In wall Wire...What Gauge?

epjohnson

At that stage in basement HT room to run wire... also building bar area outside of HT for 2 channel set-up (will house in wall polks).

Any advice as to which gauge wire to run for these 2?
New to site...was reading thru many threads but I keep getting sidetracked... INFORMATION OVERLOAD!

PolkThug

12AWG

http://www.cobaltcable.com/product/in-wall_speaker_cable.htm

Toxis

I second the Thug...

faster100

12 alittle overkill for that application? I would say 14 guage for long runs and 16 for short runs.... IMO

Toxis

but why? When is having thicker speaker wire bad? Less resistance over longer runs... how is this a bad thing?

epjohnson

Thanks for the info... was leaning in the direction of 12/2 anyway, but wanted other's take on situation before laying out .

How versed are you guys in DVD/DVR HD stuff?
posted a thread re: units available to upconvert to HD
quality that also have hard drive.

faster100

where did i say it was bad? I simply stated its overkill for external speakers or surround "type" applications, shoot run 8 guage if you think bigger is better... In the grand scheme of things 14 -16 is always reccomened for smaller or surround type speaker applications... except extremly long runs over 100 or more feet on a single speaker,

dbournival

The 12ga is overkill, I have 14ga for my inwalls installed by Tweeter, and that may also be overkill. I saw a professionally installed whole house system with Paradigm speakers. The boathouse had 4 Stylus 350's on it, and they were at least 120 feet (straight run) from the AMP. So the total wire length would probably have been no less than 150 feet and 16ga was used.

okiepolkie

Since Tour has not posted this link already, I'll fill in for him: Wire Guage Guide

epjohnson

That last bit of info was extremely helpful... especially since all of my runs are under 50'.

Tour2ma

LOL... Thanks, Zach... You interested in a personal secretary position?

epj,
Welcome...

Note that the table is stating minimums. When going in-wall you've got one shot, so consider bumping up a guage, and even pulling second runs for bi-wiring.

Even if your first installation cannot take advantage of the install, one down the road may be able to...

Toxis

Originally posted by dbournival
The 12ga is overkill, I have 14ga for my inwalls installed by Tweeter, and that may also be overkill. I saw a professionally installed whole house system with Paradigm speakers. The boathouse had 4 Stylus 350's on it, and they were at least 120 feet (straight run) from the AMP. So the total wire length would probably have been no less than 150 feet and 16ga was used.

I've seen electricians run 18 and 20 awg wire through out houses with many runs over 200 ft. Does this mean that the quality of sound wouldn't be any different than a 12 awg at 40 ft? Just because a stereo shop has installed something like that before, doesn't mean they are the know-all/end-all of installs.