Internal speaker cable for high power disco/pa cabs

[Bull]

I'm planning on making some 3 way disco/pa speakers which will be used in medium venues at high volume levels.

I've got the plans,the construction guide and I know what drivers and crossovers to use,and I've got all the tools and the 18mm plywood.
Eminence Delta 15 [400w rms] for bass,Eminence Alpha 8 MR[125w rms] for midrange,Eminence APT150 compression horn and driver combination[85w rms] and a Eminence PXB3-5K[600w rms 3 way crossover].

I'm going to be driving them with a 600w rms into 8 0hm per channel power amp.

But nowhere is any indication of that size[gauge] internal wire you have to use.So I guess 10 gauge-14 gauge OFC cable for the bass driver,14 gauge-18 gauge for the mid driver,16 gauge-24 gauge for the tweeter.
How can you tell when buying a certain thickness of loudspeaker wire how many amps and watts the cable can handle?
Also the shop sells 22 gauge ofc ,high temperature wire,which has silicon insulation,and can handle 300 0c short time,180 0c long term and can handle 35amp,600v max.Is this cable suitable for loudspeaker cable,it seems weird that 22 gauge cable can handle 600v and 35 amp.The shop is Maplin electronics.
www.maplin.co.uk

[JOE DIRT®]

I use personally 8Ga 665 strand on my base drivers and 12Ga on all others for interior wiring....its overkill but I dont like the connectors for the smaller guage wires

[pinkmouse]

For internal wiring at that power, you can get away with 2.5mm2, and I believe Maplin do the Van Damme speaker cable in that size, and it's very nice

[mikee12345]

what about 10A mains extension cord?

a guy in Electronics world reccomended it :-P i have the article

[mrfeedback]

10 pair telephone wire works a treat, and is cheap.

Eric.

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

Just use 16 guage zip cord. Save money. With 4 foot runs, even IF you can hear the difference between zip and some esoteric wire in a home environment it wouldn't show up in your application.

[The Paulinator]

Try the wire from a Sega Genesis controller. I have found it to sound much better than, say, a Playstation controller. If the piece is not long enough you can connect them end-to-end with some well-chewed bubble gum.

[JOE DIRT®]

this is turning into a mockery LOL

[Nappylady]

*SIGH*

Some of you have OBVIOUSLY never had wires melt on you before, because you have to run x current through y length of z-sized cable and it just doesn't have the poop for it...

LEMME TELL YA, the owners of the venue do NOT like having to fix the floor after you've burned a hole in it with molten copper! The people attending the disco also don't particularly relish the smell of charred polymers! Best of all, the music coming to a sudden end, along with, potentially, your soundsystem, is no fun at all!

www.siriusone.com sells spools of 250' 8-guage OFC 2-conductor wire for $50, I think. That will definitely be enough, unless you're running the wire more than maybe 1/2 mile.

[MadMax]

As long as there is more copper in lead than vc then vc will melt first.
Iam with Mr feedback but I use cat five x3 briaded with colors for + and white & colors for - . thats 12 strands each way. Ive got 600w into sub and when the house shakes the cable stays cold.
Mark