what gauge wire

[rich0372]

I have 35' of wire to my surrounds is 14 guage wire enough or would 12 guage be better Thanks Rich

[Phil Rose]

14ga should be just fine and is probably easier to hide. 35ft isn't all that far to go but, if you have the opportunity, 12ga would be better.

[David Meek]

If you haven't already bought the wire, go with 12-guage. 14-guage probably would work, but why possibly restrict your system?

[Snap]

14awg is plenty good.

[ht_addict]

10awg :T

[Snap]

:laughat: that is 10awg in silver right HT? :lol: Some FAT wire!

[ht_addict]

:laughat: that is 10awg in silver right HT? :lol: Some FAT wire!

Its actually a combo copper/silver coated copper. Picked it up cheap. And too top it off I use it too bi-amp my fronts :E

[maddog]

I read a thread about this type of issue recently on another forum. The only advantage to the smaller 14 awg that one guy pointed out is that it is usually easier to pull through the PVC pipes (or whatever pipes are used) in an in-wall installation. That guy said he had a real tough time pulling the 12 awg through.

[Snap]

wire loob it works wonders for pulling wire through PVC pipe.

[Lex]

1 awg. :lol:

I'd always recommend at least 12 gauge for this length.

[rich0372]

Thanks for the info 8) Rich

[Shane Martin]

My rears which are 35 foot runs both use 12 gauge. I preferred it.

My front use 10 gauge.

I would use 12 but 14 will work. Be sure if you are running in wall, you get in wall CL3 rated wire.

[aud19]

wire loob it works wonders for pulling wire through PVC pipe.

:B :rofl:

[rich0372]

Let's see if I got this right the lower gauge number the thicker the wire right Now, the thicker the wire the less signal loss and bass response? is there a formula on figuring out what guage for how many feet? Shane why would you use 10 gauge for the mains since ussually they are shorter wire lengths Thanks Rich

[Snap]

:B :rofl:

I should add more o's to the looooob. :B :B :rofl: :rofl:
That lube is so freeking messy! uuuuugggggg
sorry I am a nut and sometimes act to silly!

[Shane Martin]

There is a formula. I'll go look for it.

I used 10 gauge because it was available locally and I liked the thicker gauge stuff
No reason otherwise. It's just 10 gauge Monster XP. Nothing special.

I intend on replacing it with a 30 foot spool of twisted 11 guage from Ixos but I haven't had time.

[chrispy35]

Here's a good article on speaker wires. The main point as far as guage selection goes is that the wire resistance (factor of guage and length) should not exceed 5% of the minimum impedance of the speaker.

HTG Rules Administrator action taken:
link contained controversial wire critique information not supported by staff of HTGuide.com. It appears you were able to summarize the most important point, and for purposes of this thread, that is sufficient.

[maddog]

...I used 10 gauge because it was available locally and I liked the thicker gauge stuff
No reason otherwise. It's just 10 gauge Monster XP. Nothing special....

Are you sure that's 10 awg? I thought the biggest Monster XP was 12 awg, which is about $1.50 / foot. I have used that before on my mains and currently use the Navajo White version for my rears. Do you have a link to the Monster website where they show the 10 awg. Just interested since I was looking for some bigger Monster cable a while back.

[Tubby]

I read an article somewhere, can't remember but anyway the guy suggested 2 runs of 14 rather than 1 run of 12. The 2 14s will give you an equiavlent of about 11 gauge but less capacitance I think was his point.

[Azeke]

wire loob it works wonders for pulling wire through PVC pipe.

FYI.

Beware, wire lube is highly combustible.

Regards,

Azeke

[Snap]

FYI.

Beware, wire lube is highly combustible.

Regards,

Azeke

I the stuff that I used for a church was a Poly/Water lube. I am pretty sure that it is rather safe. :T
Edit: Also for Pro installation is was good that we had audio in mind from the begining. We had all the PVC pipes for the sound booth and amps ran through the SLAB. For homes you can just pre-wire and use wire staples and skip the PVC pipe (wire conduit) all together.

[aud19]

I read an article somewhere, can't remember but anyway the guy suggested 2 runs of 14 rather than 1 run of 12. The 2 14s will give you an equiavlent of about 11 gauge but less capacitance I think was his point.

That's what I've got :T

[rich0372]

I read an article somewhere, can't remember but anyway the guy suggested 2 runs of 14 rather than 1 run of 12. The 2 14s will give you an equiavlent of about 11 gauge but less capacitance I think was his point.

How does this work one pair for highs and one for lows? Rich

[aud19]

Nope, mine aren't bi-wire/bi-amp capable. You just use both + and - on one cable just for the + and both from the second cable for the -. Twist them together, solder and add banana jack in my case

[rich0372]

Nope, mine aren't bi-wire/bi-amp capable. You just use both + and - on one cable just for the + and both from the second cable for the -. Twist them together, solder and add banana jack in my case

Wow I never thought of this. why is this better than using thicker wire? Rich

[aud19]

I don't know that it is, but that's what I had lying around so.....

Other than that Tubby mentioned it may have lower capacitance....?

[Snap]

I thought the main reason people would run 16/4 was to give them the ability to Bi-Amp in the future. I don't think that twisting them together is going to give you better sound? :scratchhead:

[rattmann316]

@ 35 feet, the resistance on a 12 awg wire would be about .056 ohms and about .090 ohms on 14 awg. basically negligable difference at such a short run.

check it out: http://www.stealth316.com/2-wire-resistance.htm

this too if you really want to "nerd it up":

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/resis.html#c2