12g speaker wire

jones12

I plan to upgrade to 12g speaker wire. Right now I'm using 16g AR wire. I was told that should only change out the L/R fronts & center to the 12g & leave the sur. with the 16g. From rec. to sur. is about a 25ft run. Heard some good things on a 12g wire from Sound King at partsexpress, anyone using this wire. Open to suggestions on other brands too. Thanks for the help!

Frank Z

Wire is a real hot topic around here, so you'll get all kinds of advice on this issue. For the speakers you are using (RM series) I would think that 14 gauge would be adequate. You could rewire the mains and center only, but if your budget allows, do'em all.

jones12

Thanks for the reply Frank. I'm going to pick up the rti70 & rti38 & upgrade the center to the csi30 or 40 in abut 2 months. Would the 14g work with this setup. I thought getting the 12g now that by the time I get rti's it would have the time to burn in. I'm somewhat new to this, so I'm going on what I've read on this forum & on Hometheaterforum.com. Do you have any suggestions on wire brands? Thanks!

faster100

on a side note, don't wait to long on the RTI upgrade.. the new line comes out soon and the old (now current rti's) will get hard to find in the coming months because of all the deals and sales going on, 14 awg would be "ok" but the larger the better.. 12 would be a nice upgrade for the new speakers.

John K.

Jones, buying 12ga instead of 16ga speaker wire wouldn't necessarily be an "upgrade". The length of the run is the primary factor in determining what gauge you need, so contrary to what someone told you, if anything, the longer run to the surrounds might need heavier wire than the shorter run to the mains. This site has an excellent discussion of the topic. As you see from the table, 16ga should be just fine in your situation, so don't waste your money. Use it for something that'll make a difference.

gmorris

jones12,

here are my 2 cents.

I use Monster Cable XPHP. It is 12 AWG, and I get it for $1 per foot at a local specialty shop. I was a bit doubtful whether speaker cable actually made a diference or not. I am a relative newcomer to the world of higher end audio. I tried an experiment just to see if the XPHP was all it is cracked up to be. I switched it out with some cheesy Radio Shack 16 AWG speaker wire. I have a pair of R30's as my stereo pair. The results were very convincing. The XPHP sounded better in every regard. Bass, treble, imaging, all the catch phrases. The thing that stands out most to me is the bass is tighter with the XPHP. Not quite louder, but tighter and less boomy. So, I strongly suggest Monster Cable XPHP based on performance & cost.

Just some other tidbits. I use the Monster Cable Quik Lock series of connectors. I've got the Gold Angled Spades (part # QL-GAS H) which are awesome. I believe spade connectors are the best type of connector to use on binding posts. I get them from Parts Express.