which size of OFC loudspeaker cable should I use?

It's not off topic at all. Multi-room audio and video systems are part of the regular discussions in this newsgroup.

You can use ordinary (read: inexpensive), 16-gauge stranded cable for most background music applications as long as the runs are not 100's of feet in length. For higher power speakers drawing 100 Watts or more use 12 or even

10-gauge. Whatever you do, do NOT waste money on so-called high end speaker cable. It's a total rip-off. You get zero benefit from "specialty" wire when it comes to audio.

As the cables will be installed below the floors and/or in the walls you need to use cable that's labeled for the purpose. Many over-priced cables from Monster and other fancy names are not rated for in-wall use.

I think we have a mismatch of measurement schemes here. The poster's obviously from a metric-based country. He can find the equivalent wire gauge conversion information here:

which says that 16 AWG is equivalent to 1.5mm2 and 10 AWG = 6mm2.

-- Bobby G.

Quite possibly so, though I've seen at least one "high end" wire seller offering speaker cable in metric sizes in the US. It's just one more way to try to make ordinary seem exotic.

So the conclusion - that I can probably get away with 1.5mm2, or if I really want to be certain, then use2.5mm2?

Is the 2.5 wire a bit chunky and difficult to bend round corners, attach to plugs etc? Otherwise, seems like it might make sense to go for the better quality stuff (price difference is negligible for the small quantities I'll be buying).

By the way I'm posting from the UK, not usually thought of as a metric-based country, but my Bryant catalogue is fully metricised.

Many thanks,

Chris

Sure you will. You'll hear a lot more quiet since you'll have far less money to buy new CDs if you spend it all on oxygen free, directionally rated superwire. :-)

I agree, BTW. 16AWG *stranded* would be what I would run for less than 75'. If I were wiring up a high-powered HT receiver too big speakers that I knew I would be driving the maximum I'd use 14AWG stranded.

How do you handle the connection at the receiver/amplifier? I've just been using the screw posts but now that my fingers are getting creaky I'd just as soon switch to banana plugs soldered onto the wire ends.

-- Bobby G.

You're definitely more metric that we are! Highways are in kilometers, right, not furlongs, rods, whifflewaits or whatever. I don't recall seeing many Americans ever refer to wire in other than AWGs. The wire gauge scale was designed by the same dummies that designed stellar magnitudes: The bigger the number, the dimmer the star; the bigger the number the smaller the wire. At least Richter and Fujita got it right with the earthquake and tornado scales.

As Bruce mentioned, 16AWG is fine for most apps. If you want to squeeze every watt out of your equipment, go for a thicker wire - less amplifier power will be converted into heat.

-- Bobby G.

Unless you have some really long runs, say 50 feet or more, and you like your music REALLY loud, you won't get any benefit from the thicker wire. I'd stick with the 1.5mm2 (16AWG) as, as you surmised, it's easier to work with. I run my outdoor pool speakers on 14AWG which is just over

100 ft to each speaker. In the house, everything is 16AWG. Don't confuse thickness with better quality and, as Robert pointed out, don't throw your money away on overpriced cables like Monster and others. You will not hear a difference.

From: snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

Thanks all. 16AWG/1.5mm2 it is.

By the way Bobby, our motorways (highways) are still signposted in miles not km. Legally, retailers are required to sell in metric quatities, but the majority of people (though perhaps not the overwhelming majority) tend to use imperial measurement in day to day conversation.

Regards,

Chris

wrote

Well, you make up for that signpost conformity by driving on the wrong SIDE of the motorways! :-)

There's very little penetration of the US by the metric system. We have 2 liter soda bottles and 2 meter band radio but gas is still sold in gallons, distance measured in miles and feet and weights still in pounds and ounces, except maybe for drugs, licit and illicit. There was lots of talk a while back about a forced conversion but it's as likely to happen as gay marriage. It's difficult to force change of that magnitude on people.

-- Bobby G.

I'm using the screw posts too but only because I was too lazy to solder connectors on the ends. I hooked it all up when we first moved in and I was looking to do it as quickly as possible so I could make a dent in the "honey - do" list.

From:Robert Green ROBERT snipped-for-privacy@YAH00.COM

I usually like to join all the left and right cables in the wall within a double-gang mud ring behind the stereo or in the rack space. I use a 4-post jack plate and short cables with banana plugs to bring everything to the amplifier.

BTW, don't your money on fancy speaker selectors either. Instead, use impedance matching volume controls to keep the load at least 4 Ohms (8 Ohms if the amp requires it).

Perhaps that's because the "A" is for American... :^)

Maybe so, but Richter's ideas were a little shakey and Fujita's were always twisted.