Is 16 guage speaker cable adequate?

[GovernorSqueeze]

I bought my first head, an Acoustic B200H head, It will be running into a single 8 ohm cab. I wondered if a 16 gauge speaker cable would work well enough. I've heard about differences in gauge before, but I never really understood. Any help?

 

[Andyman001]

At that power level it should be fine.

 

[megafiddle]

Depends on the length of the wire. How long do you need?

But you might want to use a heavier gauge just for the durability.

For some actual numbers, 48 feet of 16 AWG will lose about 0.5 db.

 

[GovernorSqueeze]

Its 10 feet, and It won't be doing much serious moving or stepping on.

 

[megafiddle]

That will work just fine.

 

[chucko58]

It'll work. At 16 gauge, shorter would be better.

I'm a firm believer in short fat speaker cables. Mine are all 12 gauge.

 

[darkstorm]

16 gauge is thinnnist Id use for speakers of any kind. But is good gauge. You could also double it. As in run two lines to the cab and twist the two white together and two black together. Two 16 gauge wires bassically equals 13 gauge. Gauge minus 3 as the basic conversion formula when doubling wire like some higher end speaker cable makers use.Some triple the wire especially if braiding it for noise rejection when running speakers cables where club lighting might interfere noise wise.

 

[Balog]

Many amps and speaker use much lighter gauge wire internally. You'll be fine.

 

[dhsierra1]

Many amps and speaker use much lighter gauge wire internally. You'll be fine.

+1

View attachment Understanding Speaker Cables.pdf