Diameter of wires

[ads2]

Hello,

for making a gainclone, what size (AWD) of the wires are needed for :
- Line in.
- Power (betwwen rectifier board and LM3886 board).
- Speaker output.

Regards

Armindo

[AndrewT]

big enough to bring voltage drop within your specification targets.

[ads2]

big enough to bring voltage drop within your specification targets.

hum ... that doesn't help a lot what do you mean by "big enough" ?
don't you use 3 kinds or wires for the 3 parts ?
I was thinking of 24AWG for the line in.

[mymindinside]

Hi ads2,
What i use is:
Line Level signal: 23AWG
Mains, Secondary AC and DC Power: 2.5mm2 (not sure what it is in AWG)
Speaker out: 2.5mm2

The power and speaker out guage is larger than it needs to be, but the cost difference is almost nothing, and it saves me the hassle of having to run out and buy more wire for different projects
If your lengths are much longer than usual, you will need to calculate the required guage.

Cheers,
Mymindinside

[AndrewT]

If I need to specify a cable for a particular duty, I would decide first on what current it might have to pass. Then I would look at whether it might get warm/hot in worst case conditions. Finally, I would look very carefully at the voltage drop along that wire to see if that may cause a performance detriment.

If I found that worst case operating conditions developed 1uVac along my chosen cable, then I would have to look at what effect that 1uVac had on the sound that comes out of the speakers.

It is not simply "what gauge do I use?"

you will need to calculate the required gauge.

[mymindinside]

As is usually the case, your approach is sound and methodical.ads2 would do well to go through the process you describe.

cheers,
mymindinside

[AndrewT]

as an example, I am building a stereo integrated amp as a friend's Birthday present.
The "amplifier" part is squeezed into the last ~65mm at the back of the chassis, where all the signal selecting, volume setting, amplifying and output is done. The Input leads are either 15mm long or 25mm long The volume pot leads are ~50mm long.
The speaker leads are either 20mm long or 60mm long. If I have room, I will squeeze in a 15mm long inductor to replace 15mm of that speaker lead.

I am considering using single core, insulated, 0.6mm diameter copper for all that wiring.
Do I have reason to consider using different diameters or different stranded combinations? I may double up on the 60mm long speaker output lead, I have yet to do that calculation, but is it worth it?
BTW,
my main audio ground is the strap between the two speaker return terminals, 19mm c/c. Will I use a copper wire, or a thin brass plate or should I use a thick copper plate?

[ads2]

Thanks Andrew and mymindinside for your replies.
What kind of connector do you use to connect thick wires on the board ?
in the chipamp lm3886 board for instance there is not a lot of space to use screw terminal for the audio in/out.

[AndrewT]

a spade/blade and female plug.
a soldered wire.
a terminal.

It's whatever fits that the designed has allowed space for.
The least flexible is the soldered wire but you will see reports that this is the best sounding connection.

[DualTriode]

Want to know about wire see here
http://pmillett.com/images/ax_wire.pdf
and here
american wire gauge - Google Search
DT