Speaker cable gauge considerations

[mschool]

I've decided what speakers I plan to buy. They're 6 OHM speakers and my run lengths from my amp will be 2 meters for each speaker (6.5 feet each). My research tells me that 24-AWG wire is optimal, given the short length of the wire and the 6-OHM rating of the speaker. Is there something else I need take into consideration?

 

[N8Nagel]

It's not so much what's optimal as what is big enough (low enough resistance) for your setup. You will also want to make sure that your wire works well with the connectors on your amp and speakers. Given your short runs I would probably use 16AWG as it's a good size for most connectors and it doesn't seem you need larger.

 

[mgosdin]

Another consideration is the environment that the cable is in. For speaker wire 24 Gauge may prove to not be robust enough for use in a typical household situation. @N8Nagel is right to suggest a more robust cable, which has no real downside.

Full Disclosure, I am an adherent of the Montgomery Scott School of (Over) Engineering.

Mark Gosdin

 

[rothwellaudio]

My research tells me that 24-AWG wire is optimal...

Optimal? That depends on how you define optimal. Really, the thicker the better. At some point there will be no advantage in going any thicker and the the cable will just be more expensive and more unwieldy for no benefit - but what point will that be? Depends on how you define optimal.
Just get the thickest cable you think is practical.

 

[300man]

Good quality copper is also something I consider when buying speaker wire. There is a lot of poor quality wire out there. I look for 100 % copper or oxygen free copper wire.

 

[Bodyblue]

16awg will be just fine. Certainly nothing thicker is required.

 

[Akustic]

Not sure what research you came across ..
Sonically, thicker is generally better ..
Not sure what associated equip. that you have, but do yourself a favor and compare the sound of 24ga. cables to 16ga. if you're using hifi gear ..
(I use 12ga if it fits in the connectors but the connectors are mostly sized for 16ga. wire)

 

[the skipper]

16 awg will be just fine. Certainly nothing thicker is required.

What he said. Those numbers are minimums, not an "optimum".

Many of us consider 16 gauge to the de facto standard for general uses. Thick enough to not introduce unneeded resistance and small enough to fit into virtually any standard connector.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable

 

[SpruceMoose]

I ended up with a bunch of industrial wiring, 12ga THHN, in black and red. I run that everywhere, but in some places I need to trim off some wire strands or crimp on a ring connector for a good fit. It’s a bit stiff, but the price was right.

 

[coonmanx]

I would probably go with 14 gauge. I think that is what I use.

 

[darkblue94]

What speakers and what amplifier are we talking about here?

 

[JoeESP9]

A table lamp has a larger gauge wire than 24.

 

[imral3]

Yeah, quality 12, 14, or 16... not 24.






(IBTL)

 

[N8Nagel]

Most speaker wire is of that (100% copper or OFC) quality.

Well... most *good* speaker wire. A lot of hardware store speaker wire is copper clad aluminum which means you need to go up two sizes AWG for the same resistivity as pure copper. Lamp cord in that case is a better choice.

Not sure what research you came across ..
Sonically, thicker is generally better ..
Not sure what associated equip. that you have, but do yourself a favor and compare the sound of 24ga. cables to 16ga. if you're using hifi gear ..
(I use 12ga if it fits in the connectors but the connectors are mostly sized for 16ga. wire)

I'm assuming he was using the table from the Gordon Gow article... sure he could probably use 24AWG but why bother? It's actually harder for me to find it than it is 16AWG (I have a box of old extension cords that I cut up for speaker wire for giveaway systems or systems I'm selling) I agree there is no downside to using wire heavier than the minimum required size.

 

[twiiii]

The issue isn't current capability or at what voltage the insulation will fail. The idea is delivering the power to the speakers with a small loss and the back EMF of the speaker not effecting the amplifier to much. The way to do this is to keep the series resistance of the wire to an acceptable level. With having 6 ohm speakers you want the series resistance including the generation impedance of the amp to be 1/20th of the resistance of the speaker at it lowest value. Some 8 ohms speakers never go below 8, some will go down to 4 ohms. So to be safe we want the series resistance of the wire plus the generating impedance of the amp to be less then . 4.0. / 20. = 0.2 ohms. If you are using a SS amp with a 100 damping factor then 8 ohms divided 100 = .o8 ohms. So .2 ohms - .08 ohms= .12 ohms. So what wire that is 6.5 ft ;long is less than 0.12 ohms. Well 24 gauge is 25. 6 ohms per 1000 ft single strand or 500 ft dual conductor wire. 24 gauge would result in .33 ohms. tilt. 16 gauge is 4 ohms per 500. and the series resistance would be .05 ohms. So 16 gauge would be .05 ohms and thats below .12 ohms so you would have a winner. You could also get by with 18 awg. But what ever you do don't use a tube amp with a much higher internal resistance. . Other wise you might up needing 10 awg wire. Sounds ridiculous, but thats they way things can be. For instance a tube amp with a damping factor of 14, the internal resistance would be .57 ohms so no matter the size of wire the tube amp could never control the woofers and drivers as well as a SS amp..

 

[Blue Shadow]

They're 6 OHM speakers and my run lengths from my amp will be 2 meters for each speaker (6.5 feet each). My research tells me that 24-AWG wire is optimal,

That is like hooking up a garden hose to a fire hydrant and trying to put out a 3 alarm fire.

No one here recommends anything less than 16 gauge, maybe because you can buy lamp cord (18 ga) everywhere and well we have to have something that is a bit more esoteric.

Even at lower volumes the bigger (16Ga) should let the power through to the speakers.

 

[WaynerN]

I don't think I could find 24awg in my town, 16awg no problem....

 

[David_NC]

Well... most *good* speaker wire. A lot of hardware store speaker wire is copper clad aluminum which means you need to go up two sizes AWG for the same resistivity as pure copper. Lamp cord in that case is a better choice.

I'm assuming he was using the table from the Gordon Gow article... sure he could probably use 24AWG but why bother? It's actually harder for me to find it than it is 16AWG (I have a box of old extension cords that I cut up for speaker wire for giveaway systems or systems I'm selling) I agree there is no downside to using wire heavier than the minimum required size.

I bought what I thought was was 100' of 14AWG speaker wire from Amazon. When it arrived, I was amazed at how light it was! Yup, it was CCA. I kept it, since it's a decent gauge and goes to my surround speakers, but I think most would be surprised how much speaker wire is now actually CCA vs pure copper.

I don't think I could find 24awg in my town, 16awg no problem....

Ethernet cables might be 24AWG...

 

[4-2-7]

Don'task me I am using 12 AWG single core cable, what do I know?

Yeah Bot these days there is far more copper coated aluminum out there than real copper wire. And they say you can't hear the difference in speaker wire, I can say aluminum sounds really bad LOL.

 

[4-2-7]

Anyone try telephone wire yet?
come-on own it there's got to be someone here who did.