wire size

[bannock 10+ year member]

Ah, Kinda hate to ask this but is there a BIG difference in sound depending on the size wire you use? So say I used a small Gauge speaker wire for most of the set up ( well except battery and ground) am I missing out by useing the smaller crap wire? I was reading other posts about this but I wasnt sure just how big of a diff it made when it came to wires other then the ground and battery.

Thanks and sorry if this is 1st grade stuff.

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[miker 5,000+ posts]

I just read something about this. It all depends on how LONG of a run it is, and what the resistance level is. If you have a Suburban, and you are running 18g wire all the way back to a 4ohm speaker it won't be so great, but say that speaker is in the front door your just as well off as you would be running 12g. I don't remember the specific lengths, sorry.

 

[johnson 10+ year member]

http://www.bcae1.com/wire.htm

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

I just read something about this. It all depends on how LONG of a run it is, and what the resistance level is. If you have a Suburban, and you are running 18g wire all the way back to a 4ohm speaker it won't be so great, but say that speaker is in the front door your just as well off as you would be running 12g. I don't remember the specific lengths, sorry.

yeah, you've got the right idea.

You should always aim to keep the resistance of the wire less than 5% (10% at most) of the lowest resistance level that your speakers will represent (resistance changes with frequency, so it's actually called impedance) to the amp. That site linked above has recommendations I believe.