Speaker wire (1 Viewer)

[Chris Homer]

I'm getting ready to run my surround and front speaker cables in my house (in walls and attic) and have done some reading on this site and it seems to be that a run of a decent length should be 12 ga wire. My question is, I would like to add ceiling speakers in the future to other rooms and I noticed a speaker volume control such as Niles (currently have Niles 4 speaker switch box) only recommends 14 ga max., so would I be better off going with a larger role of 14/4 and get 11 ga out of each wire run and then later use the same wire for the ceiling speakers? Or would I be better off getting exactly what I need for the current run in 12 ga (thinking about cost efficiency) and later purchase 14/2?

 

[Chu Gai]

Either way works. If on a run of 14/4, which is two bundles of 14 gauge, you tie the plusses and the minuses from each bundle together, you'll have the slight, albeit debateably audible, benefit of lower inductance while still getting an effective 11 gauge. whichever is easiest for you.