Speaker wire

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

I understand the gauges and length but my question is if I wanted to just run 14/2 100% pure bare copper monoprice throughout my home theater setup no in wall wiring is that okay the room I'm using is small it's only 1006 cubic feet thank you for taking the to answer my question

 

[ryanosaur]

14 awg is most likely fine.
Things to consider:
Actual length of wire for your longest run.
Impedance of speakers being connected..

If you might be cutting a 25’ length of wire to run to a speaker that might dip to or below 4 ohms in the lower frequencies, it may be better to consider 12 awg.

I use monoprice choice 12awg in my system. Works great.

Cheers.

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

all my speakers are 8ohms Klipsch speakers im doing 5.1.2 setup Denon AVR-S950H I will say the longest wire might be about 20 to 25 ft that will be the longest one I use I bought a hundred foot of wire I will be running all the speakers small 80Hertz plus I also have a Klipsch r-112sw which will be doing all my Lows

 

[HTfreak2004]

all my speakers are 8ohms Klipsch speakers im doing 5.1.2 setup Denon AVR-S950H I will say the longest wire might be about 20 to 25 ft that will be the longest one I use I bought a hundred foot of wire I will be running all the speakers small 80Hertz plus I also have a Klipsch r-112sw which will be doing all my Lows

8 ohms is an average impedance, go with the 12 gauge it is better to be slightly overkill then replace 14/2 later with the 12 awg. Right wire the first time saves cost buying heavy later!

My speakers are 8 ohm and drop to 2.5 around 104 hz. Good to know especially when buying an amp!

 

[lovinthehd]

all my speakers are 8ohms Klipsch speakers im doing 5.1.2 setup Denon AVR-S950H I will say the longest wire might be about 20 to 25 ft that will be the longest one I use I bought a hundred foot of wire I will be running all the speakers small 80Hertz plus I also have a Klipsch r-112sw which will be doing all my Lows

If you already bought the wire why worry now? I think you'll be fine, tho.

 

[Verdinut]

Should you want to lower the total resistance of the longest wire connections, you don't have to discard the 14/2 wire, you just connect two 14AWG wires in parallel and you will get the equivalent of a 11AWG wire. This is what I did for my surround speakers.

 

[BMXTRIX]

This is the read:
https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge

It's really clear that 14 gauge wiring, at your distances, will not be an issue with your 8ohm nominal load.

It's possible, in severe cases, where the speakers drop below 4 ohms, that you may get an inaudible loss in audio quality, but being serious - if you can't hear it then DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT!!!

Just use the 14 gauge wire and call it a day.

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

thank you everybody for answering my questions I will not be going any lower than 80 Hertz im going do some price checks on monoprice 12 gauge but I'm pretty sure wire will be the cheapest thing out of the whole setup

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

Drop below 4 ohms? sorry this is my first build and I am new to this

 

[lovinthehd]

Speakers may have a nominal rating of 8 ohms but such speakers can dip below 4 ohms at times (impedance varies with frequency). Check out this review with impedance measurements of the Klipsch 280FA https://hometheaterreview.com/klipsch-rp-280fa-tower-speaker-reviewed/?page=2. I use the Monoprice 12g myself, buy it in 300ft reels...a little overkill for shorter runs but not that expensive in bulk.

 

[Verdinut]

Drop below 4 ohms? sorry this is my first build and I am new to this

The impedance of a loudspeaker varies with frequency, and one with a published nominal impedance of 8 ohms can show an impedance curve going down to below 5 ohms mainly at lower frequencies where there is more demand for current out of the amplifier.

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

Klipsch r-15m bookshelf spkr x4, Klipsch r-52c center spkr, Klipsch r-41a Atmos spkr x2, and Klipsch r-112sw sub. this is the speakers I'm using if this helps

 

[HTfreak2004]

The impedance of a loudspeaker varies with frequency, and one with a published nominal impedance of 8 ohms can show an impedance curve going down to below 5 ohms mainly at lower frequencies where there is more demand for current out of the amplifier.

He crossed his over at 80hz but some speakers will dip even lower then 4 ohms above 100hz.

Sound and Vision did a review on my paradigm studio 100s v.3 they can drop to 2.5 @ 104 Hz.

I agree with the main point about is the sound degradation detectable warranting a lower gauge copper!

Most of us just go heavier gauge to eliminate cost later or multiple parallel runs. Peace of mind is just that a mind without worry

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

Eliminate cost later?

 

[HTfreak2004]

Eliminate cost later?

Cost of purchasing a lower gauge on top of the fact you purchased a higher gauge first! That’s all I meant.

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

Sounds good I'm going to go with the 12 gauge it will be here tomorrow I can only afford 100 feet the room is 1006 cubic feet hoping 100 foots enough thank you everybody for helping me out I might be asking more questions later I have not started hooking anything up yet so I'll start tomorrow

 

[Trell]

Sounds good I'm going to go with the 12 gauge it will be here tomorrow I can only afford 100 feet the room is 1006 cubic feet hoping 100 foots enough thank you everybody for helping me out I might be asking more questions later I have not started hooking anything up yet so I'll start tomorrow

May I suggest that you measure the needed length between the receiver and the intended position of each speaker before you order? You should also add some to the length of cable for each speaker to account for some change in speaker placement, etc.

 

[HTfreak2004]

Should be. My room is 1680 cf. 100 ft did the trick with the wire covered along the wall in a wire track and out to the speakers. My longest run was about 35 ft from the amp for the left surround, 22 ft for the right surround, 16 ft for the left main, 12 ft for the centre, and 7 ft for the right main with 8 feet to spare

 

[HTfreak2004]

Not bad for 60 bucks to. Love the look of 12 awg

 

[SACTOWNS_FINEST]

I was wondering if brand matter as long as it's 12awg copper speaker wire. No copper clad aluminum