CL3 Direct Burial · Brown

Brown Direct Burial Speaker Wire

Q: Why would I choose brown over black for a buried speaker wire run?

Brown blends into mulch, wood chips, soil, and natural landscaping materials for the above-ground portions of a run before the cable goes underground. In garden paths and planting beds, a brown cable lying on the surface during installation is virtually invisible, which matters when you are routing through finished landscaping.

Q: Is the performance the same as the black version?

Yes. The only difference between the brown and black direct burial cables is the jacket color. Conductor type, gauge, CL3 rating, and jacket compound are identical. Choose based on where the cable will surface or be visible during the routing process.

Q: Can I use brown speaker wire in a conduit?

Yes. If you want the option to replace the cable in the future without digging, pulling it through conduit works fine. The brown color makes no difference for conduit applications, so choose based on your preference or the color of the conduit itself.

Q: My landscape speakers are about 120 feet from the amplifier. Which gauge should I use?

At 120 feet with a standard outdoor amplifier in the 50 to 150 watt range, use 12 AWG OFC. This keeps resistance low enough to maintain clean output at that distance. If you are running two speaker pairs from one amp channel, step up to 10 AWG.

Q: Do you carry brown direct burial wire in 4-conductor for multi-zone setups?

Yes, we carry 4-conductor brown direct burial in 12 AWG and 14 AWG. For questions about availability or bulk quantities, email support@gearit.com.

Brown jacket blends into mulch beds and garden paths. CL3 OFC, UV-stable, rated for direct burial without conduit.

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Overview

Why landscapers and installers choose brown

Landscaping installers have known about brown outdoor speaker wire for years — it's one of those professional-grade choices that isn't obvious until you've done a few installs. Brown cable laid across a mulch bed, along a garden path, or through a planting border is invisible. The same cable in black looks like an electrical hazard lying across the yard.

GEARit's brown direct burial speaker wire uses the same CL3-rated UV-stable jacket as the black line — the only difference is the jacket color. OFC conductors are standard in the brown lineup, appropriate for the longer outdoor runs where this color is most useful (landscape audio systems rarely have short runs).

Available in 12 and 16 AWG 2-conductor and 4-conductor builds. The 4-conductor brown builds are particularly useful for landscape audio where you're running to multiple rock speakers or in-ground speakers along a single trench line.

1 Step 1 · Pick the gauge

Thicker wire = lower resistance = cleaner power.

Every foot of speaker wire adds a tiny amount of resistance between the amp and the driver. The longer the run and the higher the wattage, the thicker the conductor needs to be to keep voltage drop under 5%.

Short runs (<50 ft): 16 AWG is plenty.
Most home theaters: 14 AWG sweet spot.
Long / high-power runs: step up to 12 or 10 AWG.

Interactive · gauge picker

Tell us the run. We'll size the wire.

Run length 5 ft

5 ft50100150200+ ft

Amplifier power per channel

Recommended

14 AWG OFC OFC speaker wire

Short home-theater run — 14 AWG OFC is the sweet spot for 5.1 / 7.1.

Shop 14 AWG OFC

2 Step 2 · Pick the conductor

OFC vs CCA — the single biggest sound-quality decision.

Copper-clad aluminum looks like copper but is mostly aluminum, with roughly 60% more resistance. Over a 50 ft run pushing real wattage, you can measure (and hear) the difference.

Interactive · conductor picker

What are you wiring up?

Pick the scenario that fits and we'll tell you which conductor wins.

Recommended · OFC

OFC — the home-theater standard.

5.1 / 7.1 receivers and longer runs to surrounds reward pure copper. Lower resistance means cleaner dialogue, tighter bass, and full headroom on dynamic scenes.

Shop OFC speaker wire

SPEC

OFC PICK

Oxygen-Free Copper

CCA PICK BUDGET

Copper-Clad Aluminum

Conductor

99.9% pure copper

Aluminum core, copper skin

Resistance vs OFC

Baseline (lowest)

≈ 60% higher

Best run length

Up to 200+ ft

Under 50 ft

Power handling

Any amp, any speaker

Low to mid power

In-wall code

CL2 / CL3 available

Indoor short runs

Recommended for

Home theater · pro · outdoor

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