What size hdmi (awg) and speaker wire do I need for my home theatre and LCD?

Question

I am installing a home theater with a Mitsubishi 73 inch LCD with HDMI and Sony 7.1 Surround sound receiver with 3 HDMI inputs. I will be using 6 ft HDMI cables for all inputs into receiver and about 15 ft of speaker wire from speakers to receiver. What size AWG wires do I need? I see HDMI 28 AWG gold plated so inexpensive and good quality but not sure if I need to go with HDMI 24 at such a short lenght. Please help and thank you!

Answer 1

If I'm not mistaken, HDMI is a digital signal so your losses over the short footage are negligent... I'd try 1 of the cheaper ones and see what happens. If you don't like it you have not invested much.

Speakers are another matter, what wattage?

I'd get the bulk 2 color wiring... 16AWG.

-edit-

With speakers, analog devices, the larger the conductor the lower the resistance therefore the lower the signal loss over the distance.

You don't need to go overboard but 12,14 or 16 AWG would be plenty.

If you're running 2 towers(3 or more way) I'd run 14AWG, to the rear channels, I'd run 16AWG. This is for 2 reasons

1. You really only get environmental sounds from the back channels so the heavy cabling is not necessary.

2. its much easier to hide a smaller cable and bend it around corners.

Speaking of power, Amps play a crucial role.. Remember that , unless otherwise stated, all power ratings are Peak. If says RMS (Root Means Squared) its continuous power.  RMS power is also 70% of peak.

Answer 2

HDMI basically either works or it doesn't.

The link is to an article that compares budget cables to Monster, and concludes that while there are differences in the cables, for most uses (and your situation fits) budget cables work identically to the expensive ones. The only time you need to worry is if total length (you must count the cables on each side of a switch, e.g. receiver) exceeds about 15 ft and/or you are installing the wires in the wall.

For budget cables see Monoprice.com (2nd link). For runs over 15 feet and/or better cables (and to read a lot of useful info on HDMI) see Bluejeancables.com (3rd link)

Now for speakers. The "rule" is that resistance of the speaker wire should be kept under 5% of the impedence of the speakers (usually 4 or 8 ohms). The table at the last link shows that you are fine with wire at 18 awg or larger at 15 feet for 4 ohm speakers and with 20 awg at 20 feet with 8 ohm speakers (and these numbers are conservative).

Hope this answers your question and provides useful sources for further information. Cheers.

Answer 3

I have to echo agb's answer.

The thinner 28 gauge HDMI cables actually work better for short loops behind your rack to feed your receiver. They just tend to bend better.

For speaker wire - buy a spool of good oxygen free 12 ga and use it everywhere.  Measure the wires to each speaker, add a foot or so for slack and so you can trim/re-strip every year or so.

Good oxygen free speaker wire  (so it reduces the speed of oxidization) can be bought from Parts Express.