

Next I want to try a couple of the interconnect recipes using individual strands of CAT5. Or perhaps you picked up a set of desktop speakers to connect to your computer. For wire runs beyond 75 feet, choose at least 16 gauge, if not a 14 or 12-gauge. For most 8-ohm speaker circuits with a shorter than 50 feet run, a 16-gauge wire would be an ideal choice. I'd say that braided CAT5 is going to be my go-to speaker wire from now on. 44.98 Speaker Wires: Does The Gauge Size Really Matter So you bought a killer set of speakers, and maybe even center-channel and surround-sound speakers to set up your perfect A/V system or home theater. If your speaker has a nominal impedance of 4 ohms or lower and it requires a lot of power, so it is best to choose a 14 or 12-gauge wire, despite the distance. I honestly don't recall what I gave for the 3M Tributaries but I remember them not exacly being "cheap". Speaker Wire Gauge The thickness of the wire is represented by its gauge or referring to the American Wire Ga uge (AWG). There are generally 2 ways to connect speakers parallel and series.
SPEAKER WIRE GAUGE CALCULATOR SERIES
For more information on calculating parallel and series resistance, which works the same with speakers, check out this calculator (link to series/parallel resistance calc). I contacted the designer of the amp to verify that this would not cause any problems prior to installing them.įrankly I can hear no difference whatsoever between a couple of bucks worth of CAT5 cable and some fairly spendy speaker wires. Speakers can be wired in series, parallel, or series-parallel to obtain the correct impedance to match your amp.

Heck, you can even help your friends out next time. With a little help, you can end up with a pretty formidable understanding of the entire concept. Braided CAT5 speaker wires are known to be higher capacitance than most speaker wires. Februby Motorist Care Choosing the right wire gauge for your car’s audio speaker might be a daunting task. Speaker wiring is a simple process that often gets complicated when trying to visualize the wiring configuration. The results show every possible wiring configuration for your setup. Just to keep things equal I installed the same Nakamichi locking banana plugs on the CAT5 cables. Speaker Wiring Calculator For this calculator to work you’ll need to know the output impedance of your amp as well as the number of speakers used in your cabinet. I did finish them though and replaced my 12Ga Tributaries with them. For someone with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands that kind of activity gets real painful real quick. I won't be braiding any more of them any time soon.
