Home Theater Hacks

Hack #46. Use Thicker Wiring for Longer Runs

If you're running cable for any length greater than 20 feet, use at least 12-gauge speaker wire.

Many home theater newbies get tied up into knots when it comes to determining the difference between 12-, 14-, and 16-gauge speaker wire, and that assumes they're even noticing the gauge of wiring to begin with. To make matters more confusing, smaller gauge wiring is actually thicker than higher gauges. Using gauge as the unit of measurement comes from when a rod of metal was run through rollers to squish it to a smaller size. A rod that ran through the rollers 12 times was thicker than a rod that ran through 16 times. This is why the higher numbers mean thinner wires.

To put this into perspective, here's a typical recommendation for speaker wire gauge versus the length of the run.

1 to 10 feet

Use 16-gauge wire (the thinnest acceptable wire for any home theater usage).

11 to 20 feet

Use 14-gauge wire. You'll commonly find 14-gauge wiring in large electronics stores [Hack #3].

20 or more feet

Use 12-gauge wire. You might have to shop at an electronics boutique [Hack #4] or go online [Hack #6] to find quality 12-gauge wiring.

Using this and the definition of wire gauge, you can see that you'll need thicker wire for longer runs; however, many neophytes actually read this as just the opposite and use their thickest wire for the front and center channels, where it's needed the least.

Rather than spending your free time with a tape measure and ...