sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Speaker Wire theatre room

Curious what type of wire yall use for a small home theatre.

large gauge with many strands of oxygen free copper also called monster cable

Looking for something a lil bit more realistic than monster cable. Belden makes some 12 14 16 gauge wire.

i ran 4pr cat 3 2pairs pos 2 pair neg seems to run fine sound is awsome

In a previous life I wired high end homes for theaters and distributed audio etc.

I always used at a minimum 14 gauge cable for shorter runs such as just a theater room.

For longer runs I normally used 12 gauge or larger.

large gauge with many strands of oxygen free copper also called monster cable :rofl:

About the only thing I would agree with might be large gauge.

For speakers the wire size depends on the length of the run (round trip) and the wattage you are trying to push through it. The resistance of the wire is in series with the speaker voice coil load so if you have an 8 ohm speaker and (just as an example) 8 ohms worth of wire your speaker would see only half the power from the amplifier output. The other half would be dissipated along the length of the wire as heat. This is called I squared R loss. The square of the current flowing through the wire divided by the resistance of the wire will tell you how many watts are being dissipated. An easier way is to remember that the wire loss is going to be the same ratio as the resistance of the wire is to the voice coil impedance.

So, logically you would want to use a wire size large enough to keep the I squared R loss to a minimum or at least as low as practical so that most of your power is delivered to the speaker. Since bigger is better I suppose you could always use something like 1/0 copper but that isn't realistic. You can do the math or you can consult a table (which I will try to find) to determine the recommended wire sizes.

Here is what Crown has to say about wire sizes:

What gauge speaker wire should I use in my system?

For the best speaker damping and least amount of power loss you will want to use the heaviest gauge that is practical. The length of the speaker wire should be considered when considering wire gauge. The shorter the run, the smaller gauge you can use with minimum power and damping factor loss. The longer the run, the heavier gauge you will need to minimize power and damping factor loss. You will also want to consider the size of power amplifier you are using. The larger the amplifier, the heavier gauge you will want to use. Generally speaking, runs of 25 Ft or less work well with 14 gauge. Over 25 one should use 12 gauge if possible. These numbers are not set in stone, but generally work well. For Constant Voltage systems such as a 70.7V or 140V systems, the voltage is high and the current is low. Because there is not much current you can use smaller wire without much power loss. Quite often 18-gauge wire works well with these systems. To calculate power loss you can use the Crown Constant Voltage Slide Rule, which is available from our literature department (1-800-342-6939).

As for "oxygen free" and fine strands, unless you believe in UFOs I wouldn't waste my money.

-Hal

Belden's New Generation series looks nice. But I think almost any 14 or 12 gauge would be adequate. Don't know if Monster really lives up to the hype.

I always use this stuff from radio shack. All coper wire and best of all, it's cheap.

https://www.radioshack.com/product/...mp;kw=speaker+wire&parentPage=search

Paired cable vs non-paired make a difference? All the runs should be under 50-75 ft. Speakers that are being used are all self amplified. https://www.definitivetech.com/loudspeakers/powertower/powertower.html#7000sc
Don't fear aliens, do fear being probed by them.

liquid vw...that looks the same as the lamp cord we sell at the hardware store...is there any difference?