Speaker Wire - does it matter?

Thought some of you might enjoy hahaha...

Myths associated with speaker wires. Bigger is better, nope 16ga is suitable for up to 200’ run. Splices reduce quality/efficiency, proper splices do not affect sound audible to us. Only sometimes detected by oscilloscope. Speakers/wire needs broken in, nah..... Speaker wire should be the same exact length, with electrical speeds through wire, any difference in length is inaudible.

 
Are you talking only voltage ratings or impedance...what?

I understand this as well. 200' of 12 awg will yield the same result as 10 awg until you start crossing the 200' ft mark. Then loss of signal kicks in. But holistically are we missing anything here....I mean 8 awg runs from an amp to subs less than 5 ft away or so seem ridiculous. Maybe it is the placebo effect? Curious what else is going on here...

 
In the car its impossible to tell. And the lengths are so short.

In a critical listening home setup you may hear a difference. But probably not.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 
Sonically speaking (and this is a very subtle difference to be able to discern for most folks, if at all), the best things to study with cable differences is the overall reactive profile, similar to how you would with a driver's reactive profile. Once you get past the obvious runs/resistance thing, you are left with; dielectrics of the cable sheath, skin effect for the gauge of conductor, type of conductor element (copper, aluminum, silver, etc...), the purity and alignment/density of the crystalline structure of these elements (less airspace between the actual copper crystals), and the the reactive components of the cable (impedance, inductance, capacitance) due to it's construction (fancy twisting of multiple tiny strands with perfect dielectric materials covering each strand, flat cross section, things like that, etc...). When you shift the balance in favor of high capacitance or high inductance in a cable, you can impact the sonic signature. Some amplifiers will not tolerate high capacitance cables but the ones that will, sometimes allow for a small change in character that many find pleasing. Same for the conductor type, some like the way silver sounds and some do not. It's all part of the bigger picture and how you are matching all your components but I would not even bother with any type of cable purchase or cable swapping until it is the very last thing you are trying to do to make some minor improvement. The difference it makes is just too small and can only be appreciated when so many other factors have reached utter perfection. Otherwise, the change it could potentially make is simply masked out by other numerous factors. For most people this exercise in switching cables to experience a gain in clarity or depth is pointless unless you have truly achieved something special with your other install parameters, such as careful equipment selecting and pairing. Bigger differences can be heard with the introduction of a tube preamp, or op-amp swap, or EQ adjustments. But to be clear, there are sonic benefits that EQ adjustments cannot achieve, that some cables and constructions can actually provide. But again, it's one of those Nth degree things that only a handful of people will be able to say that they can hear a difference, and with any conviction.

Short story is to just buy quality copper cables of sufficient gauge and sleep good knowing it was the wise and frugal thing to do.

 
16 gauge for speakers 12 for most subs 10 for up to 3000w per run 8 for anything larger and you should never have an issue

I personally like the looks of 10awg speaker wire as it just looks beefy but I've ran 16-12awg on quite alot of power with out an issue.

Most of the wiring in my truck is 16awg, 14awg for my switch panel and relay panel since it should handle 20amps fine and I don't see larger draw potential than that

 
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