I went to my local electrical supplier today to try and get a 1000'
spool of 2 conductor+shield wire for headphone cue runs and also for
general short run balanced wiring...sometimes 30ft or less microphone
runs or balanced line level runs.

They said that they did not carry west penn wire, but they carried
Houston Wire. They had 2conductor+shield 18 gauge (#HW58730).

2 questions:

1) I was curious if the "shield" surrounded the 2 conductors, but it
didnt... it just ran parallel with the other 2 conductors. Is this
OK? Why is it called a "shield" if it doesnt shield, but just runs
parallel?

2) Is the quoted price of $144.50 too much? A friend of mine told me
to expect around $70 for a 1000' spool of westpenn wire.


thx,
frenchy