Wire gauge for a project

[Ducatista47]

It has been a while since I have wired up electronics from nearly scratch and I need to ask an ignorant question. I am building two active crossovers - the boards are from Marchand - and I have spools of 22 AWG stranded. Given the tiny signals and the short lengths involved is that a good choice, or would 20 AWG be better advised? I have confidence in the 22, but it looks so darn small. One mechanical factor is working with RCA terminals. Using something larger that 20AWG is a pain in the rear, in my experience.

I will be using 18AWG stranded for the AC.

[grumpy]

Should fit in the PCB and connector holes without flopping around or being so tight the joint is starved for solder. At the low currents involved, just make sure the connections are secure.


It has been a while since I have wired up electronics from nearly scratch and I need to ask an ignorant question. I am building two active crossovers - the boards are from Marchand - and I have spools of 22 AWG stranded. Given the tiny signals and the short lengths involved is that a good choice, or would 20 AWG be better advised? I have confidence in the 22, but it looks so darn small. One mechanical factor is working with RCA terminals. Using something larger that 20AWG is a pain in the rear, in my experience.

I will be using 18AWG stranded for the AC.

[Ducatista47]

Should fit in the PCB and connector holes without flopping around or being so tight the joint is starved for solder. At the low currents involved, just make sure the connections are secure.

You are the man! If I explained things as clearly and concisely as you do, I would have 80% fewer posts.

[Steve Schell]

I dunno ducatista. I would try #26 copper and try to give it a fair audition, and perhaps #28 which I have used with great success in the past. This ultra low impedance thing nowadays is very different from the old days where they attempted to match input and output impedances, often introducing small value resistors to the line to do so. I sure prefer bouncy, tuneful bass to the modern dead, overdamped sound!

[Ducatista47]

I dunno ducatista. I would try #26 copper and try to give it a fair audition, and perhaps #28 which I have used with great success in the past. This ultra low impedance thing nowadays is very different from the old days where they attempted to match input and output impedances, often introducing small value resistors to the line to do so. I sure prefer bouncy, tuneful bass to the modern dead, overdamped sound!
Thanks, Steve. Do you think this matters in the wire used inside an active crossover? The runs are literally inches. Both of the intended systems use high current amps for the low end (290 on down and 7000 on down), so I can pretty much figure out what is needed for the amp to speaker leads, but I perhaps erroneously assumed the the hook up wire in the electronics was not in need of any particular gauge.

The designer of the speaker in the full range system had figured out what small gauges he thought sounded best (22 to the full range cone and 30 to the tweeter), but he was targeting 0.7 watt tube amps through a passive crossover and I am doing nothing like that. When I put a transconductance JFET power amp in it changed everything for the better, but I don't think 26 or 28 AWG would cut it with that amp. Transconductance with full range speakers is a game changer for the bass response. The output impedance is sixty ohms; on the MOSFET model it is eighty.

The other system that crosses over at 290 runs a 2245H in nine cubic feet (my 4345s). In the past I have preferred moderate damping with tube amps but a high current Denon Mosfet PMA2000R gives a result I like so far.