Speaker Wire: is 20 gauge enough to push 90W?

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Here's the deal, I bought a Panasonic stereo a couple of weeks ago and while installing it I realized to my horror that the wire they were using to connect the speakers was tiny :Q . Now whenever I hear it I always think it would be better if I changed the wires. I'm not so worried about the tweeters as I am with the woofers.

These are 3-way speakers with 90W/channel for the 70-120Hz range and 40W for anything higher (its bi-wired). So my question is this, is it really worth the trouble to try modding them to a thicker wire? The wires go directly into the speakers so I would probably have to do a bit of soldering, which I would like to avoid if possible.

Also what kind for wire do you suggest I use to replace the current wire? Also, I'm thinking of using these speakers with my computer but I'm not sure whether the unit amplifies signals coming in through the AUX in, any way to know for sure?

Thanx in advance,
-Ice

P.S.: Errrr, maybe this is the wrong forum for this

 

[LAUST]

I'm not a pro on the speaker wire side but it sounds kinda small to me. 20ga is some Tiny stuff

 

[lowtech1]

20 gauge is okay, but you will loses some sound quality at the mid~high range if you wire is too long.

I have tested my system and found that I could tell a slight diff between 18 gauge & 22 gauge at 16 feet, but can't tell the diff when cut the 22 gauge down to 8 feet. And, there were bit more prominate sound quality when compare the 22 gauge vs 16, 14 & 12, but can't tell the diff when all wire are cut down to 3 feet. I can't tell the diff between sound quality of the 16~12 gauge.
(Test was done on an 8 ohms system).

 

[flot]

Well, it's easy enough to find out. Go buy some 14 ga and see if you hear a difference. If not, no big deal you're out $8. If you hear a difference, great - cheap mod. Chances are it will make a SLIGHT difference but probably not anything too major. It may be noticable though, and certainly won't cost much to find out.

As for the aux input, yes that would be amplified like everything else.

 

[divinemartyr]

I wouldn't recommend wire so small for normal applications. For subwoofers (drivers 8 inches or larger) you can theoretically get beenfits from wire as large as 12 gauge, however, 16 gauge should be appropriate in nearly all applications. You should probably go with something larger than 20 gauge however.

dm

 

[Ameesh]

20 gauge seems small to me, why not just use 12 or 14 gauge? speaker wire is really cheap, radio shack has 1000' for like $20.

 

[d33pt]

i think 12-14ga is too big for just speakers.. but 16ga would be perfect