Ive noticed that most speakers have 18 or 20 gauge internal wiring so isnt it pointless to use 12 gauge wire when hooking it to the amp? Whats even worse the leads connecting to the voice coil is even smaller. Can someone explain this.
thanks
simply, it has to do with length...someone else here can give you a more technical explanation, but if you try to pull a 4 ohm load through 50' of 18awg cable, you'll melt it. Check this site for more technical info and a chart for lenghts vs. ohms:
cable
^billy
You're more or less correct. Gauge is important as a factor of distance AND power. The longer the run and/or the more power the wire is carrying, the thicker it should be.
Clean, as the previous replies and the excellent article which was linked indicate, it's the total resistance over the full length of the wire run from the amp terminals to the speaker drivers that counts. Within reason it doesn't matter how thin the foot or two of wire inside the enclosure is; this isn't at all analogous to a 4-lane highway suddenly turning into a 8-foot dirt road.