Help! what cables do I need?

14 AWG wire will be just fine for any in room speaker wire run, between rooms moderate runs between rooms. It is a good size for beginners and a good size for experts. Some people believe in almost magical properties of wire. It must be admitted that even at audio frequencies there are some measurable changes in response with different wires--but most of us can't hear them; some people want very badly to hear them so they do.

In America the American Wire Gauge scale is used - the smaller the diameter the larger the gage number. The greater the AWG the lower the resistance.

The wire gauge is a logarithmic scale based on the cross sectional area of the wire. Each 3-gauge step in size corresponds to a doubling or halving of the cross sectional area. For example, going from 20 gauge to 17 gauge doubles the cross sectional area (which halves the DC resistance).

For copper wire the resistance in Ohms per foot by gauge is--
4 .000292
6 .000465
8 .000739
10 .00118
12 .00187
14 .00297
16 .00473
18 .00751
20 .0119
22 .0190
24 .0302
26 .0480
28 .0764

So for 16 gauge 50 feet has a resistance of 0.2365 ohms, 14 gauge is 0.1485 ohms and 12 gauge is 0.0935 ohms. Your speakers will have an impedance (AC resistance of between roughly 4 and 10 ohms. 16 gauge wire is only 05.9% of the speaker load. Many people follow a 5% rule of thumb for wire as a percentage of the speaker impedance. Thus in this case 16 AWG or larger will do it. The alleged benefit of going to a gauge larger than 14 is and will always be an illusion.

Incidently I have a mix of 12, 14, 16 and 18 AWG in use at the moment. I needed to increase a run and the 18 was handy. I will replace it with 16 gauge, although it is to my 4 ohm rear surrounds and I really can't tell the difference. The 12 gauge is clear "speaker wire" that I used for the exposed portion of the run to the mains--I used to like the look.

my questions seem similar to the others in this thread. i'll just ask all of them since they seem to be simple ones that can be answered here.

ok first off...i will be running a cablevision cable box (scientific american hd) to my onkyo reciever that has 2 hdmi inputs. i called cablevision today and found out that their box is a dvi box. now if i go from dvi to hdmi here, is it better to use the dvi to hdmi wire, or just the adapter (for the end of an dvi wire or hdmi wire). i have seen both on monoprice but am not sure of which one is better.

since i have to run dvi to hdmi (because i am not paying an extra $10 a month for their dvr box), i am guessing i need an audio cable to run the sound from the cable box to the reciever. i looked on monoprice but am not sure of what to get.

also i was trying to find a subwoofer cable for the sub i am going to get but am unsure about that also. should both of these wires be digital coaxial audio RCA cable?

finally i have been looking around to find out about speaker wire. as long as it is 14 gauge, what kind shouldnt make a difference right? does oxygen free matter?

i know i asked a lot but everyone was so helpful right away with the other questions i have had before so i figure this was the place to turn to again to make sure when i continue to assemble my HT in a few weeks, i could get the last of everything all at once.

thanks in advance for any help with these questions

-colin

What inputs does your TV have, DVI, HDMI? If it has DVI, no need for anything HDMI. Just run DVI from the cable box to the TV. Do you already have a DVI to DVI cable?

What type of audio out does the cable box have, optical or digital coax?

What length of subwoofer cable do you need?

the tv is a samsung plasma that has 2 hdmi inputs. the onkyo reciever has hdmi as well. the problem is that the cable box is going to be dvi (I havent moved yet but they have told me that it will when i called them yesterday). i'll have to call them back to find out what kind of audio out the box is going to have.

i'm thinking i am going to need the following:

upscalinng dvd to reciever or tv: 1 hdmi cable
cable box to reciever or tv: 1 dvi to hdmi cable
tv to reciever: 1 hdmi cable
the audio cable (whichever one i need) for the cable box to the tv or reciever

so either way i see myself needing 3 cables. would it be better to connect the dvd and the cable box to the tv, and then the tv out to the reciever, or the cable box and dvd to the reciever and then the reciever out to the tv?

I'm starting to think it isnt going to matter much either way which way i connect everything as long as i have those 4 cables. then again i'm not sure so that's why i am asking.

thanks for the help

p.s. i am guessing the subwoofer cable would need to be about 5-6 feet long (maybe less depening on the distance from the tv stand to the corner of the room to the left or right)

Looks like you've got the right cables. The DVD player definitely should be run to the receiver and then to the TV. The cable box can be run straight to the TV, but since you'll already have an HDMI going from the receiver to the TV, you may as well run the cable box to the receiver also. Most likely, the cable box will have optical out

http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...d=10229&style=

and you can get a good subwoofer cable from the same place

http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...word=subwoofer

i dont see that being a problem with the dvd player since it is going to be a panasonic upscaling dvd player with hdmi output. the cable box may be though.

really. i hadnt heard that. the panasonic player i was going to get is this one:
PAN DVDS52K
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Panas...oductDetail.do

and the onkyo reciever that i already have is this one:
TXSR604
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Onkyo...oductDetail.do

and finally the samsung tv that i have bought and will have delivered when i move is this one:
SAM HPS5053
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...oductDetail.do

so besides the cable box not being hdmi out, do you think i am going to run into any trouble with the rest of my HT?

thanks....