid this mistake. In this way, you can manage them quite effectively. Also, it makes it easier to solve any issue if arises during setup and troubleshooting.

8- Low Quality Wire

In the beginning, I also made a mistake of using low quality speaker wire. Although it provided me with the desired benefits for some months, the experience was quite terrible. That’s why I have mentioned in this list of the common mistakes to avoid.

Cheap wires may cause more resistance. Moreover, their insulation is very poor. Therefore, you should focus on high quality wires. Copper, gold, silver, and carbon fibers are counted among the best materials for conductivity and low resistance.

These are the details about the common mistakes you have to avoid when installing the speaker wire. You may already be aware of some points mentioned in this guide, it is important to go through all of them so that you can make an informed decision and avoid the mistake you are committing consistently.

Allocate a sufficient budget and purchase high quality wire of appropriate length to make sure you can enjoy a high quality voice. Also, check the connection and use equipment like banana plugs to tighten them.