When hooking up surround speakers, what type of speaker wire should I use?

Question

Rear channel speakers are 8ohm, 100 watt. Is 16 guage speaker wire too large for them?

Answer 1

I usually use 12 gauge or even 10. I wouldn't go any higher than 14 though.

Answer 2

16 gauge should be fine for that power level. As for Monster, the only advantage is in how it's constructed. Low frequencies travel slightly slower than highs so monster has special wires that "time corrects". I doubt it's worth it. I use regular wire in my recording studio and frankly over short runs, you would never be able able to hear the time alignment difference.

Answer 3

A speaker site (not selling expensive copper) once recommended the following guidelines for wire gauge based on distance:

1-10 ft: 16 ga

10-20 ft: 14 ga

20+ ft: 12 ga

This is for a high-end music speaker.  Their concern was roll-off of the frequency's caused by long wires. Thicker wires for the long runs reduced the problem.

Your rear speakers do not contain critical dialog/music sounds so these concerns may not apply.

I tend to buy a spool of good oxygen free 12 ga and use it for all my speakers.  

The "Carol" brand from Home Depot or PartsExpress works well.

A FEW OTHER NOTES:

If you are running in-wall, make sure to get wire with a CL3 or in-wall rating. This makes the insualation fire-resistant which many fire codes require.

If you cannot find good 12 ga, buy 4-wire 16 ga. Twist the ends of 2 of the wires for the "+" side, and the other two for the "-" side.  Many high-end HT systems are wired this way.

Answer 4

16 ga is fine.  don't get Monster.  It is a waste of money.

Answer 5

Monster XP speaker cable is one of the best and is 16 guage.

Answer 6

The gage isn't as important as "SOLID-CONDUCTOR" wire.  It won't matter how "thick" your wire is if it's just dozens of tiny strands twisted together.  

The technophiles will say, "More copper, more surface area."  and they'd be right.  But if each individual strand doesn't have it's own insulation, you get distortion.

Electrons won't follow that braided wire, they move in straight lines down the cable, jumping from strand to strand, ruining your high-end.  The "AudioQuest" brand proved this.

But while AudioQuest costs too much, you can get the same results with some ordinary "Cat5e".  It's a little thin so you'll need two runs to each speaker (one for positve and one for negative).

At only 17 cents a foot, why not give it a try for yourself.  Here's a link showing how to install it properly: http://www.avtruths.com/budgetcables.htm...