Speaker Wire: How Thick Is Thick Enough? Gauge, Length and Impedance Worked Out with Simple Arithmetic

A three-page practical guide to choosing speaker cable gauge. It shows how to calculate cable resistance from conductor area and run length, how that resistance causes a small level loss and lowers the system damping factor, and works through an example (16 AWG, 5 m, 8 Ω: about −0.14 dB and a damping factor of about 47). A table gives the maximum sensible run for 18 to 10 AWG into 8 Ω and 4 Ω loads, followed by notes on conductor material and on the cable properties that matter less than people think. You can run the same numbers for your own cable with the free Speaker Wire Gauge Calculator from The Audio Stuff. More free browser-based audio tools: theaudiostuff.com/tools/.