Question: can you blow small speakers by using a wire gauge that is too low?

[Tao1]

What are you wasting time for on this? The salesman is an idiot.

10 meters of AWG speaker wire will have a resistance of 0.1 ohms and an 18 AWG 0.2 ohms.

So if we have a current of 1 amp though the VC of four ohms with the AWG 18 cable, then going to the 12 AWG cable will increase VC current by 0.024 amps. Lets say the DC resistance of the VC is 3 ohms.

The heat dissipated in the VC with the 18 AWG wire is 3 watts. With the 12 AWG wire it is 3.1 watts. This is a 1% increase in heat dissipation which is totally insignificant.

This seems to answer my question thanks alot!

For those who were frustrated by my question:

Essentially, I only have first year contemporary physics as my education about electricity, so I was missing a proper understanding of 'Ampacity" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampacity

I was given a crash course in ampacity by someone in casual conversation and though that at a certain amperage threshold, the wire simply fails and starts to heat drastically. Thanks to this reply I was more or less pointed in the right direction of what to look up to understand what I was missing.

The moral of the story, is that newbies like me, or even those without a complete high school education will come here for help, so it is just better to be aware that they may have no knowledge at all coming in here, try and teach them something new, and contribute to the discussion.

 

[markw]

If the concept of what was being discussed her was beyond you, I suggest another major.

That you couldn't realize that link you pointed to had absolutely no bearing on this subject is even more of an indictment of whatever college you claim to attend. Can you say "Ohm's Law", kiddies?

 

[Tao1]

If the concept of what was being discussed her was beyond you, I suggest another major.

Your negativity is still unnecessary, and unwelcome. Coupled with your knack for jumping to conclusions it makes for a detriment to the community.

p.s.

I have a degree in operations management which has nothing to do with physics (hence why I have a 1st year physics class only as an elective)

 

[markw]

Really? No wonder this country is in such trouble.

You come here spouting nonsense, claim total ignorance about the subject and then argue with everyone who tried to educate you. That's the classic definition of a troll. ....look it up.

 

[Tao1]

Really? No wonder this country is in such trouble.

You come here spouting nonsense, claim total ignorance about the subject and then argue with everyone who tried to educate you. That's the classic definition of a troll. ....look it up.

I would argue that jumping to conclusions and making assumptions is why your country is in such trouble.

I approach the information I was given scientifically which does involve questioning info that is given to you. I questioned the info the clerk gave to me, and I questioned the info given to me by the people here. I had nothing against the answers I was given on a personal level. The only problem I had was that most did not answer How? or Why? Both very profound questions in any learning process.

Now I highly suggest you remove the ego out of your approach to trying to inform people. There is no room for it.

 

[markw]

Any country that depends on Wikipedia for their people's education doesn't really concern me.

Now, had you spent a little time digesting that first link that Mr Z provided for you, and reading a bit about what it had to offer, you would have realized the fools journey you had embarked on. Since you chose to ignore that tidbit of education and continue on your trolling, I saw you as fair game. ...and still do, troll.

So, you can continue to try to make excuses, and look at this thread as a testament to your trolling skills. Fortunately, I have insomnia tonight and nothing better to do than show you for the fool you are, particularly for thinking you're fooling anyone here.

And, I'm pretty sure my advice has helped a few deserving people here. ...and pithed off more than a few equally deserving trolls.

 

[Tao1]

Any country that depends on Wikipedia for their people's education doesn't really concern me.

Now, had you spent a little time digesting that first link that Mr Z provided for you, and reading a bit about what it had to offer, you would have realized the fools journey you had embarked on. Since you chose to ignore that tidbit of education and continue on your trolling, I saw you as fair game. ...and still do, troll.

So, you can continue to try to make excuses, and look at this thread as a testament to your trolling skills. Fortunately, I have insomnia tonight and nothing better to do than show you for the fool you are, particularly for thinking you're fooling anyone here.

And, I'm pretty sure my advice has helped a few deserving people here. ...and pithed off more than a few equally deserving trolls.

You may find this useful:

Mr Z told me to check out the table. I did. The info in the table was essentially overwritten by the info given by Gene the site administrator in his video. The rest of the article does go into a lot of detail, but only goes into a few sentences about "cable resistance too low". I felt that the article did not really answer my question.

In this thread I have only spoken in a balanced an open minded way. If you perceive me as a troll, I can't fault you for that. I have seen many cases where the tone people speak in is misunderstood in text chat.

I will however call you out on your behaviour, which is inexcusable and completely inappropriate for a member of a community meant to help people. I am a new member who came to ask a question that admittedly seemed ridiculous, but could not prove or disprove it. The amount of people you may have helped does NOT give you license to act the way you are, especially to simply to fuel your ego by attacking a new member asking an honest question.

 

[markw]

I'll not apologize for my behavior. You claimed ignorance and argued with those who tried to educate you without having a clue about what you were talking about. Instead, you just pushed forth with your preposterous postulation. You didn't even bother to educate yourself. But, that's not the trolls way when responses, not education ate his goal..

And, I know Gene and his philosophy here. It ain't all that different than Mr Russell's.

And, your link doesn't work.

 

[highfigh]

I guess I should clarify:

When he mentioned it, he said they had a set get blown like that in house when they switched the wire. Could be true, but from my experience helping people with computer problems, they might have attributed it to the wrong cause by not knowing any better, or the story details changed handing it down from person to person. On the other hand I don't know enough to discount him either.

Heat is the basic reason a voice coil fails but speaker wire can't be the cause. Unless the gauge of the previous wire is small enough that it can't conduct enough current to damage the voice coil, the wire itself isn't where the blame goes.

Changing one thing and blaming it for causing damage makes some sense, but if we look at electricity and how a speaker works, that guy is one of the reasons I'm glad I don't have to go to electronics stores to buy equipment (unless it's from someone I know).

 

[highfigh]

Your hostility is unneeded.

My 'belief' is gathering fact to find an answer to the question, whatever those facts may be. The whole problem with other myths being perpetuated is people giving arm chair opinions over facts, and other non-concrete rhetoric. This is how new comers to the audio community (or even any technical community) end up being mislead with technical fairly tales, chasing snake oil solutions thinking they are getting a better experience.

Now I was told something by someone who is supposedly an expert to some degree (the store clerk), and also says it is personal experience (at least for the store). At the very least I have to give some respect to the $200 cost of the speakers.

On the other hand, out of all of the replies I have gotten so far, only zieglj01 gave me an answer with something backing up his statement (his experience). All other statement did not give any back up at all to the statements.

Now I am not saying you guys don't know what you are talking about and I respect and appreciate you taking the time to reply. However, blanket statements with little or no backup are as 'useful' as the information the store clerk gave me, let alone not enough to go on to be satisfied with an answer to the question.

I specifically came to this forum after watching Gene and Hugo debunk some audio myths and explain what to look for in speaker cables. I think it is safe to assume that my 'beliefs' (in pursuing fact) are similar to theirs, and are, indeed, welcomed on this forum.

So sticking firm in my beliefs, I hope that there will be more relies with some information backing up their statements, or best case scenario, an engineer breaks down the technical details.

You wrote "Now I was told something by someone who is supposedly an expert to some degree (the store clerk), and also says it is personal experience (at least for the store)." and if you really think that someone you called a 'store clerk' is any kind of expert, you have no business telling us that our answers weren't detailed enough. A clerk writes orders, they aren't there to answer technical questions. A salesperson is supposed to know what they're talking about, but many don't.

If you wanted technical explanations, you should have asked for them. Your first post was worded in a way that would tell nobody that A) you wanted a technical explanation or B) that you would understand it.

 

[slipperybidness]

What are you wasting time for on this? The salesman is an idiot.

10 meters of AWG speaker wire will have a resistance of 0.1 ohms and an 18 AWG 0.2 ohms.

So if we have a current of 1 amp though the VC of four ohms with the AWG 18 cable, then going to the 12 AWG cable will increase VC current by 0.024 amps. Lets say the DC resistance of the VC is 3 ohms.

The heat dissipated in the VC with the 18 AWG wire is 3 watts. With the 12 AWG wire it is 3.1 watts. This is a 1% increase in heat dissipation which is totally insignificant.

Good answer and showing some real-world numbers should make it clear, the sales-weasel at that audio shop is an idiot, trying to amaze you with his BS "knowledge". Time to find a new audio shop.

The bottom line is that fatter wire (smaller AWG number) is ALWAYS better from an electrical standpoint. It's just that at some point a fatter wire becomes more expensive than necessary, and a fatter wire can be more difficult to terminate, make connections, and route or fish through the wall.