Speaker wire is only for passive speakers, between a power amplifier and a speaker with no amplifier inside; most DJ speakers are powered and take an XLR cable instead. For a passive speaker, buy pure copper wire thick enough for the run, such as Monoprice's oxygen-free bulk wire or Hosa's 12 AWG Edge speakON cables for PA speakers, and go thicker as the run gets longer or the load drops to 4 ohms.
Check that you need speaker wire
Speaker wire carries the amplified signal from a power amplifier, or a powered mixer, to a passive speaker. A powered speaker has its amplifier built in and takes a line-level signal on XLR or 1/4-inch cables instead: the Mackie Thump GO, Behringer EUROLIVE B210D, JBL 305P MkII and Yamaha HS5 are all powered. For those, see the best XLR cables.
Speaker wire is what you need for:
- A passive PA speaker and an amplifier, like the Mackie C300z. Mackie recommends an amplifier of about 600 W per channel into 8 ohms for it, twice its continuous rating.
- The passive half of a desktop pair. The PreSonus Eris E4.5 has its amplifier in one speaker, which drives the other over 2 m of bare-wire speaker cable supplied in the box, per its manual. That run sits in the shortest row of the table below, so the supplied cable is enough unless you need the speakers further apart.
Which gauge for which run
A thinner or longer wire has more resistance. That wastes amplifier power, and, more importantly, it weakens the amplifier's control of the speaker cone, measured as damping factor. A technical note by Community Professional Loudspeakers, hosted by the speaker maker EAW, says a damping factor of 20 or more is adequate for live sound, and that bass drivers and subwoofers suffer most when it falls. Its table gives the damping factor for each wire gauge and length. The thinnest gauge that keeps it at 20 or more:
| Run, amplifier to speaker | One 8-ohm speaker | 4-ohm load |
|---|---|---|
| 10 ft (3 m) | 18 AWG | 18 AWG |
| 25 ft (8 m) | 18 AWG | 14 AWG |
| 50 ft (15 m) | 16 AWG | 12 AWG |
| 100 ft (30 m) | 12 AWG | 8 AWG |
A lower AWG number is a thicker wire. A 4-ohm load is either a 4-ohm speaker or two 8-ohm speakers on one amplifier channel: Mackie's C300z manual says two in parallel make 4 ohms, three make 2.7 ohms and four make 2 ohms. The note calls its figures approximate, because they use nominal impedance, and says that beyond 100 feet at 4 ohms, or 200 feet at 8 ohms, no practical gauge keeps the damping factor at 20.
Monoprice sets a similar limit another way: total wire resistance no more than 5% of the speaker's lowest impedance, which for a 4-ohm speaker is 0.2 ohms. By its figures, 20 feet of 16 AWG pure copper comes to 0.16 ohms, inside that limit. When a run falls between two rows, buy the thicker wire.
Which wire to buy
Bulk wire for binding posts and spring clips: Monoprice oxygen-free copper
Monoprice makes this two-conductor wire from oxygen-free bare copper it rates at over 99.95% pure, in a clear PVC jacket with a blue stripe on one side to mark polarity, rated CL2. It comes in 12, 16 and 18 AWG and 50, 100 and 300 ft lengths; the card below is the 12 AWG, 50 ft roll. Bare wire suits amplifiers and speakers with binding posts or spring clips, like the passive half of a desktop pair.
Monoprice 12AWG Speaker Wire (102747)
PA speakers and amplifiers with speakON: Hosa Edge
Hosa's Edge speaker cables use genuine Neutrik plugs and two 12 AWG oxygen-free copper conductors in a black PVC jacket. They come speakON to speakON (the SKT-200 series, 3 to 100 feet long and 10 mm across, per Hosa's spec sheet), speakON to 1/4-inch TS (SKT-200Q) and 1/4-inch TS to 1/4-inch TS (SKJ-200). At 12 AWG they meet the table's 8-ohm limit for every run up to 100 feet. The C300z takes either a speakON or a 1/4-inch TS plug, wired in parallel, so use only one input, and its THRU socket links a second cabinet. Price tracking doesn't cover these cables yet, so they have no price card here.
Short runs with 1/4-inch plugs: Hosa SKJ-600
For a short run between an amplifier and a speaker with 1/4-inch sockets, Hosa's SKJ-600 speaker cables use 16 AWG oxygen-free copper with 1/4-inch TS plugs. By the table, 16 AWG covers up to 50 feet into one 8-ohm speaker, and 10 feet into a 4-ohm load. Hosa marks them for high-current use only, not line-level signals.
How to choose speaker wire
Pure copper, not copper-clad aluminium
Cheap speaker wire is often copper-clad aluminium (CCA). Monoprice says CCA is only about 68% as conductive as pure copper: by its figures, 20 feet of 16 AWG CCA comes to 0.24 ohms, over its 0.2-ohm limit for a 4-ohm speaker, where pure copper of the same gauge stays under. JL Audio's installation guide for one of its subwoofers rules CCA out, saying it is more prone to breaking. Check the listing says pure or oxygen-free copper.
Speaker cable and instrument cable aren't interchangeable
A 1/4-inch speaker cable looks like a guitar or line cable. Mackie warns against using coaxial cable like a guitar cord for speaker connections: it isn't built for the current a power amplifier produces and can overheat. Mackie's C300z manual asks for heavy-gauge, stranded wire. Going the other way, Hosa marks its speaker cables as unsuitable for line-level signals. For what each plug carries, see DJ cable connectors explained.
Polarity
Connect positive to positive and negative to negative at both ends of both cables. If the bass sounds weak, Mackie's manual says to check that positive and negative aren't reversed at one end of one cable. A stripe or coloured conductor, like the blue stripe on Monoprice's jacket, makes this easy to follow.
Connectors
speakON locks with a twist, and Neutrik's NL4FXX cable plug takes cable 6 to 12 mm across with conductors from 17 to 11 AWG; Neutrik says speakON must never be used for mains power. On the C300z, speakON pin 1+ is hot and 1− is cold. Bare wire goes into binding posts or spring clips, and a 1/4-inch TS plug carries tip as positive and sleeve as negative, per Mackie.
Chaining speakers
Every speaker added to one amplifier channel in parallel lowers the load, so check the amplifier's minimum impedance before chaining. Mackie sets the C300z's limit at two cabinets per amplifier or powered-mixer channel, which is a 4-ohm load, and the 4-ohm column of the table then applies to the run.
How this guide is made
Each suggestion links the maker's page or spec sheet it relies on, and the gauge table comes from the Community Professional Loudspeakers note hosted by EAW, read on 13 October 2026. Speaker details come from the spec sheets behind each product page. Speaker wire is rarely reviewed, and none of these cables is sold where owner reviews are collected for this site (Thomann and Guitar Center) in every market, so this guide explains what to buy rather than ranking cables. We haven't tested these cables. Prices in the cards come from daily tracking across the retailers we link to. The methodology explains the whole process.
