Blue Jeans Cable Speaker Wire: 10 awg or 12 awg

[MinusTheBear]

I am in the market for speaker wire right now. I will be ordering from Blue Jeans Cable based on past experiences with them. My room is 11.5 ft X 11.5ft and will not be running really long lengths. My question is should I go with the 10 or 12 awg speaker wire. There is a 28 cent price difference between the 10 and 12 awg per foot and wondering if the price difference is justified for my case and will I even notice a difference (I am thinking I will not), but am wondering what other peoples opinions are because the advice on this board is very very good.

 

[Davemcc]

For short runs like that, 12 ga is just fine. In fact, it's probably overkill when running with the AVR-688, the nice easy to drive Axioms and the short length you're running. I don't think you would see a difference between Blue Jean's 10ga and Home Depot 14ga.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... I don't think you would see a difference between Blue Jean's 10ga and Home Depot 14ga.

Well, he might see a difference, even I would, but hearing a difference, hardly LOL

 

[mike c]

if it were exposed, I'd get the 10 gauge ... for a few cents difference, it's a small price to pay for the "cool factor"

in the wall, 12 gauge is more than enough to spin around your room.

 

[fmw]

I would use 14 ga. or even 16 so that the wires aren't as noticeable.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Thanks everyone for your responses... I just realized I will probably get some money back from income tax so I decided to get 100ft of the Belden 5000 series 10 gauge white...like someone mentioned previous posts the 10 gauge will be overkill but oh well...if i wasnt getting any money back from income tax i would have gone with the 12 gauge for sure....i ordered the speaker cables in white rather than grey. How does the white look? I just took a chance on the white...oh I also purchased a 10ft digital coax cable too....

 

[Jack Hammer]

The white wire looks better, imo, than the grey. But neither are fancy looking in any way. If you want to dress them up, go somewhere like wirecare.com. I used some of their full coverage ptfe to dress up the fronts and then put some of the basic stuff they had over that to give it a pattern. (I could see the white cable through the basic stuff so I redid it with the heavier sleeving).

Jack

 

[mtrycrafts]

... How does the white look? I just took a chance on the white...oh I also purchased a 10ft digital coax cable too....

White will be more noticeable in most cases.

 

[mike c]

White will be more noticeable in most cases.

unless you have a white baseboard or ceiling cornice

or a white wall.

 

[biguns]

or white carpet...

And you can buy the same Belden wire from other suppliers for half the cost of Blue Jeans. Then just terminate it with some quality bananas or use bare wire. In case you didn't know... Then get the 10 ga. for less than the 12 gaa price! Sometimes you can get other colors that Bluejeans doesn't have.

 

[j_garcia]

You can buy bare wire from them as well, and still terminate it yourself, unless it was finished cables you were looking for.

 

[Thaedium]

I have the 10ga white wires from Blue Jeans running short lengths to my Paradigms. Overkill? Yes. Any difference from old 24ga wire I had from a really old Kenwood system? Nope. However, I fully plan to dress them up in the future, I just haven't had the time to do it of late. Personally, I'm from the group of people that doesn't mind having their wires exposed, and I appreciate the opportunity to add my own personal touch to my otherwise manufactured system.

I also purchased Blue Jeans standard Bananna plug terminations (expensive imo) and terminated the lines myself. I did it all while watching a movie, so I never even noticed the "work". It goes together easily enough, just remember though that 10ga is going to be significantly stiffer and more difficult to work with then some smaller gauges.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I do not mind having speaker wire exposed either, as of now i just plan on stripping the wire and inserting them

 

[Jack Hammer]

You'll find banana plugs can be very nice when dealing with the tight confines of the back of your reciever. Well worth the cost. As for speakers, I like them but wire works fine too.

Jack

 

[j_garcia]

I use the locking plugs from Bluejeans because I had one channel accidentally get pulled out one time and it freaked me out.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I use the locking plugs from Bluejeans because I had one channel accidentally get pulled out one time and it freaked me out.

How did that happen? That would freak me out too!!!

 

[j_garcia]

I was moving my sub around and the amp for the sub is below my receiver where all the wires are run. I didn't know I had knocked it loose and the next time I fired up the system I had no center! I immediately thought the worst: receiver has a dead channel; boy was I relieved that it was just a wire, but I ordered the locking plugs shortly after.

Pic of locking plugs: