Loss of signal? No clue. Newbie here

[Offhaus]

I purchased a Magnavox MRD210 HTIB recently. It came with speaker wire (looks like 18 gauge). I was having my walls in the living room sheetrocked, so I ran 16 gauge speaker wire behind the walls. The farthest speaker is probably about 25-30 feet (speaker wire length) away from the receiver by the TV. When I hook up the receiver to the farthest speaker using the 16 gauge line I ran, I dont get anything out of it. If I use the speaker wire they sent with the system and try to hook up another speaker to it, it works fine. Also, I tried hooking up a 2 foot section of 16 gauge speaker wire from one of the speakers to the amp and it works great too. I am convined that the amplifier is not putting enough wattage out to the speaker to power it because of the cable size (16gauge) and distance. Am I wrong to assume that is my problem??? Help. Thanks.

 

[Offhaus]

Specs on the magnavox system

Specs are: 50 watts per channel x 6 (left, center, right, left/right surround, and subwoofer)

 

[MDS]

16 gauge is larger and thus has less resistance than 18 gauge, so no the speaker gauge is not your issue.

Double check all of your connections. Make sure that no wire strands are touching each other or the chassis of the receiver (will potentially cause a short). Also make sure the wire is inserted fully into both the speaker and receiver and the polarity is correct; ie plus to plus and minus to minus.

 

[Votrax]

The resistance of the wire has nothing to do with it. A 30 foot length of 16 gauge wire only has 0.1 ohms of resistance. It sounds like the wire got cut. Twist the two speaker wires together at one end and check for continuity at the other end with a multimeter. If you have no resistance then there is an open in one of the wires.

 

[hopjohn]

Are the walls already finished? If so, I feel your pain.