16 AWG vs. 14 AWG

teligent

I just finished wiring my 7.1 HT setup using Acoustic Research's 16 AWG flat speaker wires. The main (2 fronts + center) speakers are 27 feet away from the receiver. The rest (4 surrounds) are within 5-8 feet range.

The AVR-630 manual strongly recommends using 14 AWG wires or lower. Unfortunately, I came to know about this only after I'd wired my entire basement.

Does anyone know if there will be any significant difference in Sound Quality between 16 AWG and 14 AWG? Is the difference worth re-wiring my entire setup?

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Harmon Kardon AVR-630
Polk Audio RTi Speakers
Panasonic L500U
Bravo D2

gatemplin

If it is not too much trouble, I would re-wire the fronts with 12 gauge considering they are so far away. Maybe you can use the 16 gauge to pull the new wire through. I would also do 12 or 14 for the surround.

pjdami

I had this link saved from a thread a while back and thought it was a handy reference because it incorporates length and gauge of wire used as well as impedence of speakers:

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable

These may be just rules of thumb for safety of your receiver's amps but you may realize "better sound" with some thicker wire as gatemplin has already stated. Based on the charts you should be okay for now and can try some thicker wire in the future if you are curious for your mains.

Eric W

I think you'll be just fine. I wouldnt loose any sleep over changing over the 16 to 14 gauge.

Early B.

You probably won't be able to tell the difference with basic wire. If you decide to change out the speaker wire, get some good quality cables. be prepared to spend a lot more money than you spent on the AR wire. Then you'll hear a difference.

teligent

Thanks all.

I don't mind spending the money. What brands should I look for. I've decided to replace the wires with 12 or 14 AWG.

Thanks for your input.

Oldwriter

Sir: If I were you I would not stop at 14-AWG, but go right down to 12-gauge - or even 10-gauge for that long a run.
May I also put you onto a site that sells very good, wallet-easy wires? It's called Blue Jeans Cable. Find it on Google, and you will get not only an Online catalog, but also some very fine explanations for the various types and sizes of wire they sell.
I recently re-did my system using their Belden 10-gauge speaker wire and their coax digital interconnect cable. In both cases, after extensive testing, my wife (who has better-than-excellent hearing) said that the difference was dramatic.
FYI, I had been using Monster 16-gauge speaker wire and a Toslink optical digital cable from CD player to receiver.
I hesitate to get involved in "wire wars," but I have found Blue Jeans to be great value, and great wire.
BTW - I am using Polk RTi6 speakers and an Onkyo 701 receiver. My mains are 8 feet from the amp.
Respectfully, Larry R.

dorokusai

I suggest the SVS PB2+, but I'm no subwoofer guru. They will stop by in time.

If you do want to step up your cables, then due so with a DIY design. They are still cost effective, and a positive upgrade in performance over generic products. These are two very popular, proven cables manufacturers:

www.signalcable.com (5% discount for Club Polk members)

www.bluejeanscable.com

Good luck.

polkatese

Mark,
have you seen SC Silver Resolution line? It looks awesome, well, for the price, it should be. I wonder if Frank (SC0) is moving upstream to compete with the big boys.

dorokusai

Yea, I have a pair on the way for the demo program. He said it was only natural to eventually make some silver IC's

Frank also makes some great Y-Adapters and F-Type interconnects. He can make whatever you want, just have to ask him. He made a Analog 2 splitter for me, looks real cool and let me get rid of the last dreaded Monster Cable piece I had I have another splitter on the way with right angle RCA's...I'll post a pic when I get it.

I am wondering when he will get into more hardcore video cables.

ezc

Bigger is better, or multipul runs. Our small system in the shop had monster cable z1 speaker cable single run which sounded good! The system consists of a Onkyo txds595 receiver played in direct mode (cd), moded tosh 3950 cd/dvd player, NHT Sb3 bookshelf spekaers & currently sigma 3' ic. I had a pair of 10' Z1 cables for sale on videogon & got stoopid offers so I decided not to relist the cable. Last night I said screw it Im going to add the Z1 to the system, now having two Z1 cables to each speaker. Yes there is a noticable difference. Its not a huge difference but noticable. Lows are cleaner, mids seem more open, & the highs float. The decay on the low notes are much cleaner & smoother! Our main system currently uses diy cable five 10awg stranded cables ( total of 10 wires for each speaker 5 for + & 5 for -), each cable has different amount of strands for the highs, mids & lows, The sound is wonderfull!!! Compared to the Sigma 8' speaker cables we were using the diy is a better sounding cable, more information wider, higher & deeper soundstage! Great cables dosnt have to cost you alot! Try adding a 10 awg stranded (may be 16 strands) to your current set up & listen, than add another 10 guage stranded ( say 24-30 strands) & listen again. This is what we did until we found what sounded good & what didnt! We bought most of the cables from home depot for very little $. Standard stranded electrical wire.

BassAce

What you could do is take your extra 16 Awg (if you have enough) and wire that in parallel with your existing wiring allowing the current to to more the one path, and dropping the overall resistance of the wire. Basically if you have a 16 awg wire going from your reciever to your left rear speaker already, then wire another 16 awg wire in the polarity and to the same speaker. I wouldn't think it would make an audible difference even if you used 14 awg. But, this technique with two 16 awg wires may simulate as one 13-14 awg wire(I don't remember the cross section diameter of each wire). Or if you already purchased 14 awg wire just use the same technique. I hope that helps out. Hold on did ezc already say the same thing as I did! My bad. I wrote all that for nothing.

bknauss

Originally posted by pjdami
I had this link saved from a thread a while back and thought it was a handy reference because it incorporates length and gauge of wire used as well as impedence of speakers:

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable

These may be just rules of thumb for safety of your receiver's amps but you may realize "better sound" with some thicker wire as gatemplin has already stated. Based on the charts you should be okay for now and can try some thicker wire in the future if you are curious for your mains.

Good link, but the only problem with that table is that it doesn't account for power, which is the biggest factor in choosing the awg. of the cable along with length. If you have a 2 ohm speaker system at 10W and another 2 ohm speaker system at 250W, you would obviously need a larger guage for the 250W system. 12 guage seems to be the standard for speaker wire.

Depending on power and length, if you use something smaller, you might lose a decent amount of voltage. This leads to heat, larger THD, etc etc. It might not be audible, but it does happen.