How much difference does wire gauge make?

[Windsor]

I don't know if the title made any sense, but I was wondering how much of a difference is made when switching from one gauge of wire to another? I noticed that our front speakers are wired with some thick monster stuff while the rears and center channels are fed with some really thin garbage wire thats like used with mini-stereo systems.

[zippyjuan]

Check out the post from BRI in this forum. Generally speaking, electricity travels faster and better through thicker wires. Longer runs of wire also result in a loss of signal too so if you are going to use diffenent thickness of wire you want the heavier ones to be used on longer reaches like your rear speakers. The gauge number is inverse to the thickness- 14 gauge is heavier than 18 gauge. Don't go crazy and buy brand-name wire, just something good. I bought a spool from Home Depot for my system.

[Windsor]

Originally posted by zippyjuan
Check out the post from BRI in this forum. Generally speaking, electricity travels faster and better through thicker wires. Longer runs of wire also result in a loss of signal too so if you are going to use diffenent thickness of wire you want the heavier ones to be used on longer reaches like your rear speakers. The gauge number is inverse to the thickness- 14 gauge is heavier than 18 gauge. Don't go crazy and buy brand-name wire, just something good. I bought a spool from Home Depot for my system.


Right, I wanted to know if there would be a noticeable difference?

[Apex]

It depends on many things. How long of a wire are you running and what is the impedence of your speakers?

[johnnymk]

So..is there a rule of thumb or a formula for determining the wire size?

[Windsor]

The center is only a few feet from the receiver but the rears need around 15-20 feet due to some tricky wiring so that it stays out of sight. The center says compatible with 8 ohms, and the rears say Nominal 8, minimum 4 ohms. I don't have the slightest idea what that means though.

[Apex]

Originally posted by johnnymk
So..is there a rule of thumb or a formula for determining the wire size?

Yeah, here's a pretty good chart:

http://home.earthlink.net/~rogerr7/wire.htm

More info:

http://ohm.bu.edu/edf/info/wire-resistance.html

http://www.paigewire.com/copperAWG.htm

[johnnymk]

Thanks.. I read the top link.. Very interesting article which also showed that Monster cable is just so much wasted money.

[johnnymk]

I just re-wired my surround system in my bedroom. After reading the article Leon noted, I figured I could live with 16 gauge wire.
I went to Home Depot and bought two HD 16 gauge orange extension cords 100 feet each for a total price of $13.00.
I finally hooked up an Infinity powered U120 subwoofer that I bought several years ago. I don't think the cat likes it, though.