What Cable Gauge Do I Need for my Speakers?

J

jneutron

Senior Audioholic
Since you have all this at your fingertips, how much less current in the center, say at 20kHz, between16 ga and 12 ga and same cables at DC and 20kHz?:D
Thanks.
I have a simple graph showing this for a 1.5mm dia wire (approximately 15 guage). Unfortunately I cannot post it. My ability to provide drawings on this forum oddly dissapeared in the middle of a contentious thread of a technical nature.

Assuming the current density of a 1.5mm diameter solid wire at the surface is 1...
Using the exponential approximation equation:
At the center of the wire the current density is:

10 Khz : .32
20Khz .2

Using bessels to provide the exact solution, at the center of the wire:

at 10Khz .9
at 20 Khz .73

j
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
...

Assuming the current density of a 1.5mm diameter solid wire at the surface is 1...
Using the exponential approximation equation:
At the center of the wire the current density is:

10 Khz : .32
20Khz .2

Using bessels to provide the exact solution, at the center of the wire:

at 10Khz .9
at 20 Khz .73

j
Thanks. Numbers are good too. ;):D
73% is pretty high.
 

PaleRider

Audiophyte
"
All of those (except the 8AWG stuff, which while sold as "speaker wire" is really beyond overkill for that application and more suitable as a power wire for car audio amplifiers. That's how I use it) are perfectly suitable for speakers. Assuming a run short enough and loudspeaker nominal impedance high enough to result in de minimis loss from the 16AWG one, nobody will ever be able to tell a difference between them. "

Wrong. And then I`m allready excluding any multistrand wire, they`re useless.
Speakerwiring is primarely about how to avoid any dynamic loss, and the answer is heavy so,lid core, a lot heavier than Roger Russel or other socalled experts claims due to their misundertood calculations.

A wire can never be "too thick", only thich enough. Multistrands means distortion in every way, clean solid copper does it right.

Avoid multicore in powercables too, like extensioncables.
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
"
All of those (except the 8AWG stuff, which while sold as "speaker wire" is really beyond overkill for that application and more suitable as a power wire for car audio amplifiers. That's how I use it) are perfectly suitable for speakers. Assuming a run short enough and loudspeaker nominal impedance high enough to result in de minimis loss from the 16AWG one, nobody will ever be able to tell a difference between them. "

Wrong. And then I`m allready excluding any multistrand wire, they`re useless.
Speakerwiring is primarely about how to avoid any dynamic loss, and the answer is heavy so,lid core, a lot heavier than Roger Russel or other socalled experts claims due to their misundertood calculations.

A wire can never be "too thick", only thich enough. Multistrands means distortion in every way, clean solid copper does it right.

Avoid multicore in powercables too, like extensioncables.
Well, here we are again. Yet another self proclaimed so-called expert jumps in to call all the other, some well accredited, so-called experts wrong. ...and with impeccable spelling I might add.

...and yet, life goes on on the big blue marble. :D
 
M

Miketuason

Audioholic Intern
Dbs

Do you guys see any advantage with the wires using DBS 72V. (DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM) weather it's for speaker wires or interconnect that AudioQuest use?
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Do you guys see any advantage with the wires using DBS 72V. (DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM) weather it's for speaker wires or interconnect that AudioQuest use?
No. Connecting a battery to a speaker cable is about as useful as giving a bicycle to a fish. It's actually quite insulting to a persons intelligence to offer such a ridiculous product hence why we came up with our own version :)

Audioholics Unveils New Cable Technology - The GLOB
 
Steve81

Steve81

Audioholics Five-0
No. Connecting a battery to a speaker cable is about as useful as giving a bicycle to a fish. It's actually quite insulting to a persons intelligence to offer such a ridiculous product hence why we came up with our own version :)

Audioholics Unveils New Cable Technology - The GLOB
I love it. It's little pearls like this

The Battery pack for the IBS™ system is a standard 1.5V AA which can be purchased at any hardware store. However, for best results, rechargeable batteries are NOT recommended.
that IMO really help take run of the mill BS and make it something special. It almost tricks the mind into thinking that there might be results in the first place.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
I love it. It's little pearls like this



that IMO really help take run of the mill BS and make it something special. It almost tricks the mind into thinking that there might be results in the first place.
You can say I employed a little Stephen Colbert humor before he ever did. Stephen you owe me :)
 
Steve81

Steve81

Audioholics Five-0
You can say I employed a little Stephen Colbert humor before he ever did. Stephen you owe me :)
We really should be thanking the folks at cutting edge companies like Audioquest.

Think how boring life would be if nobody had the unmitigated gall these guys possess, not to mention the artistry it takes to not just tell a simple lie, but to really support it in depth with pages and pages of steaming BS that actually lends enough apparent credence for people to actually buy their products. Further, consider what your existence would be like without them. Every hero is defined by the enemies and challenges he faced. The Dark Knight wouldn't have been much of a movie without Heath Ledger as the Joker. AH without Audioquest, Monster, et al...unimaginable!

So to snake oil salesmen everywhere, I salute you. :D
 
Bryceo

Bryceo

Banned
My wires are fine nice and heavy duty to keep the power from dropping cause there's nothing worse then sound dropping :(
 
BrettMendes

BrettMendes

Audioholic Intern
Is it possible for a low inductance 15 gauge speaker cable to outperform a 10 gauge zip cord at lengths under 10 ft if driven in to a 4 ohm load? I don't think the article fully addressed what happens at the more commonly used speaker cable lengths.
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
What numbers do you have to offer for these examples? Have you hears any differences? Do you have any measurements on these? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Is it possible for a low inductance 15 gauge speaker cable to outperform a 10 gauge zip cord at lengths under 10 ft if driven in to a 4 ohm load? I don't think the article fully addressed what happens at the more commonly used speaker cable lengths.
It doesn't need to address inductance since inductance of standard zip cord is pretty low to begin with, especially at the lengths you are talking about. Resistance is the DOMINANT metric when dealing with losses associated with cables at audio frequencies.
 
BrettMendes

BrettMendes

Audioholic Intern
It doesn't need to address inductance since inductance of standard zip cord is pretty low to begin with, especially at the lengths you are talking about. Resistance is the DOMINANT metric when dealing with losses associated with cables at audio frequencies.
Thanks for the clarification.
 
H

henrylr

Audiophyte
speaker cable AWG

Hi,

I just joined this site because it appears to have lots of great info. I have a question regarding speaker wire length. I have an Adcom GFA 5400 that will be connected to two Sound Dynamics 300Ti 4ohm speakers with <5 foot long wires. I was planning to use one 20AWG upocc solid silver 7Ns wire per leg. That is four 5 foot lengths of wire, with no terminations, just connected via the binding posts on the amp and speakers. Each wire will be inside a cotton sleeve which will be put inside a ptfe tube and the ends sealed. Does anyone see a problem with this setup?

Thanks,
henrylr
 
Rickster71

Rickster71

Audioholic Spartan
Hi,

I just joined this site because it appears to have lots of great info. I have a question regarding speaker wire length. I have an Adcom GFA 5400 that will be connected to two Sound Dynamics 300Ti 4ohm speakers with <5 foot long wires. I was planning to use one 20AWG upocc solid silver 7Ns wire per leg. That is four 5 foot lengths of wire, with no terminations, just connected via the binding posts on the amp and speakers. Each wire will be inside a cotton sleeve which will be put inside a ptfe tube and the ends sealed. Does anyone see a problem with this setup?

Thanks,
henrylr
Hello Henry, welcome to the forum.

That gauge wire would work well (at those 5' lengths) with copper or silver.

If you haven't purchased the silver wire, I'd like to suggest that you save your money.
Buy some larger gauge copper wire at a fraction of the price.
Silver wire has no magical properties. It does have a slightly better (read less) impedance value than copper. it does so at many times the cost over copper wire.

If you already own the wire, use it. If not I'd save your money and use copper.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
R

rotem

Audiophyte
a question over a certain setup

hi,
a great article, first of all.
I'm trying to understand what are this recommendation means. what is the attenuation for this set up and for which frequency range?
I'm building an experiment with a 20kHz signal and I need the best cable with the least attenuation for around 50m or more. I couldn't find from the spec of some cable what is the attenuation per feet for a cretin frequency.
thanks
rotem
 
G

Grador

Audioholic Field Marshall
Ohmic resistance doesn't change with frequency. If you must know precise attenuation you'll need to know the capacitance and inductance (mostly capacitance). If you're running a cable 50m or more you're going to need some pretty hefty cable if you cannot afford much signal loss.
 
Speedskater

Speedskater

Audioholic General
@rotem, What are some of the details, like?
a] Power or signal voltage level?
b] Load impedance?
c] Source impedance?
 
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