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Outdoor Weather Proof Speaker Cables

kevin1969

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Any suggestions? I want to get something that won't sound bad if it rains (jk).
 

preload

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You could also run cables through conduit. They have flexible conduit of various diameters, which are are pretty easy to feed cables through as well.
 

Wolf

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Conduit is more resistant to the sharp teeth of critters.

And stones! My folks used to have a brown out situ periodically because the company did not use conduit when they buried their power line. Every once in a while a stone would penetrate the insulation and make the wire oxidize to where some of the house got full voltage and some did not. It has since been redone correctly.
 

escksu

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Any suggestions? I want to get something that won't sound bad if it rains (jk).

IMHO, its better to run galvanised steel pipes and put cables in them. I don't recommend running bare cables outdoor.
 

jhaider

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I used Monoprice direct burial 14/4 on our old deck. It has only been up since 2017 but seemed fine as of last week.
 

Mudjock

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Here is one of my outdoor speaker cables. I also used Monoprice direct burial cable. I used cable "pants" sourced from Amazon along with heat shrink to ensure the end terminations were water tight.

1629033984536.png
 
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I buried 1 1/2" PVC conduit and pulled standard audio cabling through it. One huge benefit with conduit is the ability to re-pull lines if anything ever goes wrong or if upgrades are required (as long as you leave a string in it).

Terminate the conduit into one of these with a flip-down weatherproof cover installed beside the speaker location (you could T your conduit to run lines to multiple speakers in different locations). Finally, install a pair of banana plug jacks and use short links to connect your speakers (you'll likely need to hunt around for a keystone plate that fits the box/cover). As these links would be short and accessible, use whatever cable you have available as you can easily replace them if they become damaged.

I use this method to provide line-level audio, CAT-3, Ethernet, and coax to outdoor locations, and everything has been operating flawlessly for over a decade (and counting).
 
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