People really overthink the exact matching of speakers, amplifiers, and speaker cable, but if you are using good quality wire it’s really quite easy: thicker wire is safer and sounds better, and again it is not usually significantly more expensive. If you’ve done research on this already, or have checked out other sites, you may notice that our chart is greatly simplified compared to most, and for good reason. Length of Wire – how long is the distance between the stereo and the speakers?.Amplifier size, or power (in Watts per channel – should be listed on the back of your receiver or amplifier).Speaker Impedance (in Ohms, or Ω – should be listed on the back of your speakers).Speaker Wire Gauge Chart – this basic chart shows speaker wire by size, or thickness, based on three factors: You cannot use too-thick of wire, though – that is, while 18 gauge wire isn’t a good idea for a big amplifier, 12 gauge wire is always fine for smaller amps. Sometimes there’s not a huge difference in sound quality, but it is noticeable, and anyway there’s usually a very small difference in price, so why not? So much of the fun of this hobby is in making little upgrades and tweaks and being able to hear little (or sometimes big) improvements!Īnyway, as you can see from the chart below, for longer runs of speaker wire, more powerful amplifiers and lower impedance speakers, thicker wire is always better, and even necessary, for sound quality and the health and reliability of your equipment. We have found that thicker wire will always sound better – especially if it is a good quality speaker wire. Many people will recommend using at least 18 gauge, but we would never use wire smaller than 16 gauge for our own equipment (which again is a bit thicker than 18 gauge), and recommend that you don’t either. The larger the number, the smaller (thinner) the wire. Wire size, or thickness, is measured in gauge, as identified by the standard American Wire Gauge (AWG) number. Selecting Your Speaker Wire – What Type of Wire do you Need? What Gauge (Size) of Speaker Wire do you Need? Fortunately, basic good quality speaker wire is quite inexpensive, and even extremely good audiophile speaker wire is often surprisingly reasonable. If your wire is old, in bad condition, or has any of the other conditions listed above, it is essential to sound quality (and sometimes to the health and safety of your stereo system) to replace it with good, new wire.
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