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8 Gauge Speaker Cable

Hey. I recently moved to a new house and just finished ripping out a closet to make my audio room bigger. :-) I want to run my rear speaker cable through the ceiling and behind the wall I haven't put up yet.

1) Is this a good idea? There is nothing up there now except some plumbing. The outlet power lines are 6-8 feet from where I'm running the speaker wire.

2) Extrapolating from www.alphacore.com, in order to run 150 Watts 35 feet, I should use 8 gauge wire or larger. Does 8 gauge mean per terminal (+ or -), both terminals, the outer cover, or something altogether different?

3) Considering the cost of 8 gauge cable and that I only use the rear speakers 2-4 hours a week I'm considering using car audio grade wire and soldering the spades on myself. I used a blue/silver wire twisted into clear tubing in my car. It's $1.50 a foot on eBay. Anyone have experience with this? Good idea or am I missing something? Do I even need the braided wire or can I go with cheaper 8 gauge that isn't twisted?

Thanks!
leoturetsky
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
I agree go with cheaper stuff(like car stereo stuff) there just surrounds and it sounds like they aren't used too often. Don't waste serious $$$ on cables that you won't get that much enjoyment out of, unless of course you get intimate with your surrounds :) spend the extra on more software, well that's what I would do.
~Tim
hiwaves
43 posts
 
Use 4 gauge instead. The results will be significantly better than 8 gauge. The gauge refers to the diameter of the twisted , braided cable. Each cable to each terminal(not a combination of the separate cables) and has nothing to do with the covering. In other words you will run one separate 4 gauge cable to each speaker terminal for best results.

"Auto grade" does not mean lesser quality. Often what is commonly referred to as "auto grade" is far superior to what is ordinarily available to audiophiles. Connects and power cables in automobiles have to be of high quality to sustain the abuse of their enviornment.

I use 4 gauge braided pure copper cable (1672 99.99% pure oxygen free wires per cable (it's called "DC power cable") available from www.partsexpress.com. This is far superior to any brand of speaker cable i have found on the market.

It is commonly used as power cable from the car battery to the amp, but don't let that deter you. It is exceptionally good as speaker cable and the cost per foot is in the price range you mention in your post.
bomarc
501 posts
 
I wouldn't put any faith in a chart that told you to base your cable gauge on rated amplifier power (which is an almost meaningless number in any event, and a completely irrelevant number for this purpose). The proper gauge is a function of loudspeaker impedance and cable length. I recommend the following as a guide:

www.pcavtech.com/techtalk/wire_size/index.htm

Once you get the gauge right, various "grades" are pretty much meaningless in most cases.
garfish
1,840 posts
 
I guess I don't totally understand the question. Whole houses are wired using 12 ga. Romex and many of those circuits serve much more than 150 watt devices (combined).

That said, I like big wires, and when I put in a dedicated AC system, I used 6 ga. stranded copper for 60 ft. from my main breaker panel to a sub-main dedicated breaker box. I knew the 6 ga. was "overkill", but it was more or less in place so I used it-- worked great and sounds good.

I don't know what gauge my Syn. Res. Sig. #2 speaker cables are but they are about 1/2" or more thick. Bigger can't hurt, and if you go large, you won't want to replace it later. Good Luck. Craig
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