Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic. Read 707 times.

rockadanny

Speakers are 96dB sensitivity.

Ron D

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 471
Re: Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?
« Reply #1 on: Yesterday at 08:30 pm »
What is the length between amp and speakers?

AVnerdguy

Re: Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?
« Reply #2 on: Yesterday at 09:02 pm »
The speaker sensitivity has little bearing on efficient power transfer. A general rule of thumb is 18AWG for 10' , 16AWG for 20', 14 AWG for 30' (see a pattern here?) and 12 AWG for 40'. We did this in a lab with quality copper based twisted wire (7.32 strands) from various manufacturers (Belden, CDW, Mogami and Canare) and graphed power transfer and freq roll off (due to resistance/capacitance/inductive reactance. But I should talk - mine are 12 AWG for less than 20' so go figure.

DaveC113

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 4397
  • ZenWaveAudio.com
Re: Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?
« Reply #3 on: Yesterday at 09:12 pm »
Sensitivity is only part of it. You can have a 4" midrange at 96 dB or an entire massive speaker system at 96 dB, the former with 20W capacity, the latter with 2kW. Impedance is also a large factor, a 4 ohm speaker vs a 16 ohm speaker has a 4x difference in current on average.

Gauge will also change things above and beyond satisfying the speaker's current demands, but in general a heavier gauge cable is only an issue with cost so err on the side of a heavier gauge cable.

rockadanny

Re: Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?
« Reply #4 on: Yesterday at 10:01 pm »
Speakers are (2) 15" OB woofs and 1 horn per side, 8 ohms nominal.
Supposedly produce <39 Hz (never measured, but never feel I need a sub, music only).
Amp puts out 4.3 watts (2A3 tube) per side (tho mfr states can do burst peaks of 10 watts).
Medium sized room - never listen louder than 80-85 dB, peaks never get to 95dB.
Cable length will be 6'.
Currently running 9ga !  :icon_lol:

FullRangeMan

  • Volunteer
  • Posts: 21428
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.
Re: Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?
« Reply #5 on: Yesterday at 10:09 pm »
Thin wire will increase the impedance the amp see/feel, its used by small tube amps owners.

DaveC113

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 4397
  • ZenWaveAudio.com
Re: Recommended thinnest wire guage for DIY speaker cables?
« Reply #6 on: Yesterday at 11:40 pm »
Speakers are (2) 15" OB woofs and 1 horn per side, 8 ohms nominal.
Supposedly produce <39 Hz (never measured, but never feel I need a sub, music only).
Amp puts out 4.3 watts (2A3 tube) per side (tho mfr states can do burst peaks of 10 watts).
Medium sized room - never listen louder than 80-85 dB, peaks never get to 95dB.
Cable length will be 6'.
Currently running 9ga !  :icon_lol:

There probably isn't much if any downside to your current 9g cable, and I wouldn't go with much thinner than 12g because of the woofers. However, if you have modern woofers with more than a couple mm excursion, which you should running OB, then you should biamp. There are so many reasons why you could write a book on it, but it's not always easy to implement perfectly. If you get it right, it'll be better. I tried a bunch of woofer amps and honestly the cheap Crown Drivecore with built in xo is really good and super cheap. Your SET will also sound much better if it only has the horn to drive, and you could use a speaker cable as thin as 20g, but I'd go 17g. I'd also use solid core UPOCC silver, maybe 4 runs of 20g per side in a simple braid. It'll be very expensive but there's nothing better.

I have a 6W SET running a mid horn and supertweeter horn, 2x15" Acoustic Elegance 15" in a BR box driven with the Crown D-amp, I think the XLS... The horns use a really nice passive xo, bass uses the 24 dB xo built into the Crown. I built the exact same low-pass xo in passive and you really can't hear any difference vs the Crown's DSP xo.

I.Greyhound Fan

Years ago, when I got my first pair of Magnepans which were the original MMG's, all I had was 18g zip cord and I connected it to a 200wpc adcom amp.  The speaker wires got really hot. Cable length was 10'.  I bought some 14g wire and had no such problems.  I now use 10 to 12g wire.  I would never use anything smaller than 16g.

Speedskater

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 2754
  • Kevin
It's all about the total end-to-end resistance of the cable with respect to the impedance curve of multi-driver loudspeakers.
A loudspeaker with an impedance curve that looks like a roller-coaster track will be much more sensitive to cable resistance than one with a flat curve or a single driver loudspeaker.

Rusty Jefferson

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 1021
If you're listening to music, 18 gauge solid core is fine. You'll dump those 9 gauge wires after the first 30 seconds of listening. You can pick up the least expensive pair of these for under $150 and have 30 days to demo no questions asked. I've demonstrated them to many audio friends who immediately purchased. Report back if you try them, either way.

https://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Golden-Helix-2-Speaker-Wires_p_1181.html