Trying to find support on this is true or not...I have read that speaker wire gauge really does not matter.

If that's the case, would there be anything wrong with running 16GA wire for the speakers?

 

16awg is fine for your speakers. Size does matter to an extent, but more importantly..strand count,thickness of strands,how tightly wound,etc... is what matters more.


--Don

 

So would I be better off running Monster XLN @ 16GA vs. Knuconceptz @ 12GA.?

 

Power wire for the amps should be a low ga. But speaker wire is like stated above.

 

Between the two Im not sure. Ive never dealt with Knuconceptz wiring, and Monster is Very overrated/overpriced stuff.

There was an article not too long ago showing a pie graph of how Monster uses their budget...about 74+% into marketing, about 24% into attorneys/legal fees, about 2% into R&D/ making wires. Doesnt look to good for them.

Monster article

--Don

 

For my install this weekend, I'm planning on using some 14ish guage speaker wire like you'd use on a home theater system--just the regular clear insulation with positive copper strands and negative silver-colored strands. For the RCAs, I will be using unshielded stuff, probably nothing too expensive. I will be running the RCAs up the passenger side and the amp power up the driver's side. I will run the speaker wires up both sides. How does this all sound? Okay, or should I be doing something different? Sorry for the thread-jacking, but I figure it's all along the same lines...

 

Wow, Don - great article, thanks for the heads up!

 

i used a 2 foot peice of reg. unshielded home theather wire from my amp to my subs and now i getting noise in my front speakers. is this possible? what does my sub wire have to do w/ my front speakers.

 

i used the wires that came in my starter kit amp wiring kit

 

the installer that did my install ran stock wiring then to 12 gauge, the wires are crimped at the moment, I dont get any interference or distortion even at very high sound levels. But question is, is it worth it for me to rewire my speakers?

 

unless you run like a 600 watt amp for mids/highs, even 18 gauge is fine. i used 18 and its fine but i think if i did it again id just buy a big roll of 14 gauge and use it for all the speakers.

 

my speakers are currently are being driven by an audiobahn 1200watt amp. i believe type R components are rated at 75rms? so i guess im sending 300 total

 

Dont take offense to this, as you probably didnt know at the time of purchase, but its a Very overrated amp....

 

No. Nothing.

Speaker wire IS unshielded.

Tony

 

Guage size matters for ANY kind of wire. The real question is how long will the wire be and how much power will be going through it? Like Don said, 16 guage speaker wire is more than sufficient for virtually any speaker. Depending on subs, you may need to go with a larger (smaller guage) wire. But even if you had a 1,000 watt amplifier pushing your sub, and the wire from the amp to the sub was only a couple of feet, 16 guage would suffice.

Tony

 

Would suffice is to say the least. Usable for your average user.

This is what to exactly look for. When you push a lot of wattage through a small wire (high gauge) you raise the resistance in that system. Bigger wire and tighter wind allow for better continuity.

Also, using 12 awg wire does you no good if you use that little 32 gauge strip of metal in the terminal cup. I have mine so that there's a o-ring connector (around the thickness of a 18 awg). with 12 awg from the amp to the box, and 10 awg inside the box. I noticed the bass got a lot clearer, would change freq crisper and clearer than before.

I used to have some distortion on certain songs, especially when the freq would change very rapidly. I changed out the wiring, and all of it went away.

 

No i knew about audiobahns, i just picked these up for cheap thats why i bought them, model a4125hcq

 

The resistance of the wire is constant, inversely proportional to it's cross-sectional area. It doesn't go up as the power delivered to the speaker goes up. Now the VOLTAGE DROP across the wire goes up as the current goes up. And yes, smaller drop across a fatter wire. Most important in power and ground wires for high power amps.

Unless you do a lousy job with connectors, gauge size for speakers shouldn't be as critical. 14-18 is plenty.

 

Ehhh keep telling yourself that. But ask yourself this, why does voltage drop happen? And you'll see why I went with 12 gauge and 10 gauge wiring.

I didn't spend 2 years in Industrial Maint, and Industrial Electronics without learning something. And 7 years playing with stereo systems helped me out a lot in those classes.