# Speaker Wire



## rambo64 (Aug 2, 2010)

Is there a noticeable difference in using 12 gauge wire vs 14 or 16 gauge wire when wiring up your surround speakers? And whats the difference in using oxygen free wiring?


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Most everything you ever wanted to know about wire: http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

You answers in short: Yes, you may hear a distance at longer runs, and oxygen free wire, while likely inaudibly different at appropriate run lengths, does have a lower resistance in general than standard copper wire.


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## rambo64 (Aug 2, 2010)

Your were right, that's a lot of info for wires. What a great source of info. Thanks for the reply.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

It really depends on your speakers and how loud you listen to things. Some people have full range speakers for their surrounds and listen at pretty high volumes (like a real theater) with runs over 50' -- in these cases 14 gauge or 12 ga is a good idea. For shorter than 50' 14 gauge is as large as I'd go, and if it's a small satellite system (like many Home Theater in a Box products), 16 gauge is probably fine.

Oxygen free is better than standard and high strand count is better (more flexible, more usable conductor area). But you don't have to go nuts. RAM, Monoprice, Parts Express, and Blue Jeans Cable all sell very good, very reasonably priced speaker wires and bulk cable without all the hype and snake oil.

Good luck!


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

It also depends on if your running the wire within the walls or baseboard route. If your running them in the wall will you be running them close too or crossing electrical wires. Probably a stupid question but I thought I would put it out there. 

I have seen people use CAT5 cable as surround speaker wire, seemed to work pretty good.


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## rambo64 (Aug 2, 2010)

I'm running via baseboards not in wall. But I do plan on listening to it pretty loud.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

When I wired my house for speakers I used a Belden 1860A. It is plenum rated which you don't need but I know they had many many different. I personally will never buy a monster cable, straight wire, etc etc. 
Belden probably makes half their cable. 

The Belden 1694A in my opinion is The Best RG6 coax cable your can buy to not only wire your house but to make video and audio RCA cables with.


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## rambo64 (Aug 2, 2010)

Dre,

Good info, didn't know about the Belden cables. I'll have to check them out.


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## lvhjr (Dec 15, 2008)

Surround speakers are normally smaller on the rear channels. If they are high-end they will have binding post that can accept larger 12 gauge wire. Moderate rear channels will have press to release terminals design for a maximum 18 or 16 gauge wire size. Also note that rear channels get reduced volume programing and have independent levels, which will assist with any losses from wire size. Recommend you go with 16 gauge, which is easy to hide or 14 gauge if you are installing high-end up to 50 feet. Belden 5200UP and 5100UP wires are flexible, twisted for reduced noise and my choice for most applications.


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

They are surrounds. I'd give them 16 gauge and call it a day. They aren't critical to your sound quality. The main thing is you want a wire that's easy to feed.


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## Ares (Nov 23, 2009)

16AWG is cool for the surrounds unless your like me, I like overkill I'm running 12AWG all the way around.


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## salvasol (Oct 31, 2006)

I used 14awg.... probably overkill (longest wire lenght is around 25'), but comparing prices between 16 and 14 the difference was small.... so I decided: Better safe than sorry :bigsmile:


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

I have 16 awg and 14 awg for fronts and surrounds ( i'll let you figure out what i have where). I'm gonna run 12awg when i run wire for my subs, possibly 10awg.:dontknow:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

There is no such thing as overkill however it becomes much more dificult to fit larger gauge wire into the binding posts. Unless your running super long distances of 100' or more or running high power (1000watts or more) 14awg is all you need. 
I personally use 14 on my sorounds and 12 on my mains just because I can.


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## tsteves (Dec 18, 2009)

One thing to bear in mind is the loss of amplifier power, especially if you have a "green" bone in your body, and if you are cranking your rear channels to loud levels. I have not done the math recently, but you do certainly save some energy with the heavier gauges. My speakers are all very inefficient, so I like to go heavy with my gauges to at least not feel too bad about that. Your conscious may vary...


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

tsteves said:


> One thing to bear in mind is the loss of amplifier power, especially if you have a "green" bone in your body, and if you are cranking your rear channels to loud levels. I have not done the math recently, but you do certainly save some energy with the heavier gauges. My speakers are all very inefficient, so I like to go heavy with my gauges to at least not feel too bad about that. Your conscious may vary...


More energy is probably used in mining the copper than you'd save in a lifetime, but going heavier isn't a bad thing. Going lighter is what we want to avoid.


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## tsteves (Dec 18, 2009)

Yes, that's obviously true. Still, that means you shouldn't try to limit further waste? That's like saying that we should all drive gas guzzlers since it took _so_ much energy to get the oil out of the ground! 
(can't post link) 4.5% power lost over 40' with 16awg vs 12awg. Not a lot of db, but you'd be happy with it if it was a refrigerator. 
It's not much, but every little bit helps. If everyone in the USA cut power by 4.5% what would be the total savings?


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