What is the best Quad Sheilded cable to use in a Residential TV Suround sound project?

Question

I need to know what type of cable (UTP, STP or COAX) quad shielded cable to use for house that wants the best and most affordable souround sound. I just need to figure out what best suits this.

Answer 1

You use in-wall rated (CL2 or CL3 insulation) 12 ga to each speaker location.  Or you can use 4-wire, 16 ga to each speaker and twist 2 of the wires together for the + side and the other two wires for the - side.  Many high-end installs have been done with this because in-wall 12 ga was only available recently.

(Coax and UTP is for line-level signals. Speaker wire is for power signals because speakers are basically motors.)

You can get the stuff by the spool from www.partsexpress.com and Home Depot is said to carry it as well.

Then you run RG6 coax to the subwoofer location. This should be near a corner of the two longest, un-broken walls.  Pull enough that the sub could be placed 1/3 along one of the walls. Install "F" connectors and then get some s***w on "F-to-RCA-Male" adapters from Radio Shack.

If you run in-wall, run the speaker wires (power wires) through electrical outlet box's. Buy blank face plates and drill holes for a custom look. Dont bother with the face-plates with binding posts.  You can always add these later.

Answer 2

What exactly is the cable going to be used for?  How long are you looking at (10'? 50'? 100'?)

Unless your house is inside a microwave oven, or you're looking at running extremely long cables for speakers (>100') then you don't need super-duper shielded cabling.  Just plain old standard speaker wire is just fine.  

I've got a set of 16 gauge wire myself that works great for my family room.  Just be sure the wire you use is rated for in-wall installation.  I bought some off-brand that was 100' for something like $50.

Twisted pair could work, in theory, but I seem to recall that its resistance isn't right, so the sound quality isn't very good.  It's fine for things like running an intercom system throughout a house, or at best, providing radio-quality music, but you wouldn't use it for a home theater.