what gauge speaker wire do i really need?

[ElFenix]

i've got 12 gauge at the moment but it's difficult to hide and will require me to drill big holes in the AV shelf area of the house i'm renting. i'm not running anything particularly high power, just some polk stuff from fry's.

 

[AlienCraft]

How far & what is the wattage rating of speakers / amp?

 

[Nohr]

Speaker Wire Table

 

[Evadman]

4/0 for safety's sake.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
How far & what is the wattage rating of speakers / amp?

8 ohm, less than 30 feet

Originally posted by: Nohr
Speaker Wire Table

thanks

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: Evadman
4/0 for safety's sake.

Ask your power company to supply only counterclockwise spin electrons, you're gonna hear the difference!. Make sure you hire an exorcist to get the demons out of the cable too.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
How far & what is the wattage rating of speakers / amp?

8 ohm, less than 30 feet

ohms are impedance, I'm talking output rating of amp in watts and speaker's wattage rating on back panel.

If the amp is less than 100 watts, and you're not going to be rocking the house till the break of dawn, you can use 18 ga with no adverse effects.

 

[jfall]

14-16 awg

 

[Rubycon]

18-2 SO cable will do nicely.

 

[Pepsi90919]

i buy some good 2-conductor outdoor 120V power cable, tin the ends and it does a very good job for much cheaper than "speaker wire".

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Props for the speaker wire table.

As far as I am concerned, the bigger you can afford the better. For my surrounds, I needed about 200 feet total (don't ask). I ended up using 160 feet or so. $100 budget, so off to Lowes I went and got the lowest gauge wire I could afford that fit my criteria.

If only I went to a 7.1 setup, I'd be much better off. Half the wire is unused

 

[daveshel]

I'd like 14 ga for most home hi-fi uses.

 

[AlienCraft]

I once (1978) fed a PA system in a soccer arena in Ecuador with 14 ga ROMEX. Wasn't pretty, but it worked.
Speakers were BULLFROG column speakers w/ 8 columns per side, 8x8in speakers per column. Power were PEAVEY CS-400 amps.
I ran the system in mono and bi-amped it and it was surprisingly pretty good sounding. The speakers were arrayed in banks of two cabs of lows and hi's adjacent to each other
The band was Silver Convention and Santa Esmeralda and the stadium was full 10,000+ people

I've also made AMP to Speaker connections with a couple of coat hangers , straightened out, and wrapped with gaffers tape, in the banana jacks and with a short pigtail with the 1/4in jack soldered onto the end for the speaker side.


let the electrons FLOW, BABY yeah! </austin powers>

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
I once (1978) fed a PA system in a soccer arena in Ecuador with 14 ga ROMEX.

NM-B is quite easy to work with but UF is a PIA.

As long as the resistance and capacitance stay under control, current will prevail and the voice coils will dance.

 

[mazeroth]

You'll be fine with 16 gauge. If you want to have some piece of mind go with 14 gauge.

 

[Kelemvor]

I'd just use 16 for most things but I'm the furthest thing from an audiophile you could have. When I Play music it's just for background noise. But I've never been disappointed with anything I've heard on my system.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Nohr
Speaker Wire Table

Which is WORTHLESS and doesn't take into account much of anything.

12 gauge or less.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
How far & what is the wattage rating of speakers / amp?

8 ohm, less than 30 feet

Originally posted by: Nohr
Speaker Wire Table

thanks

your speakers are NOT 8 ohm.

 

[Nohr]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Nohr
Speaker Wire Table

Which is WORTHLESS and doesn't take into account much of anything.

12 gauge or less.

Because... ?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Nohr

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Nohr
Speaker Wire Table

Which is WORTHLESS and doesn't take into account much of anything.

12 gauge or less.

Because... ?

Because a speaker's impedance is not constant nor flat. It varies with frequency. If you use a wire that is too small it will attentuate certain frequencies.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: spidey07


Because a speaker's impedance is not constant nor flat. It varies with frequency. If you use a wire that is too small it will attentuate certain frequencies.

that's why a speaker's impedance is a NOMINAL rating, not exact.
And while it is theoretically and technically correct about the attenuation you speak of, for all practical purposes, most people will never know the difference.
Which is why MONSTER can charge such big bucks for their BRANDING.

99% of all home stereo & accessory purchases are ego driven.

 

[Cattlegod]

how many amps will you be running through the wire?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: spidey07


Because a speaker's impedance is not constant nor flat. It varies with frequency. If you use a wire that is too small it will attentuate certain frequencies.

that's why a speaker's impedance is a NOMINAL rating, not exact.
And while it is theoretically and technically correct about the attenuation you speak of, for all practical purposes, most people will never know the difference.
Which is why MONSTER can charge such big bucks for their BRANDING.

99% of all home stereo & accessory purchases are ego driven.

You're right. Most people can't tell a difference. I can.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
how many amps will you be running through the wire?

If it's a Polk speaker it isn't going to be much.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: spidey07


Because a speaker's impedance is not constant nor flat. It varies with frequency. If you use a wire that is too small it will attentuate certain frequencies.

that's why a speaker's impedance is a NOMINAL rating, not exact.
And while it is theoretically and technically correct about the attenuation you speak of, for all practical purposes, most people will never know the difference.
Which is why MONSTER can charge such big bucks for their BRANDING.

99% of all home stereo & accessory purchases are ego driven.

You're right. Most people can't tell a difference. I can.

Like I said, ego driven.