Cables and connections
AWG (American Wire Gauge)
The standard scale for wire diameter, where a smaller gauge number means a thicker conductor with lower resistance per foot.
AWG is a logarithmic scale of conductor size. Each step of three gauges roughly halves or doubles the cross-sectional area, so 13 AWG has about twice the copper of 16 AWG. Resistance scales inversely with area, which is what matters for speaker wire.
Gauge decides how much amplifier power turns into heat in the cable and how much the wire degrades damping factor. Long runs to surrounds and heights, and low impedance speakers, both call for thicker wire.
Keep cable resistance under 5 percent of the speaker's impedance. With copper at about 4.0 ohms per 1,000 ft for 16 AWG and round-trip length counted, 16 AWG suits 8 ohm speakers to about 48 ft and 4 ohm to about 24 ft; 14 AWG roughly reaches 80 and 40 ft.