Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions 4X's 24 AWG =????

Hi Guys, I getting ready for my next Golden Email and I'm wiring up my Room for the surrounds.

I have some Cat3 24/4pr wire left over from a telephone wiring job I did some time ago in my house. I hope to use this wire for wiring the surrounds.

So the plan is to pair up 4 wires for each polarity. The question is I don't know what resultant gauge I would have?

I'm trying to wire about a distance of atleast 30' so I'd need atleast the equivalent of a 16 gauge wire for the 6 ohm QS8's.

Can anyone tell me if there's a formula for figuring this out or what the resultant gauge of 4, 24 gauge wires together would work out to?

Thanks a bunch, Jag

Well, a pair of 14s comes to around 11 gauge, but what formula that uses, I couldn't tell you...

Michael, AWG numbers and sizes are arranged so that doubling wires results in a wire having a cross sectional area and gauge equivalent to one three gauges lower. So doubling the 24ga wires gives a 21ga wire and if you combine two of those you get a 18ga wire; 4x24ga=18ga.

In English: pair up two wires of the same gauge, subtract three and that's your new gauge.

Would it be easier to run down to Home Depot and get some of their 14 ga wire cut to length in the bulk wire department? It's dirt cheap and performs well.

Just a thought here and it’s a half baked theory.

Since both CAT 3 and CAT 5 utilize different lengths of paired wire within its own sheath. Would it be logical to think that the electrons would have a timing issue or some sort of anomaly? If so would it be measurable? I know if you remove all of the conductors from a CAT 5 cable (say a 12" piece) and then unwind them individually you should have a few conductors that are longer because of the twists. The same with a cat 3 just not as much of a twist.

Again, it’s just a thought

Hmmm. Interesting postulation. At the very least, the whole break-in thing is going to be very complex.

At 18ga with a 6 ohm load,recommened length is only 23 feet max.I would agree with Ray and look at some 14ga.

Thanks folks, yes I think the equivalent gauge wont do for this 30' length. I guess I'll have to take a trip to Home Depot. Its odd but I haven't found any "cheap" speaker wire at Home Depot as all you folks South of the border talk about. The cheapest I've seen at Home Depot is $1/foot which isn't much less than Axioms bulk cable which is far nicer. Anyways I'm going to see if I can find some cheaper lamp wire.

The CAT wire was neat in that it is all shealthed and easily pulled through walls.

Thanks all very much again, Jag

Thats weird. I think I paid 22 cents a foot for 14 gauge that was cut to specific lengths for me.