Can I dmage my speaker doing this?

1lakerfan

I recently bought 12 Guage speaker wire and locking banana plugs for my Polk RTi10's (fronts) and Polk CSi5 (center) but I am using 22 guage speaker wire for my surrounds which are surround speakers that came in my old Home theatre in a box from Onkyo. In other words, I am asking is it all right to use one guage for the front speakers (12 guage) and another guage for the surruonds (22 guage) without damaging the speakers?

rskarvan

No damage will result. Your rear speakers may be attenuated (reduced volume) as a result of the very thin wire on a long run. In effect, the result will be a reduced load on your amplifier. It may not sound as good. But, in no way are you endangering either your speakers or your amp.

louthewiz

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

Carl333

What an extremely interesting and informative link that you posted louthewiz. For now, I'm sticking with my 16 awg. lamp wire. My runs to my rear sats. are less than the max. 48 ft. as suggested in the article.

It would be interesting to hear some comments from some of the senior Polk forum contributors or audiophiles.

McLoki

I noticed a big difference in the bass from my sub (about a 7' run of speaker cable to my passive sub) when I switched from 16 (or maybe 18) guage speaker wire to the 10 guage I am using now.

Either way - it was less than 7' long and there was a big difference. Just saying your mileage may vary.....

Michael

louthewiz

I use 12 and 14 wire for my system and it all sounds very good, as for interconnects I buy my cables at,
www.monoprice.com.

dorokusai

Unless you connect the other end to an electrical outlet, there is no harm in using that gauge at all.

There is a plethora of wire/cable information available on the internet, not every link is the absolute rule.

Carl333

Just wondering dorokusai if you had a chance to read the contents to the link in this post and what you thought about it. WOW!! With 11K posts here I think some of us who frequent this forum would benefit from you sharing your point of view.

dorokusai

I'm intimately familiar with Roger Russel's information and its a great reference. He's a pioneer in sound, and a rock in McIntosh gear. While I don't agree with some of his points, of which we've had actual dialogue, his final statement to me was simply "Hearing is believing."

I couldn't agree more. Isn't that what this is all about?

While it may be neither here nor there, its true. I can't tell you what you hear, and honestly, I don't care. I can only offer you my opinion.

You need to subscribe to your own theory of cables, amps, tubes, etc...it ultimately has little to do with me or anyone, as it does to your own ears.

engtaz

Good point doro

F1nut

I wonder, louthewiz, is that the only weapon in your anti-cable arsenal?


Carl, I agree that you have to hear things for yourself, so don't rely solely on what you read and especially that posted link.

tonyb

dorokusai wrote: »

I'm intimately familiar with Roger Russel's information and its a great reference. He's a pioneer in sound, and a rock in McIntosh gear. While I don't agree with some of his points, of which we've had actual dialogue, his final statement to me was simply "Hearing is believing."

I couldn't agree more. Isn't that what this is all about?

While it may be neither here nor there, its true. I can't tell you what you hear, and honestly, I don't care. I can only offer you my opinion.

You need to subscribe to your own theory of cables, amps, tubes, etc...it ultimately has little to do with me or anyone, as it does to your own ears.

Hit it outta the park...again.

This debate really gets soooo old....what don't people understand about
trusting their own ears??This hobby we all subscribe to is very subjective and letting your own ears guide you....well,that advice has been given no fewer than 1000 times.More here will tell you cables do make a diff. than not,but in the end as we always say,trust your own ears,on your gear,in your listening enviorment....1001 now.

Serendipity

No, it won't damage your speakers.

However, from my experience the larger resistance is tough on the receiver. My Onkyo TX-SR702 played softly when connected with 24 gauge speaker wire, but when I replaced this with 12 gauge speaker wire the receiver played a bit louder.

The thin speaker wire is similar to adding resistance to your speakers. It won't damge anything though.