How To Measure Speaker Wire Size. Audiophiles should always wish to minimize speaker cable resistance. To choose the right speaker wire, we need to know the length and how much current they will have to transfer so that we can select the correct gauge.
Switch on the meter and set it to measure ohms on the lowest range. American wire gauge (awg), also referred to as just “gauge”, is the system used mostly in north america to classify speaker wire by the size of the diameter, or size of the speaker wire. To figure out how much speaker wire you need, run a string from your receiver or amplifier location to each of the speaker locations.
Touch the test probe leads firmly against clean, bare metal on the speaker terminals with at least one speaker wire removed to avoid a false measurement.
12 for shorter speaker wire runs: To measure the impedance of a speaker you’ll need a multimeter (test meter with multiple functions) or a dedicated ohm (resistance) meter. Touch the test probe leads firmly against clean, bare metal on the speaker terminals with at least one speaker wire removed to avoid a false measurement. Read on to learn why.