What Cable Gauge Do I Need for my Speakers?

[Noldir]

No, it's length times cross-section area. So you can use a pig-tail of smaller wire to attach the larger wire.

Well, that does sound logical. Thanks!

Because 15awg is a lot cheaper: how would I calculate the max length though? I cant make the formula work it seems :S

 

[mtrycrafts]

.... if I put in a short bit of smaller sized awg (15 awg in this case) running anything larger then that after it won't help with longer runs because the "weakest link" is 15 awg and is the overall limiter to the system.

Of course, I could also have it completely wrong

Yes, you do.
That 15ga pigtail is very short and insignificant to the total resistance.
15 ga has a resistance of 3.25 Ohms per 1000 ft. Easy math. One foot of that 15 ga is 3.25 milliOhms.
6" is half of it and so on.
12 ga is 1.6 Ohms per 1000 ft. At a 25 ft run, this resistance is .08 Ohms. Add 6" of pigtail would be
.081625 Ohms. Insignificant.

 

[Noldir]

Yes, you do.
That 15ga pigtail is very short and insignificant to the total resistance.
15 ga has a resistance of 3.25 Ohms per 1000 ft. Easy math. One foot of that 15 ga is 3.25 milliOhms.
6" is half of it and so on.
12 ga is 1.6 Ohms per 1000 ft. At a 25 ft run, this resistance is .08 Ohms. Add 6" of pigtail would be
.081625 Ohms. Insignificant.

Glad to be wrong!

Any tios how I can calculate the max distance when using 15 awg to the speakers? I can get a roll of the stuff fairly cheap a I suspect it's just enough to get me the distance I need

 

[lovinthehd]

You can try this table or calculator

 

[Noldir]

You can try this table or calculator

I managed to completely miss those after an hour of googling... using the calculator (site also didn't list 15 awg) I arrive at a maximum of 14 feet for 4 ohm or 28 feet for 8 ohm. So, my interpolated guesstimate wasn't that bad after all

 

[mtrycrafts]

I managed to completely miss those after an hour of googling... using the calculator (site also didn't list 15 awg) I arrive at a maximum of 14 feet for 4 ohm or 28 feet for 8 ohm. So, my interpolated guesstimate wasn't that bad after all

Reading your post in the beginning I thought you will make a pigtail out of 15ga wire since it would fit in the post.
Using Roger Russell's rule of 5% of speaker impedance. I get 30ft for a 4 Ohm speaker. 60 ft for 8 Ohm.

 

[Noldir]

Reading your post in the beginning I thought you will make a pigtail out of 15ga wire since it would fit in the post.
Using Roger Russell's rule of 5% of speaker impedance. I get 30ft for a 4 Ohm speaker. 60 ft for 8 Ohm.

Ah, thank you! Although I believe Roger is a lot less concervative then this article?

 

[Joseph abraham]

This review on cabling was very helpful. I did just order the Silverback Speaker Wire by Sewell, 12 AWG with banana clips. After seeing your review not sure if this was a great choice. I do expect this will be an improvement over my current wiring.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... After seeing your review not sure if this was a great choice. I do expect this will be an improvement over my current wiring.

Welcome

What is your current wiring and why do you think this isn't a good choice?

 

[davss]

I have heard two things and am not sure how much trouth is in them namely:

1) My friends AMP burned twice and had to be sent back under warranty. He was told that it could be caused by difference in resistance caused by differnet cable lengths (he says they're good quality £10/m) i.e. about 2m differnt L from R. I personally have Harman AVR 260 + HTKS60BQ 7.1 and obviosly back and front cables have different lengts although each pair is has the same. My gf has Denon PMA-1510AE AMP + Monitor Audio speakers. They came with same length cables.

2) Is it true that when installing speaker cables close (approx. 10cm away) to mains cables it's best to have them screened and at 90 degrees?

Cheers,
David

 

[haraldo]

I have heard two things and am not sure how much trouth is in them namely:

1) My friends AMP burned twice and had to be sent back under warranty. He was told that it could be caused by difference in resistance caused by differnet cable lengths

I think this is absolute first grade rubbish, fist of all the resistance by imposed by cables are negligible compared to the resistance of the voice coil of the speakers. and the difference in resistance between different cable lengths, I can't even think how much that diff is....

I can only believe there is a defect in the amp or somehow a short-circuit somewhere....

 

[davss]

I think this is absolute first grade rubbish, fist of all the resistance by imposed by cables are negligible compared to the resistance of the voice coil of the speakers. and the difference in resistance between different cable lengths, I can't even think how much that diff is....

I can only believe there is a defect in the amp or somehow a short-circuit somewhere....

That's what I was suspecting. Suppose they simply want to sell more of expensive cables... so was thinking in the old days with lamp amps there was no such cables but simple wires which were absolutely fine. Now, these amps cost fortune and people would love to go back to them if can afford. This makes me think, those amps are top ones then marketing must have created new super expensive cables out of thin air cause those amps don't really need/ed them before?

 

[rojo]

That's what I was suspecting. Suppose they simply want to sell more of expensive cables... so was thinking in the old days with lamp amps there was no such cables but simple wires which were absolutely fine. Now, these amps cost fortune and people would love to go back to them if can afford. This makes me think, those amps are top ones then marketing must have created new super expensive cables out of thin air cause those amps don't really need/ed them before?

You and Roger Russell agree.

For many years, wires that were used to connect speaker systems were often zip or line cord. The longer the run was, the heavier the wire that was used. There were no special speaker wires--just plain old copper wire--solid or stranded. The emergence of high tech speaker wire has raised some fundamental questions about the benefits of these new and sometimes extremely expensive wires.

And Laurence Greenhill...

...So what do our fifty hours of testing, scoring and listening to speaker cables amount to? Only that 16-gauge lamp cord and Monster cable are indistinguishable from each other with music.... This project was unable to validate the sonic benefits claimed for exotic speaker cables over common 16-gauge zip cord. We can only conclude, therefore, that there is little advantage besides pride of ownership in using these thick, expensive wires

 

[lovinthehd]

I have heard two things and am not sure how much trouth is in them namely:

1) My friends AMP burned twice and had to be sent back under warranty. He was told that it could be caused by difference in resistance caused by differnet cable lengths (he says they're good quality £10/m) i.e. about 2m differnt L from R. I personally have Harman AVR 260 + HTKS60BQ 7.1 and obviosly back and front cables have different lengts although each pair is has the same. My gf has Denon PMA-1510AE AMP + Monitor Audio speakers. They came with same length cables.

2) Is it true that when installing speaker cables close (approx. 10cm away) to mains cables it's best to have them screened and at 90 degrees?

Cheers,
David

I'm surprised they didn't also tell him the signal to L/R speakers would arrive at significantly different times, too .

 

[haraldo]

I'm surprised they didn't also tell him the signal to L/R speakers would arrive at significantly different times, too .

There is a difference in time of signal arrival. If difference in cable length is 1 meter, the diff in time I reckon will be 1/300000000 of a second, safe to say we can ignore this

 

[lovinthehd]

There is a difference in time of signal arrival. If difference in cable length is 1 meter, the diff in time I reckon will be 1/300000000 of a second, safe to say we can ignore this

LOL, I wuz too lazy to look up the speed of electricity and calculate the length/time thing. Thanks!

 

[mtrycrafts]

LOL, I wuz too lazy to look up the speed of electricity and calculate the length/time thing. Thanks!

But, in reality, the velocity of propagation is about 50% of that.
Now we may have to worry.

 

[Pogre]

I have heard two things and am not sure how much trouth is in them namely:

1) My friends AMP burned twice and had to be sent back under warranty. He was told that it could be caused by difference in resistance caused by differnet cable lengths (he says they're good quality £10/m) i.e. about 2m differnt L from R. I personally have Harman AVR 260 + HTKS60BQ 7.1 and obviosly back and front cables have different lengts although each pair is has the same. My gf has Denon PMA-1510AE AMP + Monitor Audio speakers. They came with same length cables.

2) Is it true that when installing speaker cables close (approx. 10cm away) to mains cables it's best to have them screened and at 90 degrees?

Cheers,
David

Man, good thing you asked here. You're correct. A speaker cable is a speaker cable. There's no amount of hocus pocus or techno babble that can make a cord worth thousands of dollars. Or even hundreds for that matter. Some folks like the look and if that's your goal, have at it. It's not doing anything for the sound or prevent an amp from frying tho.

Different cable lengths burning out an amp... ridiculous.

 

[lovinthehd]

But, in reality, the velocity of propagation is about 50% of that.
Now we may have to worry.

Oh, that is all on @haraldo

 

[mtrycrafts]

...
Different cable lengths burning out an amp... ridiculous.

Well, if it is right across the amp terminal, a short, it will.