Does different speaker wire guage really matter???

Brad Newton · 07-07-2003, 11:18 AM

My system is as follows:
Pioneer 45, Paradigm Monitor 7's, CC370, PDR12, & (4) atoms. I will have to run the rear wires approximately 35 feet via the crawl space. I was planning on using 14 guage for the rear & 12 guage for the front/center. Will the difference in the wire make any noticable difference?

Jack Briggs · 07-07-2003, 11:46 AM

No, none that you could hear.

Brad Newton · 07-07-2003, 11:56 AM

What about any additional "strain" on the receiver?

John Garcia · 07-07-2003, 01:29 PM

Strain on the receiver will have basically nothing to do with wire gauge to the speakers. You should actually use the larger gauge for the longer run, but for 35', I think 14 ga will be sufficient for Atoms.

Bob McElfresh · 07-08-2003, 10:51 AM

The problem is a long run of speaker wire will roll-off the higher frequencies, but not the lower ones. This creates a "slant" in the sound compared to what a short-run of wire would produce. Thicker wire reduces, but does not eliminate the problems.

The only people who claim to hear this are people with:

- using L/R front speakers, not rears
- very detailed panel speakers
- pushing 200-300 watts per channel
- using CD/SACD sources
- using music they are very familar with

This is a very different setup than the rear speakers of a HT system.

So while you CAN get away with thinner wire, good quality 12 ga is available for less than $0.50/ft. And your labor in installing it is much larger than the cost of the cable. So most of us use 12 ga all around.

PS: It looks like you are planning to run 4 runs to the rear. That's good for a 7.1 system. If not, I encourage you to run at least 3 runs to the rear for a rear-center speaker in the future. Even if you dont use it, you wont regret putting that wire in for the future.

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Brad Newton · 07-08-2003, 11:43 AM

Does it matter if I use "digital" speaker wire or "oxygen free" wire?

Bob McElfresh · 07-08-2003, 12:41 PM

There is no such thing as "digital" wire. If a package says that, it's a marketing term.

OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) is a good thing to have. This means that when the copper wire was melted, neutral gas was injected around the liquid copper so no oxygen molecules were present to start oxidizing the copper right from the start. This helps to increase the life-span of the wire.

Even with OFC wire, bare copper will oxidize. There is 2 things you can do about this:

- Keep all bare copper to a minimum. Trim only enough insulation to make a good, neat connection.

- Plan every 2 years or so to do a "cleaning" where you cut off the ends of the speaker wires and re-strip, re-connect. This means adding a foot or so of length to each wire.

MYTH BUSTER: Speaker wires do not need to all be the same length. Scratch anyone who says this and you will find a salesman at the bottom who gets commission by the foot of speaker wire. You DONT want loops of spare wire, but a foot or so is fine to allow for speaker placement & annual trimming.

I really like the dual-banana plugs from Radio Shack (2xx-308). They work great for behind my speakers. But they stick out kind of far for many receivers so the single-bananas (2xx-306) work well for the back of the rack.

Dave Poehlman · 07-08-2003, 02:49 PM

Since most speakers are probably wired with 18 guage internally, any benefit above that is most likely inaudible.

John Garcia · 07-08-2003, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Since most speakers are probably wired with 18 guage internally

CHEAP speakers maybe...

You WILL NOT get the same results using a run of 35' 18 ga. vs 12 ga. A larger gauge wire is needed to maintain the amount of current over greater distances with less loss.