Speaker Wire Gauge

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 Question by Steve Albright posted 18 Jul 2006
 Speaker Wire Gauge
How do I determine what the smallest gauge wire is that would be safe/effective for driving an 8-ohm speaker. (i.e., I want to avoid having too small of a wire that it might get hot enough to melt it insulation and become a fire hazard.)

Thanks,

Steve
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 Answer by Joseph Golan posted 19 Jul 2006
Dear Steve,

I doubt that you will melt the insulation off from driving an 8 ohm speaker but more importantly is the loss or attenuation due to a small wire size with a long run.

I find the link below to have very useful information and it also has a table which takes into account length vs speaker impedance to help you make a good choice in the proper AWG for the wire.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire.htm

Sincerely,
Joseph Golan, RCDD

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