[G. Christopher]

Hi all...I need speaker wire to run my rears...I need 38 feet per speaker.


Would 14 gauge be ok...or should I spend the extra bucks for the 12 gauge?

 

[jcebedo1]

I would go for the 12 gauge just to be safe.


James

 

[Don Hoglund]

Hi,

I use 8 AWG to run 36 inches. Believe it or not, it sounded better than my previous 10 AWG cables in the same setup. And, I'm only running 30 watts. And the 10 AWG sounded better than the 12 AWG.



I always recommend the biggest guage for speaker cable. Even more so when the lengths get longer or the power goes up.

 

[Chris Otto]

Any suggestions for 12 gauge wire for long runs? I used about 150' of the Partsexpress 12 gauge for the living room "temporary theater". Seems to be fairly good quality considering the price.

 

[G. Christopher]

Thanks...what if I get biwired cable...14 gauge to the tweeters and 12 gauge to bass and mid?


I can get this biwire configuration from Ultralink for $3.00/feet CDN.

 

[jcebedo1]

I would get 12 gauge cable from my local electronics store for like .60 per foot. I would not bi-wire, from my experience, there is no difference, only placebo. It is just added expense.



James

 

[jserrano]

Goto http://www.proav.cc/index.html and the CABLING menu item.

 

[G. Christopher]

Wow, thanks Johnny.


According to your link, not even 12 gauge cable would suffice for a 39 foot run to get a damping factor of 50.

 

[Chu Gai]

It won't hurt you to get a thicker gauge, but you're making more of the damping factor with regards to the wire than there is. The damping factor is dominated by the resistance of the voice coil. Until the resistance of the wire begins to approach that of the speaker, it's a non-issue. Figuring you've got 8 ohm nominal impedence, the resistance of 50 feet of 12 gauge is not all that much. If you're running in the wall, and you're still concerned, simply consider running two lines of 12 gauge and joining the minuses of the two separate runs together. Same for the positive ends. This'll give you an effective 9 gauge run of wire.