Need help setting up your listening space? Check out this free resource I've created for you... Speaker Placement Guide: audiouniversityonline.com/speaker-placement-guide/
This channel clearly has the highest grade content of all of the audiophile material on TH-cam; and, that is the selection of material, the information given, the presentation, and its conciseness. Besides being material to educate the public on audio, I would argue this channel is an example of what many other informational "TH-camrs" should review prior to posting.
This is a recommended guide. With the high price of copper, you still want to be able send the signal with the least degradation but be able to stay within your budget.
I'm didn't know anything about speaker wire before. I used the wire that came with the system very thin. Then I tried 14 gage pure copper wire. Blown away by it. Volume increased and it was clearer. Didn't know it would make such a difference.
Same here. I got the Yamaha Audio YHT-4950U 5.1 home theater system and it came with very thin and flimsy speaker wire. I read some reviews where people said they recommend using better quality speaker wire instead of what came with the system. So I got a bundle of Amazon brand 100 feet 16 gauge speaker wire (reviewers said 16 gauge is what they used on the system), and switched out the flimsy wires, and wow! Definitely a difference in sound quality! The 16 gauge wire made the system sound more powerful, and the sub sounds even more boomy!
Could you do a video on tower speakers one day? Specifically, why some seem to have more mid-range drivers than others, what terms like "passive" mean, and how crossover works at a hardware level within a speaker (and how crossover compares in a high end vs low end speaker)?
This video doesn't discuss 10 gauge wire one author showed that 12 to 10 gauge only shows slight difference in frequencies above 16000 hz. Raise the treble about 1 degree. I'm about to replace my old 14 guage wire with 10 gauge. Will i hear a difference. Switching between 16 to 14 was a huge difference.
Another great video! Dave Rat has some great videos for practical demonstration about wire gauge as well. In my application, I’m running about 40ft with a total impedance of 2 ohms. Based on your chart and many other similar charts, I’d be on the extreme edge of the recommended gauge for the application. I have all 12AWG cords, and I’d have to replace all of them with 10AWG at an extra expense. I’m just not convinced that extra cost is worth the benefit.
The recommendations on the chart found on the Audio University website is based on about a -0.5 dB tolerance of HF attenuation. Very small! The actual limit is far beyond those recommendations!
Who put these rat ? Nobody want to leave the rat ? Cats cannot do without rats !!! Open house .....has zero .........Gauges ........ ....... Some dude will work and some dreamers will get the credits ......... Get out!! Get out !!! Don't ........Phish ...... Be smart enough to use your own resources never.........Use .........Resources ........That doesn't belong to you ........Mrs cat
How does having powered speakers affect this? We run XLR cable from the mixer directly to the speakers & they have built in amplifiers. I'm guessing we have overkill with the thicker gauge wires, but perhaps not. We have dinner speakers at different venues, typically banquet halls, hotels, etc. so it isn't loud music. But the cable runs vary from venue to venue.
I got some ok speakers a few months ago. I was pretty disappointed with their performance at the time. I just replaced my crappy thin wires with 16 AWG OFC wire. It made a huge difference! It's actually louder now and takes away the thing that made it sound cheap before. Fuller, clearer and stronger.
Question: I have 12 gauge wire running from a banana plug outlet to my speakers. When I make connects from my amp to the speaker outlet the 12 gauge is a bit heavy and puts some stress on the wires in the amp input. Could I connect from the amp to the outlets with lower gauge wire than what I am running
I have 22AWG 15ft RCA-to-3.5mm cable and another one 22AWG for a shorter 7ft cable RCA-to-3.5mm, I'm not sure if that's overkill. 15ft cable is going from PC (3.5mm output) to JVC stereo system (RCA input) 7ft cable going from TV (3.5mm output) to Alesis music production speakers (RCA input)
I have 2 speakers and each one is rated 500max watts and it’s 8omhs. My amplifier is 4 Chanel and the distance from the speakers to the amp running speakers wires is about 15 ft each speaker. I’m running aww 16 can I run thicker speakers wires? Would it make it sound better?
I've got a Sony CD cassette shelf system. I just need the speaker wires to be a little longer - like maybe 20 feet. It's that speaker wire that is split at the end and you put it in the red and black ports with the bare wire being held in with the corresponding color "snaps" for lack of a better word - you press the black or white tab and the port opens up, you stick in the end of the bare wire, let go of the tab and the wire is held in. What gauge would that be?
Watched your video because I am trying to figure out if what my home installer did for my A/V is sufficient. I did an entire whole home audio system to listen to background music throughout my home. Not to blast music, but to listen at anywhere between a 10-50% volume but nothing louder. My Amp has 6 channels with 8 Ohms per channel, and when hooking up my speakers, they will only operate at 4 Ohms per speaker because the channel splits it's 8 Ohm capacity to 4 Ohms per speaker (L) and (R). In my home, the A/V company made every single run a 16AWG wire. Most of the runs are about 50', but a few of the runs are just over 100'. I am hoping this will be okay since although the distance is very long, they will only be getting 4 Ohms per run, and the fact that I don't ever plan to crank the volume up. However, i am no expert either and most places I read are suggesting a minimum of 14AWG. My speakers are 8 Ohms, 120W Peak. Model: IC-860CF. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
not sure about speakers but a funny thing about highend headphones and IEMs is that people spend insane amounts of money on thick ass cables while the wires inside their devices are the thinnest on planet earth
Thanks so much for your contribution to the community! This was a very helpful video! Your explanations make it very easy to understand and I really appreciate it! Keep up the great work and good luck with everything Sir! 👍 😊
Good Presentation, correct speaking cadence, enunciation, and grammar. Important Topic - would like to know more about, Twisted vs Parallel conductors, Skin Effects above 10K Hz, and proximity to Other Cabling OR Shielding.
My rear speakers hit a low of 6.3 ohms and im trying to figure out exactly what gauge speaker wire I would need for them. Ill need atleast 25 feet for both the speakers to make it to my receiver with decent slack, I would just go with 16 gauge but the speakers have a rated power of 40 watts and supposedly they can peak at 120 watts, and im really not sure if the wattage will make a difference for the speaker wire. I want to be able to turn the speakers up to max volume if I absolutely want to one day, even though thatll probably be extremely rare. So would I be able to get away with 16 gauge or should I go with 14?
But if using a short 20 gauge for 120watt speakers is there never a change for it to melt due to too much energy I mean you can use a wrench as a fuse if enough amps run through it it will melt..
I love your videos!!!!!!! I have a question I bought a Yamaha speakers NS-Aw190 and i purchase 16 gauche 100 ft my question is if this cable are perfect for my speakers are Amazon basic purchase and my other question is if I can put it outside my my garage wall? Thank you !!!
@@AudioUniversity awesome thank you!!!! I’m installing the cable in the garage it is a gap between the roof and the garage I’m afraid if the cable turn on fire?
For whatever reason my subwoofers stopped working. After trying everything I could think of, I still couldn't get any sound. I decided to run two positive wires, one from each channel (Right+ & Left+) to the positive and negative on my subwoofer, well..... I didn't know this subwoofer could get this loud. But wow. So I tried running a bass shaker on 2 positives without a negative... Same results, absolutely the most vibrations I've experienced from this bass shaker..... I don't understand.
Interesting video. What about separating the high and medium frequency wiring ie bi-wire. Run two cables to speakers joined at the amplifier and seperated at the speakers. Will this improve sound quality?
if i wanted to get the highest bass, would i use.. 14 or 12Gauge Speaker Wire? (Setup: Cerwin Vega D-3. Kenwood KA-94 Stereo integrated Amp paired with Kenwood Graphic Equalizer GE-34 Using 14Gauge Wire.
@@AudioUniversity Ye, i honestly didnt really notice a difference, but i wasnt sure if it was my amp or if like you said, there isnt much difference. im using 14Gauge right now so yea
My rears are probably 35 - 40 foot max runs, the front stage is 20 feet max (with extra slack). I was about to go with 12AWG but would it make a difference say over 14AWG? which would you recommend? thanks
My home theater room is pretty big and to effectively hide my speaker wires, some of them had to go up to 20-60 feet to hide within the bottom wall slits. I used 20 gauge for all of them, and with some calculations, it seems they've added around 10-20% extra resistance to the 8 ohms of the channels with the longest wiring. Even so, that's still within less than a dB of extra power that the receiver is more than capable enough of taking care of in the calibration, and they all sound great to me already. Would switching out the longest wires with 12gauge make any noticeable difference?
Thanks for watching, Michael! I’ve got a lot of videos on home studio recording. Here is a good place to start: th-cam.com/video/qHoE4WxxXZA/w-d-xo.html
Active speakers have the amplifiers in the speaker box and the wire runs are very short and built in by the manufacturer. Proper wiring from the preamp to the active speaker is required and that is generally a balanced connection for long runs, though unbalanced connections may be used on runs shorter than 15 feet.
Hi man, I bought the amp and the speakers and now am left with what wires to choose. for the speakers i ll use 14 awg and for the amp (4x100W RMS 4ch) i ll use 8 or 10 awg. But here is my question.... When i was looking to buy the wires there were things such as: "SCB 1250", "SCE 2250 MKII", SCC 3250". Basically there are some parapeters i guess called scb, sce, scc, ft, sl, sca. Have you heared of this things and if yes, what do they represent?
Been going through all your videos, really enjoying the content, thanks! Regarding speaker wire gauge, does the output wattage of the amp make any change to suggested wire size or is ohm and length the primary and/or only major factor?
I’m glad to hear that, Caleb Falk! For long runs into low impedance loads, larger gauge wire is important - even more so when a lot of power will be utilized.
In my opinion you missed a major factor that the wire thickness is affecting. This is the damping factor of the system. The damping factor is revy much important in the lower frequency (bass). This keeps the bass sound more tight as the power amplifier output absorbs better the back EMF that is generated by the speaker coil. For example, asuming the power amplifier's output resistance is 100mOhms and the speaker resistance is 8 Ohms, the damping factor is "80". This value is theoretical with zero length of wire between the PA (power amplifier) and the speaker. Assuming the distance of a speaker from the PA requires a 5m 18AWG cable (which means 10m for the + and -). This cable adds 200mOhms to the PA path, so the total PA output resistance becomes 300mOhm (100+200). If we calculate now the damping factor we get a much worse figure - 26.6. The damping factor dropped drastically to a 1/3 from the best value. Now if we calculate the same setup with a 12AWG cable the damping factor will be 50mOhm of the wires + 100mOhm PA output resistance gives a total power path resistance of 150mOhm. Thus the damping factor will be 53.3. For 4 Ohm speaker it is even worse. This is something you can hear immediately when replacing from thin 18AWG wires to 12AWG wires (in the same setup). I personally use 7AWG wires (a combination of 4 parallel 12AWG's). Any how you explained well the wiring thickness issue.👍
I need 2 cables for my 400 watt PA system that run into 8 ohm cabinets. Cables are 10 metres each. The ones I almost bought were only 20AWG (0.75mm) I assume these are not ideal?
Bro, your website is not websiting. I can’t get the cookie promt to go away. I’ve tried safari and chrome on my phone and macbook. It’s seriously stuck. Plz fix
Could you use short runs of 16awg to connect the speakers to each other then 14 or 12awg for the long runs back to amp? Or would that effect sound quality? Thanks & great channel
I have a coild of 12 AWG (4 mm) electrical wire lying around for a long time. Can i use this? Max length from speakers to amp is 3.5 m. Very basic integrated amp, tapedeck, tuner, GE, and TT setup. If you say yes, please also advice can I twist them together very lightly (as they are single wires, not like usual audio cables). Thanks and cheer from Kolkata, India.
just setup my new car audio system, that is supposed to push 500w rms, and I have the correct amp, but its just not loud enough, could it be because i used the thin speaker wire that came with the speakers?
@@AudioUniversity Its an off-shore site for PA and the distance from the 1st speaker to the last speaker in a loop is around 60 meters and from the last speaker to Rackroom is 200 meters.
Paging systems for buildings require a specific gauge of wire, but it is not going to be large size (low gauge) because they operate on an entirely different principle, using 35 or 70 volt lines rather than the 4-16 Ohm system for home HiFi. If working with paging systems, do the research on their operation before jumping into wiring them.
I bought a Vu meter accessory for my stereo. It has a three terminal connection rather than a four terminal connection. The center terminals is a negative common. Will joining the negative leads in common cause a problem?
I just want to make sure you aren’t connecting a speaker level output to the VU meter. If you can share the output connector type and input connector type, that will help me answer your question.
My system in my car is about 1200 watts. Would it be better to use 12 guage or 14 guage for the subs. The 4 guage amp kit I want to get comes with 14 guage. Would that be a problem at all. Thanks in advance
i have a question if someone could answer......how often should you update your cables?????...........speakers,hdmi...........im asking because i purchased speaker wires for my front two 15+ years ago they are 10 gauge from back then.............i paid a gang of money from a very high end audio store .....i just bought some new 12 guage for a fraction of the cost that has really good reviews....im thinking the years of technology would have improve even for speaker wires.....if not im good thank you............with HDMI I have super thick HDMI cables from years and years ago ........ Im assuming HDMI has more upgrades than speaker wire....so once again how often should you really consider upgrading all your wires and speakers and HDMI.....thank you all for any response
Wish I would've watched this before, So I extended an Aiwa 6 ohm speaker for 70 feet on 22 guage, This explains why the quality diminished so I ordered a 12 guage which could've been 14 according to your chart but my question is: What if the speaker brings an internal to external wire that's thinner for about 10 feet? Can I bond it together with 12 guage for a better outcome for 70 feet directly into the receiver or this won't work?
The greater the length of the thinner wire, the more resistance compared to the same length with thicker wire. So it will work, but it will increase the resistance of the line.
@@AudioUniversity Appreciate the reply so to confirm because I spent alot of time passing the 22 wire: The sound quality will be better going from 22 to 12 guage when swapping to the same 70 feet distance?
Saya ingin membeli kabel untuk subwofer dengan panjang 25 meter dan ukuran kabel 16 awg. Apakah daya yang disalurkan masih tetap stabil ? Mohon jawabannya
Im thinking of making of making my own diy premium speaker wire for a SVS 5.1 system. Can I twist two 14 gauge wire for the neg and two 14 guage for the positive. I plan on using Monoprice Access Series 14AWG CL2 Rated 4-Conductor Speaker Wire. Will this be to thick to run to my satellite speakers? The longest run is 20' to 25' (rears) 3' to 6' (fronts). Any response is appreciated - Thanks
Using 2 14-gauge wires would decrease the impedance of the speaker run, yes. However, a single 14-gauge wire for positive and negative is probably sufficient for these distances.
Hello - I have a 4 ohm pair of speakers and will be running a short pair of speaker cables of about 8 feet. My amplifier is 250@8 ohms and 500@4 ohms. Would a 8 gauge speaker cable work ok other than being a little overkill? Regards. Joe
My sub is 1 - 12 inch 1400 watt max / 700 watt power handling/ 350 RMS with a final load of 1ohm. I’m using the wire that came with the kit that I bought. I think it’s 16 gauge speaker wire but it’s less than a foot of speaker wire feeding the sub. It sounds good and hits hard but would upsizing to say a 14 gauge carry any benefit ?
I don’t believe a thicker gauge wire would benefit you in your case. Does your subwoofer plug into the wall? A thicker cable is typically used when you have passive speakers because they are powered by the amplifier. Longer, thinner cables have more impedance so when a speaker demands more power from the amp it is harder to drive deliver all of the power with a cable that can’t handle it. I am assuming if your sub is a 12 inch requiring 350 watt RMS that is plugs into the wall and has its own amplifier.
@@kylemartinez5154 thanks for responding. No this is a car audio application. The sub is passive being powered by an amp. I ended up just using 12 gauge speaker wire from my amp to the sub. Believe it or not but it made quite a noticeable difference in the output of the sun by going from 16 to 12 gauge wire. Plus the 12 gauge is about 12 inches shorter than the 16 gauge was.
Need help setting up your listening space? Check out this free resource I've created for you...
Speaker Placement Guide: audiouniversityonline.com/speaker-placement-guide/
This channel clearly has the highest grade content of all of the audiophile material on TH-cam; and, that is the selection of material, the information given, the presentation, and its conciseness. Besides being material to educate the public on audio, I would argue this channel is an example of what many other informational "TH-camrs" should review prior to posting.
Wow! Thanks so much for this comment, Grand Rapids57. I'm glad you are enjoying my videos!
Indeed
Truly true.
I went from 22 to 14 and Woah! I always thought the gauge didn't matter... I was actually missing out. The sound is so much better amplified now.
I’ve been watched so many videos, after this one, I don’t need to anymore. Thank you Kyle.
I'm glad to hear that, jackie zhong! Thanks for watching!
It doesn’t really matter what gauge wire you run😂 nothing is gonna caught on fire if you don’t run the right wire
This is a recommended guide. With the high price of copper, you still want to be able send the signal with the least degradation but be able to stay within your budget.
I'm didn't know anything about speaker wire before. I used the wire that came with the system very thin. Then I tried 14 gage pure copper wire. Blown away by it. Volume increased and it was clearer. Didn't know it would make such a difference.
Same here. I got the Yamaha Audio YHT-4950U 5.1 home theater system and it came with very thin and flimsy speaker wire. I read some reviews where people said they recommend using better quality speaker wire instead of what came with the system. So I got a bundle of Amazon brand 100 feet 16 gauge speaker wire (reviewers said 16 gauge is what they used on the system), and switched out the flimsy wires, and wow! Definitely a difference in sound quality! The 16 gauge wire made the system sound more powerful, and the sub sounds even more boomy!
It didn't make a difference, it's placebo
I run 12 awg on pretty much everything except my subs and really small surrounds in the house. 18awg for surrounds and 10awg for the "big-uns"
Could you do a video on tower speakers one day? Specifically, why some seem to have more mid-range drivers than others, what terms like "passive" mean, and how crossover works at a hardware level within a speaker (and how crossover compares in a high end vs low end speaker)?
Thank you. Clear, concise organised information without all that audiophile brouhaha.
What's difference between Speaker wire & Normal Electrical wire? Is there any harm if I use Electrical wires as speaker wires?
bigger is better so we used welding cables 4/0 and wow the sound is just so amazing it's like you're actually there.
Your mom definitely agrees bigger is better.
@@GabeTheGabriel she did that's why she's buried now :(
This video doesn't discuss 10 gauge wire one author showed that 12 to 10 gauge only shows slight difference in frequencies above 16000 hz.
Raise the treble about 1 degree.
I'm about to replace my old 14 guage wire with 10 gauge. Will i hear a difference. Switching between 16 to 14 was a huge difference.
Another great video! Dave Rat has some great videos for practical demonstration about wire gauge as well. In my application, I’m running about 40ft with a total impedance of 2 ohms. Based on your chart and many other similar charts, I’d be on the extreme edge of the recommended gauge for the application. I have all 12AWG cords, and I’d have to replace all of them with 10AWG at an extra expense. I’m just not convinced that extra cost is worth the benefit.
The recommendations on the chart found on the Audio University website is based on about a -0.5 dB tolerance of HF attenuation. Very small! The actual limit is far beyond those recommendations!
Who put these rat ? Nobody want to leave the rat ? Cats cannot do without rats !!! Open house .....has zero .........Gauges ........ .......
Some dude will work and some dreamers will get the credits .........
Get out!! Get out !!! Don't ........Phish ......
Be smart enough to use your own resources never.........Use .........Resources ........That doesn't belong to you ........Mrs cat
How does having powered speakers affect this?
We run XLR cable from the mixer directly to the speakers & they have built in amplifiers.
I'm guessing we have overkill with the thicker gauge wires, but perhaps not.
We have dinner speakers at different venues, typically banquet halls, hotels, etc. so it isn't loud music. But the cable runs vary from venue to venue.
Any XLR should be capable of doing this with very little signal loss and very low noise.
@@AudioUniversity Thank you!
I got some ok speakers a few months ago. I was pretty disappointed with their performance at the time. I just replaced my crappy thin wires with 16 AWG OFC wire. It made a huge difference! It's actually louder now and takes away the thing that made it sound cheap before. Fuller, clearer and stronger.
Question: I have 12 gauge wire running from a banana plug outlet to my speakers. When I make connects from my amp to the speaker outlet the 12 gauge is a bit heavy and puts some stress on the wires in the amp input. Could I connect from the amp to the outlets with lower gauge wire than what I am running
Hey man this video is great. Very informative and helpfull. Thank you
I have 22AWG 15ft RCA-to-3.5mm cable and another one 22AWG for a shorter 7ft cable RCA-to-3.5mm, I'm not sure if that's overkill.
15ft cable is going from PC (3.5mm output) to JVC stereo system (RCA input)
7ft cable going from TV (3.5mm output) to Alesis music production speakers (RCA input)
I have 2 speakers and each one is rated 500max watts and it’s 8omhs. My amplifier is 4 Chanel and the distance from the speakers to the amp running speakers wires is about 15 ft each speaker. I’m running aww 16 can I run thicker speakers wires? Would it make it sound better?
Which wire gives better sound? Tinted copper or Bare copper for speaker?
I've got a Sony CD cassette shelf system. I just need the speaker wires to be a little longer - like maybe 20 feet. It's that speaker wire that is split at the end and you put it in the red and black ports with the bare wire being held in with the corresponding color "snaps" for lack of a better word - you press the black or white tab and the port opens up, you stick in the end of the bare wire, let go of the tab and the wire is held in. What gauge would that be?
Thankyou, I have been very confused over speaker wire.
Brilliant! very focused and short videos are always GREAT! Thank you :)
Thanks!
Watched your video because I am trying to figure out if what my home installer did for my A/V is sufficient. I did an entire whole home audio system to listen to background music throughout my home. Not to blast music, but to listen at anywhere between a 10-50% volume but nothing louder. My Amp has 6 channels with 8 Ohms per channel, and when hooking up my speakers, they will only operate at 4 Ohms per speaker because the channel splits it's 8 Ohm capacity to 4 Ohms per speaker (L) and (R). In my home, the A/V company made every single run a 16AWG wire. Most of the runs are about 50', but a few of the runs are just over 100'. I am hoping this will be okay since although the distance is very long, they will only be getting 4 Ohms per run, and the fact that I don't ever plan to crank the volume up. However, i am no expert either and most places I read are suggesting a minimum of 14AWG. My speakers are 8 Ohms, 120W Peak. Model: IC-860CF. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
You should be ok with 16 gauge wire.
I've used 12 gauge for 15 years because of it's thickness. It is able to send more signal to the speaker.
not sure about speakers but a funny thing about highend headphones and IEMs is that people spend insane amounts of money on thick ass cables while the wires inside their devices are the thinnest on planet earth
@@buckethead420trure i also laugh at my friends for that 🤣🤣
Thank you Brother and Happy new year
Happy New Year! Thanks for watching.
Thanks so much for your contribution to the community! This was a very helpful video!
Your explanations make it very easy to understand and I really appreciate it!
Keep up the great work and good luck with everything Sir!
👍 😊
Fantastic content. Big kudos on the learning objectives at the top of the video.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks, Paul!
Would it be possible to redo this video with internationally recognised units?
Good Presentation, correct speaking cadence, enunciation, and grammar. Important Topic - would like to know more about, Twisted vs Parallel conductors, Skin Effects above 10K Hz, and proximity to Other Cabling OR Shielding.
My rear speakers hit a low of 6.3 ohms and im trying to figure out exactly what gauge speaker wire I would need for them. Ill need atleast 25 feet for both the speakers to make it to my receiver with decent slack, I would just go with 16 gauge but the speakers have a rated power of 40 watts and supposedly they can peak at 120 watts, and im really not sure if the wattage will make a difference for the speaker wire. I want to be able to turn the speakers up to max volume if I absolutely want to one day, even though thatll probably be extremely rare. So would I be able to get away with 16 gauge or should I go with 14?
Right videos at the right time,
Glad to hear that! Thanks for watching!
@@AudioUniversity Yes, your videos have a lot of detailed information.
This video, was just what I was looking for.
But if using a short 20 gauge for 120watt speakers is there never a change for it to melt due to too much energy I mean you can use a wrench as a fuse if enough amps run through it it will melt..
I love your videos!!!!!!! I have a question I bought a Yamaha speakers NS-Aw190 and i purchase 16 gauche 100 ft my question is if this cable are perfect for my speakers are Amazon basic purchase and my other question is if I can put it outside my my garage wall? Thank you !!!
Thanks, Carlos!
16 gauge wire is good for the distance. I would recommend outdoor cable for outdoor speakers.
@@AudioUniversity awesome thank you!!!! I’m installing the cable in the garage it is a gap between the roof and the garage I’m afraid if the cable turn on fire?
What do you think and thank you very mucho for the fast response 😀
For whatever reason my subwoofers stopped working. After trying everything I could think of, I still couldn't get any sound. I decided to run two positive wires, one from each channel (Right+ & Left+) to the positive and negative on my subwoofer, well..... I didn't know this subwoofer could get this loud. But wow.
So I tried running a bass shaker on 2 positives without a negative... Same results, absolutely the most vibrations I've experienced from this bass shaker..... I don't understand.
Check to make sure your amp is configured properly. This video may help: th-cam.com/video/2eKHQQRLpW0/w-d-xo.html
Interesting video. What about separating the high and medium frequency wiring ie bi-wire.
Run two cables to speakers joined at the amplifier and seperated at the speakers. Will this improve sound quality?
if i wanted to get the highest bass, would i use.. 14 or 12Gauge Speaker Wire? (Setup: Cerwin Vega D-3. Kenwood KA-94 Stereo integrated Amp paired with Kenwood Graphic Equalizer GE-34 Using 14Gauge Wire.
14 Gauge wire is excellent. Switching to 12 Gauge would have a very small impact.
@@AudioUniversity Ye, i honestly didnt really notice a difference, but i wasnt sure if it was my amp or if like you said, there isnt much difference. im using 14Gauge right now so yea
is it better to use 12awg wire for less than 20ft connection?
In theory, there is less resistance with lower gauge at any distance. However, you probably will not notice an audible difference.
My rears are probably 35 - 40 foot max runs, the front stage is 20 feet max (with extra slack). I was about to go with 12AWG but would it make a difference say over 14AWG? which would you recommend? thanks
I would probably choose either 16 or 14 AWG. 12 is technically superior, but I don’t believe there would be an audible difference.
My home theater room is pretty big and to effectively hide my speaker wires, some of them had to go up to 20-60 feet to hide within the bottom wall slits. I used 20 gauge for all of them, and with some calculations, it seems they've added around 10-20% extra resistance to the 8 ohms of the channels with the longest wiring. Even so, that's still within less than a dB of extra power that the receiver is more than capable enough of taking care of in the calibration, and they all sound great to me already. Would switching out the longest wires with 12gauge make any noticeable difference?
I would probably use 18 or 16.
Thanks for making a great understandable video straight up thank brother keep it up got any videos how to hook up and record from my home studio
Thanks for watching, Michael! I’ve got a lot of videos on home studio recording. Here is a good place to start: th-cam.com/video/qHoE4WxxXZA/w-d-xo.html
Together with the length, load of the speaker doesn't the power have an influence on the calculation on gauge cable to go for?
great video , thanks for your help !!!
Glad it helped!
Is bare wire connection better than banana plug? Less resistance and interference with direct connection?
Correct bare wire or well crimped spade lugs
Once again supermo information 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 keep up the good work mate. Liked+shared & already subscribed 🤩👍🏼
Thanks for subscribing, shoaib khan! I'm glad you found the video valuable!
Using ,l4 gage wire for LCR speakers. 16 guage for rest
Great simple clear video for an audios idiot like myself. I might learn a few things so I subbed thanks.
Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Would 16ga wire work in an outdoor application or would 14 be better since it’s coming from a receiver in the house??
Good Video. However, You should have shown the wire gauge chart in the video.
Hi, I would like to know if this video applies also for Active Speakers? Thank you!
Active speakers have the amplifiers in the speaker box and the wire runs are very short and built in by the manufacturer. Proper wiring from the preamp to the active speaker is required and that is generally a balanced connection for long runs, though unbalanced connections may be used on runs shorter than 15 feet.
What about running PA cabs for 50 feet with 350 watts RMS?
I have (8) 8” mids rated at 400watts a piece…. Hooking up to a 1800 watt amp…. 14 gauge should do right?
Hi man, I bought the amp and the speakers and now am left with what wires to choose. for the speakers i ll use 14 awg and for the amp (4x100W RMS 4ch) i ll use 8 or 10 awg. But here is my question....
When i was looking to buy the wires there were things such as: "SCB 1250", "SCE 2250 MKII", SCC 3250". Basically there are some parapeters i guess called scb, sce, scc, ft, sl, sca. Have you heared of this things and if yes, what do they represent?
I’m not sure what those acronyms indicate. The most important factors are length and gauge.
THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO. SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching, PBS #007!
Been going through all your videos, really enjoying the content, thanks!
Regarding speaker wire gauge, does the output wattage of the amp make any change to suggested wire size or is ohm and length the primary and/or only major factor?
I’m glad to hear that, Caleb Falk! For long runs into low impedance loads, larger gauge wire is important - even more so when a lot of power will be utilized.
This was fantastic content. Thank you.
Thanks, Javier!
In my opinion you missed a major factor that the wire thickness is affecting. This is the damping factor of the system. The damping factor is revy much important in the lower frequency (bass). This keeps the bass sound more tight as the power amplifier output absorbs better the back EMF that is generated by the speaker coil.
For example, asuming the power amplifier's output resistance is 100mOhms and the speaker resistance is 8 Ohms, the damping factor is "80". This value is theoretical with zero length of wire between the PA (power amplifier) and the speaker.
Assuming the distance of a speaker from the PA requires a 5m 18AWG cable (which means 10m for the + and -). This cable adds 200mOhms to the PA path, so the total PA output resistance becomes 300mOhm (100+200). If we calculate now the damping factor we get a much worse figure - 26.6. The damping factor dropped drastically to a 1/3 from the best value.
Now if we calculate the same setup with a 12AWG cable the damping factor will be 50mOhm of the wires + 100mOhm PA output resistance gives a total power path resistance of 150mOhm. Thus the damping factor will be 53.3.
For 4 Ohm speaker it is even worse.
This is something you can hear immediately when replacing from thin 18AWG wires to 12AWG wires (in the same setup).
I personally use 7AWG wires (a combination of 4 parallel 12AWG's).
Any how you explained well the wiring thickness issue.👍
Wouldn't your RMS rating affect your choice
So my amplifier says it’s 4omes to 8omes and they recommend I use 14 gauge wire for long runs
I need 2 cables for my 400 watt PA system that run into 8 ohm cabinets. Cables are 10 metres each. The ones I almost bought were only 20AWG (0.75mm) I assume these are not ideal?
Bro, your website is not websiting. I can’t get the cookie promt to go away. I’ve tried safari and chrome on my phone and macbook. It’s seriously stuck. Plz fix
Could you use short runs of 16awg to connect the speakers to each other then 14 or 12awg for the long runs back to amp? Or would that effect sound quality? Thanks & great channel
Yes. You can do that to account for the longer distance.
How should I run 8- 4ohm speakers on a 4 channel 4 ohm amp? 1400watts
Best cable to use with Power Speakers?
Is it depends on the rms power that it carries.?
I have a coild of 12 AWG (4 mm) electrical wire lying around for a long time. Can i use this? Max length from speakers to amp is 3.5 m. Very basic integrated amp, tapedeck, tuner, GE, and TT setup. If you say yes, please also advice can I twist them together very lightly (as they are single wires, not like usual audio cables). Thanks and cheer from Kolkata, India.
nice work dude...
just setup my new car audio system, that is supposed to push 500w rms, and I have the correct amp, but its just not loud enough, could it be because i used the thin speaker wire that came with the speakers?
Check out this video: th-cam.com/video/Ee9bmALhhtg/w-d-xo.html
Bro, in PA concept after the looping the distance from my amplifier to last speaker is 350 meters. Can I find the suitable cables?
It would be much better if you could place the amplifier closer to the speakers. Why are they so far apart?
@@AudioUniversity Maybe he works in a stadium! 😂
@@AudioUniversity Its an off-shore site for PA and the distance from the 1st speaker to the last speaker in a loop is around 60 meters and from the last speaker to Rackroom is 200 meters.
Are the speakers 8 ohm, 4 ohm, or 70 V?
@@AudioUniversity they are 8 ohms on 100V
Paging systems for buildings require a specific gauge of wire, but it is not going to be large size (low gauge) because they operate on an entirely different principle, using 35 or 70 volt lines rather than the 4-16 Ohm system for home HiFi. If working with paging systems, do the research on their operation before jumping into wiring them.
I bought a Vu meter accessory for my stereo. It has a three terminal connection rather than a four terminal connection. The center terminals is a negative common. Will joining the negative leads in common cause a problem?
Hi, James. Which output are you connecting to the input of the VU meter?
@@AudioUniversity I am talking about audio connections.
I just want to make sure you aren’t connecting a speaker level output to the VU meter. If you can share the output connector type and input connector type, that will help me answer your question.
Great information about wire using for transmission
My system in my car is about 1200 watts. Would it be better to use 12 guage or 14 guage for the subs. The 4 guage amp kit I want to get comes with 14 guage. Would that be a problem at all. Thanks in advance
How to convert 4 channel amplifier in mono block🙏 please help
i have a question if someone could answer......how often should you update your cables?????...........speakers,hdmi...........im asking because i purchased speaker wires for my front two 15+ years ago they are 10 gauge from back then.............i paid a gang of money from a very high end audio store .....i just bought some new 12 guage for a fraction of the cost that has really good reviews....im thinking the years of technology would have improve even for speaker wires.....if not im good thank you............with HDMI I have super thick HDMI cables from years and years ago ........ Im assuming HDMI has more upgrades than speaker wire....so once again how often should you really consider upgrading all your wires and speakers and HDMI.....thank you all for any response
awesome video, thank you
Is it safe to solder cca with copper wire?
Thanks a lot for tha perfect information I appreciate it
Wish I would've watched this before, So I extended an Aiwa 6 ohm speaker for 70 feet on 22 guage, This explains why the quality diminished so I ordered a 12 guage which could've been 14 according to your chart but my question is:
What if the speaker brings an internal to external wire that's thinner for about 10 feet? Can I bond it together with 12 guage for a better outcome for 70 feet directly into the receiver or this won't work?
The greater the length of the thinner wire, the more resistance compared to the same length with thicker wire. So it will work, but it will increase the resistance of the line.
@@AudioUniversity Appreciate the reply so to confirm because I spent alot of time passing the 22 wire: The sound quality will be better going from 22 to 12 guage when swapping to the same 70 feet distance?
Theoretically, yes. It probably wont be a HUGE difference in sound quality, but it’s better suited for this application than 22 AWG.
Quality of the wire also makes a difference
Some audio files would be distressed that you didn’t include 10 gauge wire
Well, how about 1000 watts at 2.7 Ohm over 20 feet. I honestly think I should even double up on 12 gauge here, if that is enough.
I use 10 & 12 Gauge.
Wich wire gauge is best for car subwoofer 4ohms ??
I would use 12 or 14.
Are there any tonal differences or differences in gain or volume level with different gauge speaker wires? Please give sample demos if possible.
Saya ingin membeli kabel untuk subwofer dengan panjang 25 meter dan ukuran kabel 16 awg. Apakah daya yang disalurkan masih tetap stabil ? Mohon jawabannya
Im thinking of making of making my own diy premium speaker wire for a SVS 5.1 system. Can I twist two 14 gauge wire for the neg and two 14 guage for the positive. I plan on using Monoprice Access Series 14AWG CL2 Rated 4-Conductor Speaker Wire. Will this be to thick to run to my satellite speakers? The longest run is 20' to 25' (rears) 3' to 6' (fronts). Any response is appreciated - Thanks
Using 2 14-gauge wires would decrease the impedance of the speaker run, yes. However, a single 14-gauge wire for positive and negative is probably sufficient for these distances.
You only have to buy the wires once unless you add more speakers. They don't wear out.
Can I join a 12gauge to a 14 gauge?
My room size 10x16.. 8ohms speaker.? Use.. 12 14 16 18...
thanks for the info
Glad to help, Jeff0000! Thanks for watching!
Thank you!
Hello - I have a 4 ohm pair of speakers and will be running a short pair of speaker cables of about 8 feet. My amplifier is 250@8 ohms and 500@4 ohms. Would a 8 gauge speaker cable work ok other than being a little overkill? Regards. Joe
thanks very much
you are welcome 😊
I didn’t observe any math. Also, why are you linking to CCA?
You didnt take into account how much power the amp will be pushing out to drive the speakers.
My sub is 1 - 12 inch 1400 watt max / 700 watt power handling/ 350 RMS with a final load of 1ohm. I’m using the wire that came with the kit that I bought. I think it’s 16 gauge speaker wire but it’s less than a foot of speaker wire feeding the sub. It sounds good and hits hard but would upsizing to say a 14 gauge carry any benefit ?
I don’t believe a thicker gauge wire would benefit you in your case.
Does your subwoofer plug into the wall?
A thicker cable is typically used when you have passive speakers because they are powered by the amplifier. Longer, thinner cables have more impedance so when a speaker demands more power from the amp it is harder to drive deliver all of the power with a cable that can’t handle it.
I am assuming if your sub is a 12 inch requiring 350 watt RMS that is plugs into the wall and has its own amplifier.
@@kylemartinez5154 thanks for responding. No this is a car audio application. The sub is passive being powered by an amp. I ended up just using 12 gauge speaker wire from my amp to the sub. Believe it or not but it made quite a noticeable difference in the output of the sun by going from 16 to 12 gauge wire. Plus the 12 gauge is about 12 inches shorter than the 16 gauge was.
@@alphasaiyan5760 Ahhh that makes sense now. Had my home theater brain on.
So 12 all the way?
yea think so
My wife prefers a shorter wire with more girth
😂