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  3. 1018557761

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
leoturetsky OP
103 posts
 
Sean, I'm gonna try the 100-768. At $35 plus shipping for the lengths I need it's hard to beat and definitely worth a try. Any more pointers? I was reading that quad-star (which is the pattern I'm assuming exists inside the white jacket) increases capacitance of a cable and that this is good for analog signals and bad for digital. While I think I more or less understand why, you have a better explanation? Thanks again!
bomarc
501 posts
 
JV: Not to worry. The guy says he's using Thiels.

Sean: Fair points all. Perhaps we should have asked what amp he was using; I assumed it was a pretty conventional SS. I personally don't know anybody who's had an RFI problem with speaker cables, so my instinct would be to concentrate on other factors (like keeping resistance and reactance down) unless you know there's a problem. But your proposal would add a little insurance at a very reasonable price. (If Leo were considering a megabuck cable to prevent RFI, I'd tell him to find out if he's got an RFI problem first.)
jvia
195 posts
 
Thanks Bomarc, had me worried. I am still worried, just not as much.
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