Dumb Question about cables

Thanks, Brf's explanation makes sense. I use Purist Audio speaker cables. The body of the cable has shielding, the leads do not, as Louis M. points out. The leads on Purist Audio speaker cables are especially long--about a foot on either side. So instead of the entire cable acting as an antenna, only the leads might, which is much better than the whole cable!

If they kept it the same size all the way through on interconnects most would have an issue plugging them into or out of thier equipment. As for speaker cables, you would not be able to bend the cable without kinking it when you are trying connect them to your amp and speakers.

There is only about an 1/4" clearance between connectors on my Meridian G68 and an 1" on my Ref3, so the cables would have to be no more than 3/8'RCA or 3/4'XLR in diameter or less for me to be able to use them. My speaker connectors are only 4' off the ground and my amps are even closer so keeping the thickness to the spade connectors is useless. If you cannot connect it to your equipment what good is the cable.

IMHO.

Shielding is much less important for speaker cables than for interconnects, because the extremely low output impedance of the power amplifier, and the low impedance of the speakers, will tend to "short out" most or all emi/rfi which may be picked up. And also because emi/rfi tends to be at both low levels and ultrasonic frequencies, meaning that the speaker is unlikely to respond to it to a significant degree.

A case could even be made that shielding is even less important for speaker cables than for amplifier power cords. Shielding in the power cord supplying a power amplifier will prevent the escape of emi/rfi that may be caused by inductive kickback from the amp's power transformer, which otherwise might couple into other parts of the system.

BTW, I agree with Krell_man that the op is not a dumb question at all.

Regards,
-- Al