I bought some rock speakers and now want to find speaker wire to bury into the ground. Where do you find wire that's appropriate? I can find some on amazon (plus a few other websites I'm not familiar with). I see that radioshack also has outdoor speaker wires, but it doesn't specifically state that it is intended to be buried. Monoprice doesn't seem to have bury grade speaker wires either. Home Depot and lowe's don't have it in their stores either.

Anyone have recommendations on where I should buy the wire?

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.
Nassau County, NY

Why would you bury a speaker with someone? Do you really need to hear their nagging from the grave??

I've used the black low voltage outdoor lights wire.

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billb
I've used the black low voltage outdoor lights wire.

I was afraid to use the low voltage wires because of interference concerns. Do you get a good sound? How long are your wires from your source?

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.
Nassau County, NY

Coax ?

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cbelt3
Coax ?

Why in the world would you want to use 50+ ohm wire for a speaker run that is 4-8 ohm??

That shielding isn’t going to block anything that speakers inside don’t already pick up, and you
artificially load the amp, on top of its frequency based impedance and wire length.

Second, low voltage outdoor lights wiring.

Joe

Quote
wowzer

Quote
billb
I've used the black low voltage outdoor lights wire.

I was afraid to use the low voltage wires because of interference concerns. Do you get a good sound? How long are your wires from your source?

iirc, about 45 feet each side.
I could have stapled the wire up out of the dirt by going all the way around but I would have needed longer wire and I had a short spool of it sitting unused.
Bose 251 speakers that I could leave outside
Sounded OK


I originally had clear speaker wire clipped neatly under the deck but the ins was full of cracks, the wire was corroding and one had gone open.
2nd time running a wire I just threw them across the ground.

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norwegian wood reality TV

[www.youtube.com]

the polyethylene coating on zip cord isn’t going to hold up “long term” to sunlight and temp extremes,
hence the cracking you saw. Add ozone to the UV - and it will get brittle “relatively” quickly.

Depending on the volume needed - could be worth a look at the current crop of wireless out there.

Otherwise - I opted for both low voltage and zip cord in a ½” PVC pipe that paralleled the sprinkler/pond
install, since the trench was there, and 10 ft is under $2 for PVC pipe (and very flexible). One could use
vinyl clear hose too… but that could get expensive, depending on the size of the wire. 22ga speaker wire
is still adequate in all but the most extreme cases, and could easily fit into a ¼” vinyl tube, which you
could buy off the roll at Home Depot.

Really depends on how long the install is to last, and if a $1 store set of wire as a trial might not be
good enough, on top of the ground, until you decide on something more permanent.

Otherwise, I opted for 18 ga zip (lamp) cord in a 250 foot roll - even for my live audio stuff (that’s
actually 18 gauge at home with Neutriks and 16 gauge on Neutrik ends as well as ¼” and XLR (back-up
connectors and cables from days past). The wire is 33 years old - and still flexible and in great condition.

One amp is always in place for “practice” (when I’m in that mode) and the others are road ready, so different
sets of wire waiting for them. The 16 ga zip cord sees outdoor time, but only in 6 hour intervals, and
not so often these days.

At 13¢ per foot (250 roll) 18 ga zip cord is just too cheap not to go with - and add $10 of PVC if it’s going
to be buried - just so you can easily replace it - tie new stuff onto the old stuff, and yank out the old, and
your new wire is in place. Seal with Gorilla Glue (it expands and hardens). Who needs to look for rubber grommets
for a cheap install? Not worth the time. Need the end clean? Utility knife - remove 1” of the pipe, and you
have 9 foot & 11” left over!

Get some 12 ga outdoor lighting zip cord. I used it for a pair of rock speakers I installed about 8 years ago. It was about a 70' run.
It is still working fine. Don't skimp on the wire gauge. I would use 16 ga at an absolute minimum and if you are running any distance use the 12ga
DO NOT use coax. Wrong ohm rating and it can't carry much current.

Take a look at the distance vs gauge chart.
Gauge chart

Home Depot has a selection of Direct Burial wire in different gauges and lengths. Parts Express has some also.

[www.parts-express.com]

Note stock availability at PE.

Outdoor grades of coax wire with a lot of copper in both the shield and core will work fine for speakers. Just because it has a nominal rating of 50 Ohms above 100 MHz does not mean it will load down your amplifier/speaker at most audio frequencies.

I think any outdoor rated 12 gauge low voltage cable will be acceptable. 12 V lighting or automatic sprinkler control cable should work fine as long as it is a decent size conductor (16 gauge or lower). I would suggest putting it in PVC conduit to help prevent a gardener/child/significant-other from accidentally digging into it.

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in tha 510.

Thanks everyone, for the advice. I'll look into the low voltage sprinkler wire.

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.
Nassau County, NY