Speaker wire for surrounds

[The Guardian]

Hi all. I'm just finally finishing my 5.1 setup, and I got a pair of Paradigm Micros for my rears.

I have a really annoying shaped room and I need a 45' wire run to reach the left-rear speaker.

I can get 16 gauge wire for 39 cents per foot or 18 gauge wire for 15 cents per foot. Do you think the 18 gauge will be good enough? The front three run on 12 gauge but the micros won't take anything bigger than 16 (no banana plugs). I'm on a tight budget (my wife is already kinda mad at me hehe)....

P.S. I'd like constructive thoughts, I'm not interested in hearing from people who say the wires don't matter! The micros are running on 22 gauge wires I had lying around from my old HTIB and yes it makes a difference!

[Lucy Diamond]

If you can squeese the 16's then get them. I have rediculously expensive audio stream cable (that someone talked me into) in the fronts and surrounds, but my surround backs are just plain ole Acoustic research cable from Best Buy and they sound great too. Do what you can now and recover the cash later.

Any money you save, you will use to either take your wife somewhere or buy her something to say thank you and then reassure her that the system is donw for a great while and you will both be able to enjoy it for many years to come. When things need to change again, you will only need a new receiver so you are actually DONE.

Also...never underestimate the healing power of oral ;o )

Enjoy

[Snowgod]

You might try some computer Cat5 or Cat6 network cable. I get it for pretty cheap and it has solid copper that can carry speaker signal adequately.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by Snowgod

You might try some computer Cat5 or Cat6 network cable. I get it for pretty cheap and it has solid copper that can carry speaker signal adequately.

Network cables for speakers? Just say no...

[brett_day]

if you can go with the 16 guage! and get it from monoprice.com! I got 100ft 16 gauge spaker wire for $13! awesome stuff! check it out here! and it only took 3 days to get to me! I am very happy with it and everything i get from monoprice!

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

this would be 7.5 cents per foot

On

[nezff]

get some super flat speaker wire.

[wem003]

Originally Posted by richteer

Network cables for speakers? Just say no...

cat5e would work fine.


http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

[richteer]

Originally Posted by wem003

cat5e would work fine.


http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

For speaker wire? No way, and I don't care what Roger Russell says about it.

Yeah, electrons will flow and sound will come out (provided you don't melt the cables by driving too much current through them), but it'll sound like shit.

[Blu_Ray_Fan]

I am considering doing superflat wires for my surrounds. Try those!

[wem003]

Originally Posted by richteer

For speaker wire? No way, and I don't care what Roger Russell says about it.

Yeah, electrons will flow and sound will come out (provided you don't melt the cables by driving too much current through them), but it'll sound like shit.

No one is suggesting using straight Cat5. This is kind of a cool DIY project and you will find quite a large group of folks that are making their own speaker cables for long runs by building up sets of twisted pairs to make the cable that is needed. Here is a good FAQ for those that are interested.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/cat5questions_e.html

[Blu_Audio]

I have found that some brands post recommended max resistance per foot for their surrounds as they are typically further away. If the speaker brand posts it and the reputable speaker wire manufacture rates their wire at a certain resistance per foot you can do this for a few brands get an average and figure what is a safe bet for you. This way you don't get locked into a brand you do not want but you can have some assurance that you have the proper gauge. It will also depend on what you are driving it with, to some degree.

IMO,

Blu

[danay82]

Originally Posted by wem003

cat5e would work fine.


http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

I don't even want to get started on that topic. Lets just say.. Yes and No depending on applications. (Few people I know regret it now for the power being driven across tend to heat and seperate the soild 24AWG within)

Always asked them if they would wire power in their house with Cat5 and get the same response of.. "NO! The wire not big enough".

Wonder why they thought it would work for what they were doing.

Oh well, back to the OP questions..

Either 16AWG or 18AWG will work fine in your case. If your reciever is doing say 200 watts then the db loss on 18AWG would be somewhere around .05, 16AWG would be .03 and if using Cat5, then it would be .2 db loss. All calculated at 100 volts of power on the line at a 45ft distance.

On my setup, I have 20AWG going to the rear, front and sides... 10AWG going to the subs and 12AWG going to the center. Doing 150watts a piece all around and the subs are doing 600 watts.

Hope that helps.