Speaker wire gauge in surround sound system.?

Question

Does it truly make a noticeable difference in the surround speakers what gauge wire is used? I have an Onkyo 7.1 surround sound system that came with very thin wire that was color coordinated. I used this thin wire for the surround left, right and the rear left, right. I used 10 gauge (I think its 10) for the front left and right. Would the sound be worth me buying and re-running new wire or would it be a hardly noticeable difference? I do want good surround sound but I'll be bummed if I spend the time and money and can't really hear any difference.

Thanks.

Answer 1

All the previous guys offer excellent advice and that Roger Russell site is a must.

HOWEVER, the 10% rule is c**p from the sleezy manufacturers. Go to Home Depot and pick any stranded cable with the gauge you want (I'd go with 12 or 14). They even have different colors to pick from! You don't need special connectors. Speaker cables have only one job to do: conduct electricity.

Finally read this quote from the web:

Interestingly, the New Scientists recently commented on the London Heathrow Hi Fi Show, saying that among the cables selling for up to £30,000 for 6 metres, they found Quad demonstrating their latest speakers to great enthusiasm. The orange cable to the speakers looked oddly familiar. When asked about it, Tony Faulkner, the recording engineer demonstrating them (who'd used the speakers as monitors while recording Saint-Saen's complete works for piano & orchestra, Gramophone's Record of the Year), said of the cables:

"Yes, they would look familiar if you have a garden. Before the show opened we went over the road to the DIY superstore and bought one of those £20 extension leads that Black & Decker sells for electric hedge-cutters. They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me. The show's been running for three days and no one in the audience has noticed..." - New Scientist Magazine

Answer 2

For a highly-sensitive audiophile music system, you can hear the difference in a long run (15 ft) between 16 ga and 12 ga speaker wire.  There IS a roll-off in higher frequencies with the thinner wires.  This is measurable.

But home theater sound is different, the equipment is usually a lot less sensitive and the long runs to the rear speakers do not carry critical sounds so you would notice any issues.  (Try un-plugging all front speakers and subwoofer and listen to just the rears - you might be suprised at how little sound comes out.)

An audiophile speaker site once recommended the following guideline based on run length:

1-10 ft: 16 ga

11-20 ft: 14 ga

20+ ft: 12 ga

(Yes -you need thicker wire for longer runs - bummer)

Generally, you buy a spool of decent oxygen-free 14 or 12 ga speaker wire and use it everywhere.  Parts Express has Dayton and Carol brand for about $0.50/ft.

PACK IN CABLES

I suspect you have 20 or 24 ga wire included in the box. "Gauge" is a strange measurment.  Think of it this way: They take 1 gauge wire and squish it to create 2 ga wire.  Squish again to create 3,4,5... gauge.  20 gauge wire has been squished more than 12 ga so is much thinner.

OTHER WIRE ADVICE:

You do not make all wires the same length (audio myth). Measure the length to the speakers, add 1-2 feet and cut.  Every 18 months you want to cut the ends off to expose fresh copper and re-connect.  This is normal maintance.

With any cable: take the cost of the devices you are connecting, calculate 10% and never spend more than this for the wires or cables.  This includes speaker wires, component cables, HDMI cables, etc.  It's easy to over-buy.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Purists will disagree, but ...

It depends somewhat on what you mean by "very thin".  The effect of light wire is to cut the overall loudness and the high frequency response somewhat relative to the lows, but even with thin wire assuming you used auto-setup calibration (which would compensate for the rolloff),  you will hear little/any difference from if you go and rewire with 10-12 guage wire.

Unless you had really long runs (>30-40 ft) and used something smaller than 18 guage you won't have any problems. Personally for the surrounds I wouldn't bother.

See the table at the link for some conservative recommendations.

Answer 4

first of all  satellite [rear] speakers are only 15 % of your sound and only if whatever you are lisning to was recorded in saround sound  and 10 guage wow that is huge   16 -2 is plenty  an  sides that  people say there is a roll off   yeah  right   when the speaker is 15 feet away  and you r lucky to get maybe every 3rd sylabol out of the rear speakers  how can they say that  it's a 100 wats for every s  unit  so unless you r listning to your speakers with a pillow stuffed between your ears  don't spend the money

Answer 5

Like the other guy said you only need bigger wire for long runs over 30-40 feet if your speakers are 8 ohm. If you are using 4 or 6 ohm your cable needs to be a little bigger but the 10 gauge if thats what you used is waaayyyyy  overkill.  If someone says they can here the difference in a normal home theater setup between say 12 and 20 gauge wire they are either half bat or lying. Dont waste your money.

Answer 6

Howdy. 16 guage is all you need. Unless your pushing 200 watts to each channel at 100db then you might need thicker wire. That is what most installers use when running through the walls. Get good wire. Get 12 gauge if it makes you feel better. If you hooked up a meter to each one you couldnt see the difference. Peace.

Answer 7

There's no point in going anything below 12AWG, which is overkill anyway, but since 12AWG is so inexpensive, why not?

Oh and Monster Cable is a ripoff, everybody should know this by now.