Speaker Wire(what gauge?)

[zodiak]

Hi,

My pioneer 03 arrived today, and tonite I'm ordering Polk 60's to begin my HT set up, my question is what speaker wire is recommended and what gauge?

Thanks

[McLoki]

You could ask alot of questions about how much do you want to spend, how long is your run, what impedance are your speakers, how much power are you running to them and are you running your speakers set to large or do you have the bass handled by a subwoofer.....

Or you could just get 12-14ga and not worry about it.

Monoprice, home store (home depot, lowes, etc), blue-jeans cable, parts express are all decent choices - if you are running the cable through the wall to hide it though, you really should make sure your cable is rated for in-wall use....

Michael

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by zodiak

Hi,

My pioneer 03 arrived today, and tonite I'm ordering Polk 60's to begin my HT set up, my question is what speaker wire is recommended and what gauge?

Thanks

12 or 14 AWG would be fine ! Monoprice is A good start !

[zodiak]

thanks guys any 12 ga will do?

my front speaker run is about 5 feet from receiver to speaker, for now thats it running a 2 fronts and center(that will come in a few weeks)for now.

So Im clear just head over to monoprice and order any brand 12 ga wire & Im good?

[Grevlin]

Originally Posted by zodiak

thanks guys any 12 ga will do?

my front speaker run is about 5 feet from receiver to speaker, for now thats it running a 2 fronts and center(that will come in a few weeks)for now.

So Im clear just head over to monoprice and order any brand 12 ga wire & Im good?

yup,

Monoprice will get you that nice bulky look that I love, and I know you're hoping for. I went with the white 2-conductor in-wall wire (even though it's not, um, in the wall.)

* Don't forget the banana clips- 2 sets per speaker/channel

[McLoki]

Originally Posted by zodiak

So Im clear just head over to monoprice and order any brand 12 ga wire & Im good?

If you are not running it in-wall, yes. Thats all there is to it. It looks like the smallest length you can get there is 50' though. (still not to expensive)

If all you need is 15', you may want to just get 3 runs of the length you need from BlueJeanscable.com. (I would use their belden 12-white cable)

Pay attention to shipping charges though to figure out what would be cheaper for you.

Michael

[zodiak]

GREVLIN *** Don't forget the banana clips- 2 sets per speaker/channel***

Im new to all this so I may sound dumb, would I be correct in understanding that its 2 clips for each end of the speaker wire?( 2 into speaker,2 into rec)

Thanks for the help everyone!!!

[Grevlin]

Originally Posted by zodiak

GREVLIN *** Don't forget the banana clips- 2 sets per speaker/channel***

Im new to all this so I may sound dumb, would I be correct in understanding that its 2 clips for each end of the speaker wire?( 2 into speaker,2 into rec)

Thanks for the help everyone!!!

Exactly right. To prevent the forum from getting into a frenzy debating if they actually improve sound or not, just get them because it makes it super easy to plug/unplug the speakers (and they look cool)

Monoprice usually have them on the cheap.

Measure out your wire runs and attach the banana clips.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by zodiak

GREVLIN *** Don't forget the banana clips- 2 sets per speaker/channel***

Im new to all this so I may sound dumb, would I be correct in understanding that its 2 clips for each end of the speaker wire?( 2 into speaker,2 into rec)

Thanks for the help everyone!!!

This is 2 different wires going to 1 speaker (bi-amping) . Each wire will have A Black & red banana plug on each end of the wire , so 2 sets for each wire !!

[Grevlin]

See- they look cool. Nice Craz

[zodiak]

Sorry for all this guys, is there or whats the difference between "loud" or "conductor" just was at mono and wasnt sure if it matters, thanks for the help once more.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by Grevlin

See- they look cool. Nice Craz

Just trying to help Grev ! Looks better than it did !

[talstarone]

You have already received some Great Advice and Suggestions to your questions.
I agree with the dominant view of using Banana Plugs at the ends of All your Speaker Wires.They are easy to plug-in and connect to both the speaker's binding posts as well as the Receiver's Binding Posts.They also make the appearance of your speaker and especially the back of your Receiver much cleaner and neater then bare wire normally does.

And 12awg to 14awg will do the job with ease.
You could step up to 10awg but some Banana Plugs wont fit wire that thick and there is little to no advantage in going to 10awg unless you have some Very Long Lengths of Speaker Wire going to some of your Surround Speakers(25 feet or more,and even around 25 feet 12awg will still do the job)

Some people get a higher gauge just for piece of mind or find some very well made speaker wire(around 10awg)at a Great Price(5 to 20cents more per foot then 12awg).

But for the price MonoPrice(MonoCable)makes Great Speaker Wire and Banana Plugs,that perform Very Well.
All at a price level that makes it easy to afford some higher gauge wire then many other brands that dont have any real advantage in performance(but that is an entirely different topic).