What gauge/width speaker cable?

[Scam]

I need about 10m of speaker cable for a 350cm (left) and a 600cm (right) run. For a Wiim Amp Ultra powering two old Gale 3030 floor standers.

They’re in the dining room so I wanted to run them nice and neatly along the top of the skirting board which is just under 2cm wide. What’s a “standard” width? Looking at a certain German manufacturer there’s everything from 2x0.75mm to 2x6mm. TIA.

 

[robj20]

I pretty much just use 14awg which is about 2.5mm

 

[hornetstinger]

2.5mm3 is fine £24.99

"KabelDirekt – Pure Copper Stereo Audio Speaker Wire & Cable – Made in Germany – 2x2.5mm² – 15m – (For Hifi Speakers and Surround Sound Systems, Pure Copper, with polarity markings) "

 

[dave28]

Technically you could use one size below 2 x 2.5mm to save money, so 16 AWG. You could use it to 7.3 meters with those speakers.
It would work fine in that set-up, less cost and slightly thinner neater overall on skirting boards.

This cable is 10 meters 16 AWG and is only £6.50 including delivery as a cheap option but there are different brands that cost more.
10m White Auline Speaker Cable Wire 42 Strand 16 AWG 1.3mm2 HiFi Surround Sound.

There is not as much difference between 14 AWG ( 2.5mm ) and 16 AWG ( 1.3mm ) as it sounds because the 14 AWG is barely over 2mm but they round it up to 2.5mm because of some reason not worth getting into.

 

[Scam]

Technically you could use one size below 2 x 2.5mm to save money, so 16 AWG. You could use it to 7.3 meters with those speakers.
It would work fine in that set-up, less cost and slightly thinner neater overall on skirting boards.

Thanks. It seems a hard thing to find recommendations on but the choice might be made as KD only have 10m in 2x1.5mm in white anyway. Not 14 AWG! Any links, besides endless forum chatter?

We're in a terraced house so the system will never really be pushed hard.

 

[dave28]

Thanks. It seems a hard thing to find recommendations on but the choice might be made as KD only have 10m in 2x1.5mm in white anyway. Not 14 AWG! Any links, besides endless forum chatter?

We're in a terraced house so the system will never really be pushed hard.

This guide seems ok just to get an idea of the gauge recommended for different length cables and speaker ohm ratings : https://satmaximum.com/speaker-wire...XEhf8na2Pc0C_zSRz_GND5IHk4HWr0tYYMzE_tWMnsqnQ

Your speakers are 4 to 8 ohm variable I believe so best to just class them as 4 ohm when viewing charts.
Basically, 16 AWG should be good upto 24 feet for 4 ohm speakers using standard copper with.

Of course it would not hurt to have the thicker 14 AWG cable but I was just thinking because you are running it along skirting boards that it would be better to get the thinnest cable that is within recommended Specs.

Its very hard to tell any difference from one copper speaker cable to another so you might just want to go buy color / looks and within a reasonable price range.

I use Van Damme blue 2 x 2.5mm cables personally but 10 meters of it would be £35+

 

[Admetos]

The Amazon Basics speaker cable is decent because it uses a twisted-pair design, and that geometry can help reduce picked-up noise. Klotz use a similar approach in some of their studio and stage cables.

Amazon basic cable

When it comes to speaker cable gauge, the main issue is resistance and damping factor. If the cable has too much resistance, it can reduce the effective damping factor, meaning the amplifier may not control the speaker as tightly as it should.

My own rule of thumb is to check a cable gauge chart for the required size, then go one gauge thicker to give a bit of extra margin.