Speaker cable size

acmf74

I will be setting up my first HT very soon. My concern is on the gauge of wire I should use. Should I use the same gauge all around or does it even matter? Thanks.

jgido759

I'm sure a lot of others more knowledgable than I will chime in here, but you should be safe with either 14 or 12 gauge wire, depending on the length of the run. From what I have seen, most on this board prefer 12 gauge.

John K.

AC, an excellent source of information on speaker wire gauges and the wiring in general is found here . Because of the differences in the length of the runs 18ga would often be fine for the mains while 14ga might be a good choice for distant surrounds. As a practical matter, however, buying a larger quantity of a single gauge may be more convenient and cost-effective. For example, many years ago I bought a large quantity of 16ga lamp cord at a very good price and which I continue to use for all my setups.

F1nut

acmf74, you would be well advised to ignore the link posted above, it is a terrible source of information. The author rails against high end cable, yet turns around and uses Cardas wire in his speakers. Can you say hypocrite!?!

Zitro

Play it safe, buy a spool of 14 gauge wire, call it a day and start enjoying the sound of movies and music.

wutadumsn23

12-14 AWG from Monoprice.com or Bluejeanscable.com will suit you just fine. Good luck.

-Jeff

comfortablycurt

John K. wrote: »

AC, an excellent source of information on speaker wire gauges and the wiring in general is found here . Because of the differences in the length of the runs 18ga would often be fine for the mains while 14ga might be a good choice for distant surrounds. As a practical matter, however, buying a larger quantity of a single gauge may be more convenient and cost-effective. For example, many years ago I bought a large quantity of 16ga lamp cord at a very good price and which I continue to use for all my setups.

How many times must that link be posted?:rolleyes:

F1nut wrote: »

acmf74, you would be well advised to ignore the link posted above, it is a terrible source of information. The author rails against high end cable, yet turns around and uses Cardas wire in his speakers. Can you say hypocrite!?!

+1


I've always used 14awg in my HT, and I've never had any problems with it.

As far as my 2 channel speaker cables go...I don't even know what gauge they are. That's not what I was considering when I bought them.

EdDinIL

As a relative noob to HT, I went along with similar suggestions a month ago and bought a 300 ft. spool of 14 ga. speaker wire from Monoprice, along with enough banana plugs to handle 7 speakers. I didn't feel the need to spend the extra $$ on 12 ga. wire, and I wanted the extra footage because I'm a firm believer in measure once, cut twice. I feel I made the right choice.

mantis

With 4 ohm load speakers I would not use anything less then 14g wire. Use good quality cable like Liberty , Audioquest , Beldon . All these companies make custom In wall design wire you can buy a spool of. It's fantastic quality and you can pretty much use any speakers with it in a tipical sized theater room with runs under 50 feet. 12g will cost you a bit more and add no benefit in short runs. If your rear speakers are over 50 ft runs then step up to a spool of 12g otherwise go 14g.

Hillbilly61

It is because the table is sound from an engineering perspective.

While others may refer to the web poster as a hypocrite, the science behind the posting remains sound from a wire size/current supplied standpoint.

You can be dumb and run the largest diameter speaker cable with good results or want to be smart and investigate nuances ... including the benefits provided by Blue Jean and other high end cable companies. Most of the "superior" cables are shielded and are of large diameter.

tbui2007

i bought the 12ga from monoprice for my rear and surrounds and it sounds great

acmf74

tbui2007 wrote: »

i bought the 12ga from monoprice for my rear and surrounds and it sounds great

just ordered a roll of the 12awg and a optical (toslink) cable

packetjones

Good call on the wire. It will work great for you. You will be happy with it for a long time to come. As you continue to upgrade your gear you can look at getting some higher quality wire and see if it makes a difference to you. Some people hear and some people do not. It is all up to you if it is worth it or not.

Enjoy

ikolbyi

14 guage "in-wall" otherwise known as plenum rated wire is good enough for runs as long as 200 feet without signal degregation. You can pick up a spool at Home Depot very inexpensive.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xqd/R-100001123/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

This wire can also be used outdoor.

Don't waste your money on brand-name "speaker wire".

concealer404

kolbtod wrote: »

14 guage "in-wall" otherwise known as plenum rated wire is good enough for runs as long as 200 feet without signal degregation. You can pick up a spool at Home Depot very inexpensive.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xqd/R-100001123/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

This wire can also be used outdoor.

Don't waste your money on brand-name "speaker wire".

My quality of life plummets when people tell me that i wasted money on my brand-name speaker wire. Please think of what impact your comments have on a person's self-esteem.

mikedup2003

14g monoprice and never look back. Trust me I researched this to death

concealer404

mikedup2003 wrote: »

14g monoprice and never look back. Trust me I researched this to death

How much listening did your research include? What else have you compared it to?

zingo

acmf74 wrote: »

just ordered a roll of the 12awg and a optical (toslink) cable

Bingo.

skipf

concealer404 wrote: »

My quality of life plummets when people tell me that i wasted money on my brand-name speaker wire. Please think of what impact your comments have on a person's self-esteem.

:DI'm another of those fools that uses something other than zip cord wire. At least it's nice to know I have company.

concealer404

skipf wrote: »

:DI'm another of those fools that uses something other than zip cord wire. At least it's nice to know I have company.

You've got a LOT of company in this crowd. It's good for the ol' self-esteem.

cnoat

High Quality = Better Quality
Get what you pay for.
Nice Setup don't cheese now

Zitro

cnoat wrote: »

High Quality = Better Quality
Get what you pay for.
Nice Setup don't cheese now

huh? lol

mikedup2003

copper is copper. last time i checked high priced speakers didn't use golden wires. why pay more?

Zitro

mikedup2003 wrote: »

copper is copper. last time i checked high priced speakers didn't use golden wires. why pay more?

Popcorn, anyone?

concealer404

mikedup2003 wrote: »

copper is copper. last time i checked high priced speakers didn't use golden wires. why pay more?

Right-o, sport.

ben62670

Home depot wire suck. Well unless you like your wire to turn green.

Knucklehead

I really hope nobody gets banned because of this thread.:o

Zitro

ben62670 wrote: »

Home depot wire suck. Well unless you like your wire to turn green.

Mine did, after only 1.5 months. I was amazed at how crappy the wires were lol. So glad Conradicles hooked me up with something better; thanks again man if you read this!

Zitro

Knucklehead wrote: »

I really hope nobody gets banned because of this thread.:o

I think it's inevitable with cable threads.

ben62670

mikedup2003 wrote: »

copper is copper. last time i checked high priced speakers didn't use golden wires. why pay more?

So there are no different grades of copper? The is no difference in the dielectric constrains of the insulation? There is no difference in how the cable is manufactured?
Thanks for your insight and experiences.
Ben

kevhed72

I use 10 awg for my surrounds...just because it was I had on hand.
I wonder if this is too-high.....:rolleyes:
(It did sound pretty crappy with my fronts though)