Review on Monoprice Nimbus Series 12 Gauge AWG 2 Conductor CMP-Rated Speaker Wire/Cable - 250ft UL Plenum Rated, 100% Pure Bare Copper with Color Coded Conductors: High-Quality Audio Solution for Professionals by Tom Podolski

The most conductive part of the cable. It's a few (100+?) stranded copper wires and looks like real 12AWG to me. Some others appear to be "12AWG" but actually have a smaller bunch of strands when you use stripping tools on them. I took off two stars for the material of the jacket. It is a hard plastic that is very difficult to bend smoothly. Ironically, this makes stripping easier when making terminal connections. Just cut the jacket where you want to take a break and then click like a stick. The plastic sleeve peels off cleanly, leaving a nice smooth edge. I would have preferred and expected a jacket that is more flexible and trumpet-like. The plastic sleeve resembles shrink tubing, on which the wires twisted inside are clearly visible.