For 6-ohm speakers 16AWG wire is recommended for runs up to 36 feet and 10 or 12AWG wire for runs up to 150 feet. If you are using 8-ohm speakers, 16 AWG wire is recommended for runs up to 48 feet and 10 or 12AWG wire for runs up to 200 feet.
Should I use 14 or 16 gauge speaker wire?
Thick wire (12 or 14 gauge) is recommended for long wire runs, high power applications, and low-impedance speakers (4 or 6 ohms). For relatively short runs (less than 50 feet) to 8 ohm speakers, 16 gauge wire will usually do just fine. It’s cost-effective and easy to work with.
What is the best gauge wire for car speakers?
When you replace or run new speaker wiring, we recommend using: 18-, 16-, or 14-gauge wires for speakers. 16-, 14-, or 12-gauge wires for subwoofers.
What wire is best for speakers?
Most of the best speaker wires are made from copper, since copper is a wonderful conductor of electricity. For the best quality wire, looking for something made with 100% copper is highly recommended.
What AWG is best for speakers? – Related Questions
Can speaker cable be too thick?
Within limits, yes. With normal, unpowered speakers, wire thickness affects resistance, which affects damping factor to the speakers, which affects their sound.
Can you use too big of speaker wire?
No. While extremely thin wire (with resistance comparable to your speaker impedance, AWG 32 or so), might SLIGHLY decrease the current required from your amplifier, there will be an insignificant change going from AWG 16 to anything bigger.
Do you need special wire for speakers?
All that really matters for speaker wire is the wire gauge, which relates directly to the per-foot resistance of the cable. And resistance in the cable will reduce the power delivered from your amplifier to your speakers. Use the heaviest gauge (lower number) you can, and everything will work fine.
Is there a difference between speaker wire and regular wire?
The only difference is that speaker wire typically has clear outer insulation, while electrical wire might be black, brown, white or some other color. That similarity isn’t an illusion; the wires are very much alike and can be used interchangeably in many circumstances.
Is speaker wire just regular wire?
Speaker wire is pretty much regular electrical wire. The most common speaker wire is just what we refer to as lamp cord or zip cord, used for the AC mains connections on lamps and other small light duty appliances..
Is silver speaker wire better than copper?
While copper tends to sound warmer and has more body it is a bit slower and less harmonically rich, silver does exactly the opposite. Silver tends to sound livelier, while offering more clarity and harmonic richness but at the cost of a colder character, thinner and lighter body.
Does the length of speaker wire affect sound?
When long runs (of either interconnects or speaker cables) are used, cable quality becomes extra important. Due to the additional signal losses longer runs impose, the better the cable is at “protecting” the signal, the better will be the sound.
Whats better RCA or speaker wire?
If they are small speakers then the kind of cable usually attached to RCA connectors will work, but if they are large speakers then you’ll want thicker speaker cable. You can solder on RCA connectors if that’s what your speakers take. RCA is an unamplified line signal, whereas speaker wires are amplified.
What happens if you wire a speaker backwards?
What happens if speakers are wired backward? Wiring speakers backward, causes them to be out of phase. Phase cancellation results in certain frequencies being reduced in the output, and it is detrimental to the audio quality. It also negatively affects the stereo imaging of the speakers.
Does speaker wire thickness matter?
Speaker wires with lower-gauge numbers are better at carrying an amplified audio signal. When determining which wire gauge to use, consider how far away the speakers are from your amplifier or A/V receiver. Generally, for short speaker wire runs, a 16-gauge wire is sufficient.
Is it OK to twist speaker wires together?
Speaker Cable should always be twisted. Witnessed a System with Parallel wire (Zip Cord) in a home where the receiver and all electronics were unplugged and removed or un-wired from the speaker wires and yet the speakers were clear as a bell still working.
Why do people put subwoofers in backwards?
According to some, inverting a subwoofer can help keep the speakers cooler and can help increase the box volume. However, most agree that doing this does not make your subwoofer louder. It can help with space issues though, allowing you to fit the speakers in an area with a smaller box that normally would not work.
How do I make my sub box hit harder?
You can also make minor upgrades to your subwoofer to make it hit harder. Change the small cone in front of the subwoofer, change the voice coil or get a new enclosure for the subwoofer. If you don’t want to put much effort into it, just turn the volume to zero and play your track with medium bass.
Should subs face in or out?
This is the most common direction used by the majority of custom car audio fanatics. By placing the subwoofer in the trunk against the last row of seats, facing away from the driver, the bass becomes more pronounced and evenly distributed across the car’s surface area.
Should subwoofer face the floor?
Because the speaker needs to face the floor, it cannot work properly on its side. However, down-firing speakers shouldn’t need to be set up where space is an issue. They are designed to be near the listening area, not inside a console. Now you know when you can put a subwoofer on its side.
How do you deep bass a subwoofer?
It is recommended that for optimal quality sound, you should place your subwoofer within 8-12 inches of a wall, facing outwards towards the rest of the room. For even more output, consider placing your subwoofer in the corner of your room, as it can significantly increase the overall sound due to the positioning.
