question about running speaker wire??

buy the cheap stuff... you'll be fine...

To quote one of my previous replys:
"Electricity is the flowing of valence electrons through the molecular lattice. This means that any wire as a conductor merely needs three main things to be specified. The Diameter of the wire, the length, and its lattice structure. The lattice structure is usually defined by the material of the wire material (unless its super conductive in which case the cooper pairs help going through the lattice without energy loss). The lattice structure is what defines the resistance of the conductor, and so also judges the diameter needed to overcome the resistance as the length is increased. Smaller wires have more resistance than larger ones."

In other words, the longer the cable run gets, the larger diameter the wire will need to be to make up for that distance, a direct correlation between the two you could say. But, for most runs that any speaker's will be subjected to, 16 gauge will work fine.

Go with the cheap stuff, but go to HD or Lowes and get lamp cord or outdoor low voltage wire for about $.40/ft for 12g, or less for 14g. While 16g may be technically acceptable, it is the bare minimum.

Rob

You need 100', or 200' if the wire was single strand, right?

Get this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

And if you want to use banana plugs, also get them from the same site.

I suggest 14 gauge wire instead of 16 gauge.

My own guideline is 14 gauge wire for runs (including the part coming out of the wall and going to the speaker or amp) up to 30 feet. Some experts say to use 12 gauge wire for runs exceeding 20 feet.

You will probably get away with 16 gauge wire for 30 plus foot runs if you use 8 ohm (not 4 ohm) speakers and your ear is not that critical.

For the same gauge wire, any kind including the cheapest will do. I believe that "oxygenated" has no significance other than making wires in decorative transparent insulation not turn ugly green as fast.

Stranded wire is less stiff and therefore easier to work with except that you need to be more careful making connections and preventing short circuits from stray strands.

Video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

@ $0.40/ft ($40 for a 100ft of wire), that seems high compared to the $24ish roll of 100ft 12g oxygen free speaker wire you could gen on monoprice.

Those guys should not be called experts

If Monoprice is cheaper, by all means use them. I just mentioned HD/Lowes because it's usually close and convenient, and to point out that pretty much anything will do for speaker wire. No need to get fancy.

Rob

You have truely amazing ears! Care to guess just how much the frequency response might be altered by using 16 rather than 14 AWG wire. I leave it as an exercise for the student to calculate the power loss.


I think you mean Oxygen free wire, but you are correct OFC and run of the mill copper wire are essentially identical in terms of resistance and speed of signal. Turning green is another subject.