Use the right direct burial speaker wire for the job!

Feb. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- So you have your back yard all landscaped, you have the barbeque installed, the patio furniture is on the way and now you decide it is time to install some outdoor speakers.  You realize that the outdoor patio speakers are a piece of cake to wire but now you realize you want to install some rock speakers on the other side of the garden, out by the pool, or out by the new patio furniture in the yard.  So now you start to strategize on how you are going to get speaker wire out to the areas you want to place the speakers.  So you decide to start looking for some direct burial speaker wire because you have decide just to dig a little trench, put the direct burial speaker wire in the ground, and just bury the wire.  To this strategy I would say a big NO!  Now your first response to this may be why not?  It says direct burial right in the name!  The truth is “direct burial” doe not really mean it is best practice to just bury your speaker wire right into the dirt!  http://www.cablingplus.com/t/cables/bulk-cable/speaker-wire

The truth is only a few cables are truly rated to be buried directly into the ground.  And for sure direct burial speaker wire is not.  Most true underground cables have special jackets along with a special material in the cable such as gel, powder, or water block tape that assists the cable from keeping out moisture while in the ground.  Direct burial speaker wire does not.  Essentially most direct burial rated speaker wire has a thicker PE rated jacket that give the internal conductors some extra protection against the weather and the sun- but it is not made to be put directly in the dirt.  

The best strategy is to dig a trench and drop some PVC or flexible conduit into the trench for you to later pull your cable through.  This will give your direct burial speaker wire a longer installation life.  The reality is if you bury the speaker wire right into the ground you will eventually have corrosion which will lead to damaged cables that will eventually fail to work.   The kicker is once the cable is corroded and damaged you will have to re-dig your trench to pull the damaged cable out and re-install new wire.  If you have a conduit in place and for some reason your direct burial speaker wire has issues it is very easy to simply pull the cable out of the conduit at the same time you pull a new cable.  No digging is needed.  Not to mention you may realize later you want to install other cable types in those conduits so it may be smart to leave a pull string in the conduit just in case.   You never know about the future with so many new high tech products coming out in the market place.  http://www.cablingplus.com/products/16-2-speaker-wire-500...

In the end you can bury direct burial speaker wire in the ground but the question will be how long will it take for it to corrode and have to be replaced.   Do you really want to re-dig your back yard up every few years?  Or does it make sense to put conduit in those trenches and do it right the first time.  Remember “direct burial rated” does not actually mean just throw the cable in the ground and bury it!  

If you are looking for a direct burial rated outdoor speaker wire Cabling Plus in your #1 source.  Every speaker wire product that Cabling Plus offers comes with a Direct Burial and UV rated jacket.   These characteristics are added to our standard speaker wire with out any extra cost.  We are giving you one speaker wire products that will support any and all installation methods and environments.  With Cabling Plus you get one speaker wire product that does it all!

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Visit Cabling Plus today for the a huge selection of high performance speaker wire! Choose Cabling Plus for all your home theater and audio vide needs!