Will 14 gauge wire for distributed audio system

[wfweiler]

I am putting a distributed audio system into a new house and my longest run (to an outdoor patio) is about 85 feet. This will be for background music only and not critical listening. will 14 gauge wire work? thanks

 

[NutBucket]

yes

 

[Harvey]

First, don't forget to include required turns and vertical runs with the linear distance between the amplifier and the speaker.

This chart on Yamaha's site suggests that 14 guage wire would be a bit light for an 85 foot run. They recommend no more than an 80 feet for 14 guage wire.

For more detailed info, check this Cable Loss Calculator on Electro-Voice's site.

Getting back to the Yamaha chart, see the note for the *asterisk:

* Cable lengths more than 50 feet should be avoided even if the cable size is adequate, as the ability of wire to transfer high frequency sound is diminished regardless of the cable gauge. Best performance is achieved by moving the amplifier(s) closer to the speakers in order to reduce the speaker cable length.

They're right. It's easier to get much better performance from remotely located speakers by running shielded line level signals from the preamp to the power amp (or amps, if you're bi-amping or tri-amping) at each speaker location.

Hope that helps.

 

[NutBucket]

I guess I've never tried measuring the frequency response of speaker wire. However, almost every whole-house audio system I've seen has a central amp.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I guess I've never tried measuring the frequency response of speaker wire. However, almost every whole-house audio system I've seen has a central amp.

Run two conductors side-by-side and you will have capacitance and inductance to go along with the resistance. An RCL circuit can easily limit the highs or lows or everything. Shorter runs are to be preferred...


Brian

 

[Pkeg]

Shorter runs are always good.
Here is good reading/charts on insertion loss which is what you will run into with that long of runs
http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge