Audio Systems: speaker cords, guage 1, lamp cord

Question
Hi Parke,

I want to add two more speakers to my surround sound system, and I have a lot of speaker cords already on hand and in good condition.  But none of them are long enough to make the connection without splicing two cords together.

If a make a good solder connection (just one in each cord), will this be O.K. -- or will it adversely affect the sound quality?

Thanks for your help.

Answer
Tom,

 Sure, you could (I've done it to cobble together a system in my garage, but don't tell anyone)... but why would you want to?  
 If you're worried about preserving sound quality by using expensive Monster cable, but don't have the dough to buy new 50-ft cables... DON'T.

 My suggestion - go to the hardware store and buy lamp cord (a.k.a. "Zip cord").  I'm a scientist, I test things... audio performance with regular old 18-gauge $25/spool lamp cord compared to "low-oxygen" 16-guage $1/foot monster cable is indistinguishable out to about 70 feet.  If you really want bigger gauge, run two lines of cord in parallell for a net 12-guage equivalent wire.

 If you truly just don't feel like getting more cable, solder away - butt the wires up parallell/side-by-side and solder together for at least an inch, make sure the fusion is clean, and use heat-shrink (or, "shudder", electrician's tape) to isolate the two poles from eachother.
 (I also added another bit of shrink-wrap around the whole cable at the junction to make a "strain releif" and make the whole thing act more like one continuous run.  I also hid the junction behind a cabinet so no one would see what a dirty thing I had done.)

 Enjoy, good luck!