Multiple speaker wire gauges, same system ... any issue?

[Kinketsu]

Is it OK to use mixed gauges of speaker wire on same system? I imagine the answer is "yes", just as with different lengths, but just want to make sure.

Thanks!

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Details: A speaker set I bought came with some pre-cut lightweight wire, but some lengths are not sufficient for my room. I'm not yet sure of final layout, and so I need a cheap solution to get me by while I work out the layout. Thought I might buy a length of 14 gauge that I can reuse later, but don't want to spring to rewire entirely with 14 gauge until I know exactly what I'm up to. So I'd be mixing 14 gauge with stuff that looks to be about 20 gauge.

 

[jaxvon]

It shouldn't be a big issue, but you're going to get some substantial resistive loss with 20ga wire. Speaker wire is pretty darn cheap, so I'd say get the 14ga as soon as you can.

 

[Kinketsu]

OK, thanks.

I did find it a bit odd that the Athena Micra 6 setup I bought shipped with such thin wire. I guess they figure that folks who really care about this stuff will be buying thicker gauge stuff anyway.

And believe me, once I work out the details of my layout it'll all be 14ga. I'm trying to work a small basement room into a workable office, home theatre, and spare bedroom ... layout is a trick LOL.

Thanks again!

 

[warpdrive]

Yes, it's ok, but if they really gave you 20 gauge, I'm dump that and get at least some 16 or 14 gauge especially if you are running lengths of 20-30 feet or more.

 

[markw]

That cheapo wire is a good investment on their part.

Many people that buy these HtiB systems want it as "plug and play" ready as possible. So, in order to please those they figure why not throw in a few pennies worth of wire in order to please the customers.

Those that care, like yourself, don't mind throwing away twenty cents worth of wire blowing a few bucks on better wire but, by not including it, they may lose some sales to some other, more expensive yet acousticly inferior product that women and architects seem to think is the holy grail of sound because it's so tiny.

And, it's very nice of them to giver you standard connectors that let you use any old wire and not have it all tied together with propriatary connectors and wires like a unnamed, yet very famous more expensive, yet audiably inferior system.

You have a very nice system that sounds much, much better than more expensive systems, particularly the one aleuded to above. Get that wire and enjoy.