I am using traditional speaker wire with my z-5500s from logitech.

My only question here is if i can mix two different gauges. I switched my setup in my room and now have to extend some wire so rather than going out and buying extra wire, i want to use the spare that i have. Problem is that i'm not sure the gauge of one of the wires. I know one is 18 gauge and the other may possibly be 16 or 20.

Would there be a problem mixing these wires, or will mixing have a big effect on the speaker and possibly even cause them to blow?

Thanks

Try to keep the wiring all the same just so there will be no resistance issues.

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

Gauge miscegenation is no longer prohibited. Mixing gauges may not produce hybrid vigor, but it does not cause problems.

In any run of tens of feet the differences in resistivity are completely inaudible. You won't hear, I won't and those who claim to hear it are delusional, or want to sell you something or impress you with the wonderfulness of their audio knowledge.

Resistance is a direct function of gauge and length. Two feet has twice the resistance of one foot and so on. Here is the resistance/foot of the gauges you mention and the runs for 5% of a 4 ohm speaker. Double the runs for 8 ohm speakers

20 0.0105 ohms/foot 10 feet
18 0.0066 ohms/foot 15 feet
16 0.0042 ohms/foot 24 feet

The 5% figure is not a law of nature and values greater than that are unlikely to cause any change you can hear. Note it will take a total wire resistance approaching the impedance of your speakers for the change in volume to be clearly discernable.

A buddy of mine bought a new home and the family that moved out had existing wiring and my friend did just that mixing gauges and he had all sorts of audio dropouts and problems,
Only to rip out all the existing wiring and replace with new wiring and that's why I mentioned keeping the same type of wiring consistant.

The problem was likely in the connections of the wiring, or maybe even in broken wiring. It was not the mixing of gauge (unless he was trying to cram hundreds of watts down a partial 20-gauge wire -- and only then after significant use causes heat degradation)

A buddy of mine bought a new home and the family that moved out had existing wiring and my friend did just that mixing gauges and he had all sorts of audio dropouts and problems,
Only to rip out all the existing wiring and replace with new wiring and that's why I mentioned keeping the same type of wiring consistant.


I thought you were allergic to bullshit?

well its official mixing gauge does not do anything to the speaker/sound clarity.

i went out and bought 14 gauge yesterday and made the extensions and things sounded off somewhat. and then i decided i didnt like the new setup, which was the reason i need extension in the first place, so i put everything back the way it was and got rid of the extensions.

sound was the same, based solely on the fact that the output from the front right was sort of off when running tests through my computer.

then again, perhaps the sound with the extensions was off because something was wrong with the audio software on my computer which i had to reinstall. haha. so yeh, im an audio scrub.

but thanks for the responses everyone.

I thought you were allergic to bullshit?
No just a$$holes like you.

LOL...my allergies act up everytime you post...I'm allergic to bullshit as well.... ;)

No just a$$holes like you.

I think I'll pour myself a glass of wine to even the keel before returning to this thread. In fact lets all have our tipple of choice prior to round 3.

In vino veritas, or if you prefer it, illegitimi non carborundum.

After drinking, I realize that what we should recommend is mixing five feet of 12-gauge stranded copper wire with ten feet of 18 gauge solid aluminum wiring, for the best of both worlds!

But only for the mains.