What gauge wire to be used in walls? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Bradstreet]

I'm starting to talk to the company that does the wiring for the builders who are building the house I'm buying (breath). They say they use 14-gauge wire for in the walls.
If I was going to do this myself I was planning on 12-gauge. I think someone else suggested 12-gauge in an earlier thread.
Should I press them to do 12-gauge or will 14-gauge be just as good?
The room is 22x14. The wires are going to spread out from one of the rear corners of the room. Also, do I need to worry about different wires being different lengths? Should I make sure they make left/right pairs the same length? Will that matter for a room this size?
Thanks

 

[Brian Bunge]

Bill,
I installed a pair of in-walls for my rear surrounds in my 15.5' x 18' room. I had to go 10' up and then across the 15.5' span so I bought around 30' of wire for each run. If I remember correctly I used 16-gauge wire. Everything works fine for me so I think 14-gauge woule be fine for you. In this instance 12-gauge might be overkill. But if you can get them to run it without much of a hassle then go for it. If not, don't worry about it.
As far as wire length, I doubt you'd have to worry. I personally bought 60' and cut it in half. Any excess I had I cut off once I got to the speakers.
Brian

 

[Bill Bradstreet]

I think I'll making sure they use equal length wire after he gives me the quote for the installation. I figure the longest pull will be 25', so add 10 up and 10 down to that and you get 45' for the front left/right/center. The rears will be a lot shorter. I'm going to have him wire for two subs so that when I can afford to fill this room I'll have everything taken care of.
Thanks!

 

[Allan Jayne]

It is reasonable to use 12 gauge wire in the walls both for speakers and AC power.
Many folks on this forum have said that 12 gauge wire is recommended if the total wiring distance between amp and speaker is over 20 feet, I think you can get by with 14 gauge wire up to 25 feet. But 12 gauge wire in the walls is still a good idea because some day you might have longer leads between the wall outlets and the speakers and amp.
For AC power, 14 gauge wire supports up to 15 amps, 12 gauge wire up to 20 amps. If there is any 14 gauge wiring going to a breaker or fuse, that breaker or fuse must not be more than 15 amps. Thus it is a good idea to use 12 gauge wire for new construction.
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[Bill Bradstreet]

Thanks for the extra detail.
It looks like I didn't get to the wiring people in time. That means I'll be doing this as a weekend project after moving in.
They wanted to charge $450 to do all the wiring (6 speakers). But since they had already finished all other wiring we would have to call them back for an additional charge of $200. I don't like the idea of paying $200 more for this, so I'll do it myself. $650 just seemed a little steep to me.
Thanks for the info everyone. I'll be able to do it myself and use the preferred 12-gauge now.