Mike Sloan

I have a very long speaker wire run (to the rear speakers) that goes up a wall,across the attic, and down the rear wall...which amounts to about a 70' run! I have had no problems...however have always been concerned that this long a run could somehow damage my A/V receiver. To make matters worse I think I ran 16ga monster cable. I am thinking on going with 12ga monster but the price will run me around $300.00...ouch. I did find 12ga from parts express for .20/foot...pretty cheap. They describe the wire as:

Not many strands....think this is any good? here is the link to the wire under consideration: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...=100-740&DID=7

Lots of question...but any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Mike

Dave Milne

You will not damage your receiver with long runs, or skinny wire, or both. These tend to raise the impedance seen by the receiver - which it is perfectly happy with. In fact, if you had very low impedance speakers (say, below 4 ohms, which would normally cause a problem with the receiver) a long run of skinny wire might help the situation and keep the reciever happy .

The two things that will happen with long skinny wire are: 1. You waste some power in the wire -therefore giving up max volume and headroom. 2. You change the sonic characteristics of the speakers slightly because of the increased source impedance. Bass quality is usually the first to be affected since the impedance changes the system tuning.

Personally, in your situation, I wouldn't sweat it. Changing from 16ga to 12ga will reduce the wire resistance from 0.56 ohms to 0.22 ohms. Not likely to be audible with surround speakers. If you do decide to upgrade, there's nothing wrong with the PE wire. I used 12ga Home Depot speaker wire in my fairly high-end system (4KW total amplifier power). The runs to my rear surrounds are about 40'.

DaveKahler

Also, all the lower strand count will do is make the wire slightly less flexible, but I can't imagine that being a big problem with 12ga wire.

MikeTz

Mike:

Don't worry! The rear speakers are used for effects and do not require large amounts of average power. The long run is probably fine. If you run a 12ga. wire you'll probably have to recalibrate your speakers and adjust the rears by a dB or two but the sound will likely be exactly the same.

MT

Mike Sloan

Thanks for the good information! I went ahead and ordered some 10ga. wire from parts express...and will exchange out the 16ga. when I get some free time. From the comments I have read here...I may be wasting time and energy...with little performance gain...story of my obsessive life!

thanks again
Mike S:b :b

Bill Kane

Surely you didnt actually mean 10gauge!? Way overboard....

Your original ref/link is the way I'd go (and do). The Carol in-wall specifically meets building code considerations for running in the attic and down interior walls.

12ga is more than sufficient in maintaining signal levels for surround spkrs for a long run.

bill

Pablo Abularach

I think the 12 gauge will do.

Check this link it has very good info about speaker wire,

Speaker Wire by Roger Russell

Andy_A

I would skip the thicker gauge wire and leave your 16 gauge where it is.

Mike Sloan

OK....I think I will return the 10ga. wire (yes I said 10ga) and just keep what I have. What started all this...is that I am purchasing the Outlaw Audio 200W Monoblocks http://www.outlawaudio.com//products/200.html
and using my Denon 4802 only as a Pre/Pro...and thought that the 70' runs to the rear speakers could somehow hurt the amps...but I was worrying about nothing! Thanks for all the good advise. I would be lost without this great forum community!!!

Mike

steve nn

You want some wire? I got your wire right here Mikey

I saw your name and I just had to throw you a rib! :wink: