I need to power a camera but there isn't any power near by. It is 2 prong connection. Exactly where I need the power is a speaker cable with the other end right near a wall outlet. I am tempted to connect the speaker cable to a socket and plug to power my camera. Looking at the cable it looks about the same gauge as a lamp wire.

It seems that copper is copper and that it shouldn't have any issue with the amp drawn by a camera. Is the insulation a concern? Why wouldn't this work?

If this is a decent audio system, the wire may very well be #14 wire, which would be fine to power a camera, just be sure you use well attached proper male and female connector bodies.

Good systems with large speakers are better with #14 and larger wire.

Use the identified conductor for the neutral, the larger blade of a two wire plug. This is the half of cable that will have ribs, or some other method to identify this one wire the entire length.

Even if the cable is #16 would be fine for a camera, as long as not too long, say 15-20 feet, plus must be careful as the smaller wire is more fragile, so keep away from physical damage.

Of course I need to state the obvious, this cable will be for line voltage power only.Gotta say it, never know.

Thanks for the help. The wire does seem to be about #14-16. Thanks for the tip on the male and female adapters. I will carefully see if I can somehow use the speaker wire as a pull wire first and if that doesn't seem easy will try the adapters.