Speaker wire size

[READER]

What guage speaker wire is recommended for a 50 ft run? I have 16 guage laying around. I would like to be able to us that.

 

[markw]

16 gauge is more than adequate for 8 ohm speakers. 14 or 12 would be better, though. ...particularly for 4 or 6 ohm speakers.

 

[gene]

What guage speaker wire is recommended for a 50 ft run? I have 16 guage laying around. I would like to be able to us that.

Here is an article and YouTube video that will directly answer your question.
http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

 

[ATLAudio]

16 or 18 awg would suffer very slightly compared to 10 or 12 awg at 50' all things considered. You'd be hard pressed to notice much. It sounds like this is for surround speakers, in which case I certainly wouldn't care. I run 18 awg all around and couldn't be happier. I might dabble with 12 awg soon for my LR, but I haven't gotten around to it.

Here the late Paul W. Klipsch compares premium priced (for 1978) branded "speaker wire" of thicker awg, compared to 18 awg lamp zip found at a hardware store.

http://www.klipsch.com/Education/dope-from-hope
Vol. 17. No. 1, March 1978