We're wiring our kitchen for a stereo speaker system. There was only enough 18 gauge speaker wire for one speaker, so the electricians used 18/2 barostat wire for the other. The speaker cable seems to have a thicker wrapping than the barostat cable, but both are 18 gauge and have 2 conductors. Is it ok to use this? Experiments show that a coat hanger sounds as good as fancy speaker cable, so maybe this doesn't matter at all.
If they are the same, what makes barostat wire different than speaker wire? Coloring of the jacket? Thickness of the wrapping? Marketing?
Best Answer
There is a discussion of stranded vs. solid wire for speaker cable here. The consensus (or at least the weight of opinions) seems to be that there is a theoretical difference, but no practical difference.
Speaker wire is also called lamp cord. It is basically parallel stranded wire in either 16 or 18 gauge. The lower number indicates the thicker wire. 16 gauge is thicker than 18. The difference in gauge has to do with how much voltage drop (and in music, signal loss) there is over long distances.
Numerous comparisons seem to indicate that basic speaker wires (and wire sold as lamp cord at even a lower price) are indistinguishable from exotic wires.
If it is a long run, 16 gauge is preferred. If the run is very short, you probably can use 18 gauge with no apparent difference in sound. But the cost difference is fairly small, so 16 gauge is preferred.
There is no shielding on speaker wire, so the covering is of little import. Solid wire is much harder to handle (less flexibility), so stranded is preferred for audio applications.
While the barostat wire is solid and the speaker wire is stranded, it is highly unlikely you can get a measurable difference in signal between the two types. If it's already installed, and the run is not too long (20 feet or less) you probably can live with it. If the run is much longer, you might want to swap both wires out for a heavier gauge (16).