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Q: I’ve always wondered why some cables are shielded while others aren’t.

I’ve noticed that mic, guitar, and line signal wires shielded, but speaker and power cables aren’t?

Is there a reason to shield some and not others?

It seems like it would make sense to at least shield the power cables, especially given all the problems that power cables can cause.

A: An interesting observation!

Line, mic, and guitar cables are shielded because those signals are greatly amplified before they are converted back to sound waves.

Any noise that those cables pick up along the way would also be similarly amplified and become audible.

Similarly, AC power is never amplified, and speaker-level signals are already amplified before they pass through speaker cables.

So, while you’re correct in your observation, the cables which are shielded are those which are susceptible to interference and noise.

As always, we welcome input from the PSW community and would love to know your thoughts on shielded cable. Feel free to let us know in the comments below.

 
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