[Mash]

From what I've read it looks like 14 gage should be fine for this length run. From what I understand up to 90' should be okay with 14 gage. Is that right?

 

[M NEWMAN]

Yep.

 

[Larry Fine]

Well, it also depends on the desired power transfer. Under 100w/channel, you're fine.

 

[Mash]

Yea I'm definately under 100 watts per channel so I should be good. Thanks for the help Larry and Newman.

 

[vjarnot]

Rather than starting a new thread, I'll ask here. What type of max length would I be faced with when using 10g cable? 60'-75' OK?

 

[DMF]

About 200 miles.


Seriously, assuming you're not putting a kilowatt through it, a long way. Like 200' - 300'.

 

[speco2003]

We do 400 foot runs of 12 gauge to Vertec and VDosc all the time with no issues.

 

[Larry Fine]

Quote:

Originally posted by vjarnot Rather than starting a new thread, I'll ask here. What type of max length would I be faced with when using 10g cable? 60'-75' OK?

Easily, but again, what's the desired power transfer?

 

[Richard Paul]

Quote:

Originally posted by vjarnot Rather than starting a new thread, I'll ask here. What type of max length would I be faced with when using 10g cable? 60'-75' OK?

Generally speaking 12 gauge wire is the most you will ever need for consumer speakers. 12 gauge can easily handle 500 watts for a hundred feet. I used 12 gauge but then again I used normal oxygen free copper cable and put the connectors on myself, which is the cheapest way to do it. Though opinions vary greatly on the subject of the quality of the speaker wire the vast majority of people consider 12 gauge capable of handling any consumer speaker system from $100 to $10,000.

 

[vjarnot]

Thanks for the responses guys. Amp is 150 watts at 8 Ohms (300 at 4), speakers are 6 Ohm nominal - so 250 watts seems about what I'll generally be pushing. It's overkill all the way around, but I'd rather buy once than upgrade...


I got 10 gauge simply because the price difference vs 12 gauge was relatively minor. And it sure ain't fancy, just nice stranded OFC. A waste of money, probably, but it wouldn't be the first time.

 

[M NEWMAN]

Quote:

Originally posted by vjarnot I got 10 gauge simply because the price difference vs 12 gauge was relatively minor. And it sure ain't fancy, just nice stranded OFC. A waste of money, probably, but it wouldn't be the first time.

Yea, but that big fat wire will still look cool when you show it to your buddies and tell 'em, "you can pump 30 amps of continous current down this puppy and it won't even break a sweat!"

 

[Murunga]

I'm new, but I'd like to tag on this thread. Isn't the conductor type important? I would think the conductivity value of the conductor (say copper) may be just as important as the the guage? I bought my speaker cable from Home depot. Its not oxygen free but its 10 ga copper. Is oxygen free that much better?


Thanks in advance

Murunga

 

[JorgeLopez11]

No.


The copper conductivity only improves a little (less than 1.0%).


Nothing to be worried about

 

[DMF]

The material is as important as the gauge, and in fact dictates the gauge. The goal is to keep overall cable resistance low (as a rule of thumb below 5% of the speaker's nominal impedance). Overall resistance of the cable is a function of the cable length and the conductor resistivity. Conductor resistivity is a property of the material.


For instance, say we need to keep cable resistance to 0.4 ohm (5% of 8 ohm). If we use copper with low resistivity (R), we can use a gauge with a certain cross-sectional area (A). If we use aluminum with a higher resistivity (2R), then we have to use a gauge with a higher cross-sectional area (2A). E.g. 10 AWG Aluminum is about the same as 12 AWG Copper (roughly).


But between flavors of copper there is essentially no difference. "Oxygen Free Copper" doesn't mean anything electrically.

 

[jcrobso]

The dc resistance of 14 awg wire is 3 ohms for 1000' or .3 ohms per 100'

so the dc resistance for 40' ( 80' total) would be about .2 ohms this is well below the 5% figure so you would have no problem. John