What size speaker wire do I need?

What Size Speaker Wire Do I Need?

• Answer:

  Even the highest-quality loudspeakers cannot reproduce sound to the best of their ability if you wire them with speaker wire of the wrong type, length or size. Indeed, if you connect a speaker with wire that is too small for a given length of run, you can not only adversely affect its response and efficiency, but also create a potential fire hazard. American Wire Gauge The size, or thickness, of speaker wire is measured by its American Wire Gauge (AWG) number. The smaller the AWG number, the larger the diameter of the speaker, the lower its resistance and the higher its capacity to carry amplified audio signals. Most commercially available speaker wire ranges in thickness from 12 AWG (approximately 0.08 inches) to 16 AWG (approximately 0.05 inches). Choosing Speaker Wire Your choice of speaker wire depends on the quality of your speakers, the distance between your amplifier and your speakers, the overall sound quality you're trying to achieve and, of course, your budget. Long runs of speaker wire can cause significant power losses and require thicker cable, but, generally speaking, 16 AWG wire is adequate for runs of less than 80 feet, 14 AWG is adequate for runs between 80 and 120 feet, while thicker, 12 AWG wire lightens the load on your amplifier for runs over 200 feet. Electrical Resistance Loudspeaker performance depends, largely, on the electrical resistance -- the opposition to the flow of electrical current, measured in ohms (Ω) -- of the speaker circuit. The electrical resistance of the speaker circuit includes the internal resistance of the amplifier, but this is typically negligible, so the key factors are the resistance of the speaker system and the resistance of the speaker wire. The current, I, flowing through a speaker can be calculated, theoretically, from the formula I = √P/R, where P represents power and R represents resistance. This calculation does not, however, take into account the additional series resistance created between the amplifier and speaker by using very thin speaker wire. Considerations If you're choosing speaker wire for home theater, thicker wire can help to deliver realistic sound effects from a 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channel digital surround-sound system. Bear in mind, however, that some home theater in a box systems and some brands of speaker use nonstandard speaker wire connections, which makes choosing your own speaker wire impossible. On the whole, speaker wire terminated with connectors, rather than stripped bare wire, provides better quality connections and protects against harmful short circuits.