mustang guy Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I found this, and it is very helpful. It is a speaker wire size calculator. http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 That calculator assumes that you are OK if loss is 1dB or less, which may or may not be true. I prefer a table produced years ago based on listening tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 That calculator assumes that you are OK if loss is 1dB or less, which may or may not be true. I prefer a table produced years ago based on listening tests. That table doesn't account for wattage. Wires have maximum amount of heat they can dissipate. For instance: there is never a case where a 22 guage wire should be used for a 1,000 watt sub. The chart says you can run 12 feet at 8 ohm to any speaker from any amplifier. When you plug in those numbers on the wire size calculator, 1000, 12, 22, 8, the calculator say Use a larger wire or a shorter length of wire. If you continue to change the wire to larger size, it eventually tells you OK at 14 guage. IMO, there should be 4 seperate charts, a 2,4 6 and 8 ohm, with a verticle axis of watt ranges (eg. 100-120 watts), and the horizontal for run lengths ( eg. 50'). Even then, you are likely overengineering wire decisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djk Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 "there is never a case where a 22 guage wire should be used for a 1,000 watt sub." Well then we can't use the sub then, it is made with more than 12' of wire smaller than 22ga. Sensible would be to maintain a damping factor of 20 with an amplifier output impedance of 0R1, which would mean no more than 9' of 22ga feeding your 1000W/8R woofer. The 9' of 22ga wire would have a loss of .31dB and maintain a damping factor of 20 with an amplifer output impedance of 0R1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 "there is never a case where a 22 guage wire should be used for a 1,000 watt sub." Well then we can't use the sub then, it is made with more than 12' of wire smaller than 22ga. Are you refering to the windings in the voice coil? Good point. Well, you have posed an interesting question. Question 1: Why doesn't the high wattage fry the tiny wire in a voice coil, or in any electric motor, alternator or generator? Frankly, I haven't a clue! Sensible would be to maintain a damping factor of 20 with an amplifier output impedance of 0R1, which would mean no more than 9' of 22ga feeding your 1000W/8R woofer. The 9' of 22ga wire would have a loss of .31dB and maintain a damping factor of 20 with an amplifer output impedance of 0R1. I have heard about the damping factor of 20 or more before. Question 2: Should be concerned with overall damping factors rather than simply the right size wire? Question 3: Does bigger wire offer less resistance and therefore higher damping factor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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