[NJARC] #12 AWG Speaker wire?

Wed Apr 9 13:58:24 EDT 2014

No, it's more of an issue of voltage drop.  The speaker has a 2 ohm coil so you would like as much of the amplified voltage dropped across the voice coil and not the wire connecting the amp to the speaker.  16 AWG has a resistance of about 0.2 ohms for 50 feet at room temperature.  If Matt uses all of the 25 feet of 16 AWG then 10% of the amplifier power will be heating the wire, not moving the voice coil.  If the speaker impedance was 8 ohms, then 16 AWG wire would be fine.

I can see his point, going to 12 AWG doesn't cost all that much more and the effort to run the wire properly in the car is the bigger PITA.  When he upgrades to a bigger power amplifier, he is all set.

Matt, you might want to check into the low voltage lighting wire used to light walkways and the like.  I think it is 12 AWG, has thick insulation and it might be cheaper since the word "audio" is not on the package!
Jim

________________________________
 From: Pete O <stateasylum at yahoo.com>
To: "antqradio at sbcglobal.net" <antqradio at sbcglobal.net>; NJARC Reflector <njarc at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: [NJARC] #12 AWG Speaker wire?

12 ga. wire can carry 41 amps peak!   How many kilowatts of audio are you running?  How long before you will need hearing aids?

Pete O
On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 9:42 AM, "antqradio at sbcglobal.net" <antqradio at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

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Out of curiosity, just how much power is this audio amplifier pumping?
Jim

________________________________
From: Matt Reynolds <mattr04 at hotmail.com>
To: NJARC Reflector <njarc at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:27 AM
Subject: [NJARC] #12 AWG Speaker wire?

Just remember
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Hi All,

Does anyone have any #12 AWG two conductor copper speaker wire they don't need?  I'm doing a car
 stereo project for one of my cars (yes, that one...), and need to update the wiring to handle the new speakers.  I don't think I need much, I'm guessing 25 feet would be plenty.   Before I buy a spool I thought I'd ask around.  I imagine many of you have amassed quite a collection of wire over the years, that you may or may not ever use.

I'll be at the meeting on Friday.

Thanks!

Matt

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