|   Is 16 Gauge Speaker Wire Enough? | ScottS
Oct 8, 2001 11:51 AM | | Hi,
Today I bought 100 feet of 16 gauge speaker wire from Cambridge Sound Works. I will be pumping a 100 watt receiver and the furthest speakers will need speaker wires to extend about 30 to 35 feet (it has to wrap around the wall). Do you think 16 gauge speaker wire would be sufficient?
I heard that the speaker wire lengths need to be the same for a pair of speakers. Is that correct?
I appreciate your feedback.
P.S-I didn't want to get Monster cable becuase I think it is over rated (you pay mostly for the brand name) and the quality is essentially the same to other less known brand names.
Regards,
ScottS |
| re: Is 16 Gauge Speaker Wire Enough? | Smokey
Oct 8, 2001 12:28 PM | | Hi Scott
Although I would recommend 14 or 12 gauge wire for such a long run as yours, but you should still be alright with 16 gauge wire since you already bought it.
Length of speaker wire does not have to be same for pair of speakers. Few extra feet of wire will not matter at all for a pair of speakers.
Also I am glad you did not go with Monster cable, especially for speaker wires. Electrons can not distinguish between the name tags on the wire.
Good luck. |
| re: Is 16 Gauge Speaker Wire Enough? | ScottS
Oct 9, 2001 2:21 PM | | Hi,
This web link http://www.sundial.net/~rogerr/wire.htm#gordongow explains maximum speaker wire feet depending on gauge of wire. Very interesting. Do you agree with the findings?
Scott S |
| Here is table for Gauge vs Resistance. | Smokey
Oct 9, 2001 5:17 PM | | Hi Scott
I don't know how he achieve his conclusion as I don't see any formula to come up with that type of result. Here is a table of gauge vs resistance I dug up out of my Physics book.
G. # 18...6.3 ohm per 1000 feet
G. # 16...4 ohm P/1000 feet
G. # 14...2.5 ohm P/1000 feet
G. # 12...1.5 ohm P/1000 feet
G. # 10...0.99 ohm P/1000 feet
G. # 8....0.62 ohm P/1000 feet
For example if you want to measure the wire resistance of 12 gauge wire for 30 feet, then you have to:
35 feet(gauge # ohm/1000 feet)...35(1.5/1000)..R=0.052 ohms
For 16 gauge wire of the same length:
R=35(4/1000)...R=0.14 ohms
Power loss due to wire resistance can be calculated by using this formula P=( I squared)*R. So if you are pumping 5 amp of continuos current (on most application this value be around 2 to 3 amp) to your speakers, then using a 16 gauge wire loss will be:
(5 squared)* 0.14= 3.5 watt. You will loss 3.5 watt due to speaker wires.
As mentioned before, I would prefer 14 or 12 gauge wire, but you still can get away with 16 gauge wire. Good luck. |
| The wire is 0.28 ohms | Norm Strong
Oct 9, 2001 12:36 PM | | If your speakers are 4 ohm, that's a significant loss. What it means is that the maximum output of your receiver is 12% less than it otherwise would be. If this is a cheap receiver, the 12% loss is not very valuable. But if you're using a high-priced receiver, you may find that 12% of it is quite a waste. |
| The wire is 0.28 ohms | Spott
Oct 9, 2001 1:12 PM | | Norm, Could you please explain where you are getting 12% from? And how did you figure 0.28 ohms? |
| Norm, how did you come up with that figure? | Smokey
Oct 9, 2001 5:25 PM | | Hi norm
Base on my table from physics book my calculation came up to 0.14 ohms.
Ohms loss due to lenght of wire:
G. # 16...4 ohm Per/1000 feet
For 16 gauge wire of the same length:
R=35(4/1000)...R=0.14 ohms
Also see my responce to ScottS.
Take care. |
| 0.0042 ohms per foot x 70 feet (35 x 2 for AC) = 0.294 ohms | Richard Greene
Oct 10, 2001 6:45 AM | | I'd recommend 12AWG wire for about 30 cents a foot at Home Depot.
The 12AWG wire I bought for 30 cents per foot was made by A.I.G corp and looked very much like original Monster cable (a little thinner).
An earlier 12AWG purchased at Home Depot was stiff (if you bent it, the wire stayed bent) and one of the leads was tinned -- I'd stay away from that type of wire.
Source of 0.0042 ohms per feet for 16AWG:
http://www.pcavtech.com/techtalk/wire_size/index.htm |
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