About size of gauge for amp cables .

[AJ6stringsting]

Right now, I'm using a 16 gauge sized cable from my power amps to my speaker cabinets and heard that If I switched to a 10 gauged / sized cable wire that my speakers would get more frequencies from my power amps.

Is this true ?

[WRGKMC]

If the cable is short like say 3" its unlikely you'll never notice a difference because there isn't enough wire there to build up resistance. Longer 25~50" cables benefit from heavier gauged wire because they have more resistance, but that's more for Hi Fi/PA gear that produces extended high frequencies which a guitar amp doesn't.

 

If you were buying or making your own cable and had both options available then go ahead and get a heavier gauge. Ten is really overkill however. There's a point where the stiffness of the wire becomes impractical, especially on such a short run. Heavy wire requires heavy duty connectors. Combine the stiff wire and fat connectors it may be difficult to plug them in and in cases where the jacks are plastic you can even damage them when you push and amp back against a wall.

 

Personally, I use 16 gauge zip cord for speaker cords under 25' and for cabs too. Anything longer I use 12 gauge.

When I made cables for my PA speakers I used those Orange Extension cords used for running power tools. They are probably the best buy for copper wire because you can get the 100' extensions for around $15~20 which winds up being 15 to 20 cents a foot. Some of these companies that boast selling Monster gauge cable will charge you $5~10 a foot for the same gauged wire.

 

Of course you do have to buy good connectors and solder them properly to have them last but don't buy into all the Voodoo electronics you come across. Much of it is spread salesmen feeding on armatures with no electronics background. You can make an argument the earth is flat and get someone to believe it. Guitar amps don't even produce much frequency response over 5Khz. Guitars are midrange instruments. Cable resistance affects the high frequencies well above what a guitar head or its speakers can produce.

 

Its unlikely you'd be using +25' for a speaker cab. If you are then simply get a shorter cable of the same gauge and you get the same result. 3' is just right for an amp head. You can sit the head on the ground while its still plugged in and it produces resistance so low its practically immeasurable. Add to that the wiring inside the head and in speaker cabs is often 20 gauge or less, 16 Gauge is plenty enough for the job.

[1001gear]

12awg is pretty cheap as is 10awg. I think there's a kind of chic to fat speaker wire and it won't hurt even if you don't need it. You can get fat barreled switchcraft type plugs and you're in business.

[DeepEnd]

Here's a chart that shows the effects of various gauges and lengths of speaker wire. It's for hi-fi applications but the underlying principle is the same:

 

[WRGKMC]

Good find DeepEnd. Looks about right.

 

3" of cable from amp to speaker looks like it barely registers change, and like you said that's for Hi Fi which is full fidelity losses.

 

As I mentioned, Hi Fi Cables longer then 25' of 16 Gauge becomes quite noticeable. The dotted apparently indicates the maximum wire length you'd want to run using a particular wire gauge. This chart seems to confirm my experience.

 

The thin 18 gauge you don't want to go over want to go over 15". Anything lower I wouldn't even want to use for speakers. Its not just the losses, its the current the cables carry. They can get real hot and melt insulation running a bass guitar especially.

 

I run three sets of 25" 12 gauge cables on my PA cabs so my losses are minimal. I have some 10 Gauge for some power outlet extensions which are super heavy duty but they would be too thick for speaker cables. The weight of the cable itself hanging down to the floor would damage the 1/4" connectors Its not just the wire its the thick insulation for that wire that weighs allot and makes it difficult to manage. Just soldering the jacks on takes a 150W iron to get the wire hot enough to melt solder.

 

On long runs you're better off either running powered speakers, keeping the power amps on stage so the speaker cables are short or running a 70V system and use step down transformers at the speakers.

[DeepEnd]

It looks like the dotted line represents -0.2 dB, about 14' of 18 gauge wire. Bear in mind, even that represents a measurable loss of power, about 4 1/2%. A 200 Watt amp would spend about 9 Watts just heating up the cables. If I'm reading the chart correctly, 6' of 14 gauge wire would produce a loss of about -0.04 dB, about a 1% loss. Wire is cheap. No reason to use flimsy stuff.

[AJ6stringsting]

Thanks, for the much valued info. 😂