"Star Quad" refers to the cable geometry. In a "Star Quad" configuration (I believe that name is copyright of
Canare), the four 14ga conductors are twisted as one unit. This yields superior noise rejection and inductance measurements (pretty sure about the L...), but with higher capacitance, though nothing outrageous, when compared to normal zip cord speaker wire.
If you want to use such a speaker wire (Canare's version is the 4S11, found on
Blue Jeans, Westlake Electronic,
Have Inc. and other places), I would recommend that you use two conductors for each positive and negative, yielding an effective guage of 11 in each direction. Unless you're making an ungrounded power cord, you shouldn't use this cable because it lacks a ground wire. That, and its diameter might be too large for a normal power receptacle termination. It's a great speaker cable though. It won Audioholics "Custom Install Cable of the Year" for 2004. The best bulk prices I've seen for it are at
Westlake Electronic. Do a search for Canare under Bulk Cable and it should be the first item.
There are other similar cables available at
Ram Electronics and
Impact Acoustics.
Little tidbit of info, it's the exact same cable used in
River Cable's StarFlex SPX speaker cable. Great cable. Oh, and Have Inc. is the parent company of River Cable.
