Amazon Basics 16-Gauge Speaker Wire Cable Original Review 2022

I dunno, many say that it’s copper-clad aluminum wire. If so, then you lose three wire gauges, since 16 AWG aluminum iis roughly equivalent to 19 AWG copper, when it comes to ohms per 1000 ft.

The answers here are variably correct and incorrect!! The resistance of the speakers (ohms) needs to match the impedance the amplifier circuit is rated to handle. Too small a wire (length is a variable) will induce a resistance that the amplifier will face, like a speaker, and this will alter the “balance” of the int… The answers here are variably correct and incorrect!! The resistance of the speakers (ohms) needs to match the impedance the amplifier circuit is rated to handle. Too small a wire (length is a variable) will induce a resistance that the amplifier will face, like a speaker, and this will alter the “balance” of the intended match!!!! Pushing speakers rated at 500 watts under a constant load of 250 watts will induce heat “resistance” if the line between the amp and the speaker is very small and sound quality will be compromised!!!! Up to 100 feet of lead at a constant load of 500 watts would ideally be handled using 10 gauge copper, braided wire facing from 4 ohms to 16 ohms. Bottom line: Discriminating “audiophiles” popularly tout the use of 12 gauge braided lead for almost all in-home installations … this allows for component upgrades in the future! As said here, 16 gauge braided lead, in most installations, will produce results that are completely acceptable in matching power and impedance and results!!!

There is NO fire risk when using this wire for low voltage applications i.e., speaker connections. Most jurisdictions don’t care about CL2/CL3 unless you are running 110VAC. This is speaker wire. Don’t sweat it!

There IS a difference between CCA and OFC in terms of speaker wire. If you are running high wattage over a long (>50ft) run length,
the cheaper grade CCA will likely become hotter and not handle it well. This 16ga wire should have the same sonic clarity as a smaller 18ga pure copper wire. You get what you pay for.

Does not matrter, just make sure if you use the white as positive and the unmarked side as negative on the amp make sure you hook it up the same way at speakers!! Although everything will still work IF YOU REVERSE THEM, if you don’t make sure same at amp goes to the same at speakers you are now reverseing polarity whic… Does not matrter, just make sure if you use the white as positive and the unmarked side as negative on the amp make sure you hook it up the same way at speakers!! Although everything will still work IF YOU REVERSE THEM, if you don’t make sure same at amp goes to the same at speakers you are now reverseing polarity which decreases sound quality and true Stereo and or surround sound affects!

probably not without protection. the insulation does not seem to be heavy enough.

Yes, wire nuts will work. Be sure to have the right size wire nuts and a good tight connection. Also, be sure you maintain continuity in the wire. One of the wires will have a stripe on the casing or one will be copper and one will be silver. Be sure to keep that continuous all the way to the speaker.

made in china. bought some recently but didnt look till now. walmart, amazon, hey. not good for our economy is it. thanks for bringing this up.

Unknown

16 gauge will be fine unless your amp is putting out serious power, over 400 watts or so

“Eh Hem”. I guess third party vendors trying to find a way to make a profit someplace. Maybe they are getting a lot of returns. I accepted a refund for mine and donated two rolls to charity.

The spool if wire I received appears to be fine strands of copper. Once I cut the wire to length I did not any other color in the fine strands of wire that were different from the appearance of copper.

i would go 14 and be sure to check if wires are heating up than go thicker yet

Absolutely

I would use a heavier wire for a sub. 14 gauge or even 12 if you’re not limited by space or budget

Buy a wire stripper. It was too hard to peel the plastic outer sheath with scissors.
Wire splits in 2: + and – leads on speaker box and receiver.
Cut to length then strip the ends to expose the copper wire to attach to speaker screws.

Good wire, good price, used for outdoor speakers which sound great. Empty spool made great dog toy!

“gauge” is a fairly loose term, typically different for stranded than solid wire. AWG is a more precise specification, and that spec isn’t listed for this product. It probably is fair to call it 16 gauge, but precisely it’s probably 17AWG 64/35 CCA, by my measurements at least. I’ve noticed other here have similar results.

I did see someone claim it was half the listed cross-sectional area by their measurements. That’s definitely not what I found. I would say I got a good value.

I saw others complain it wasn’t 16AWG as advertised. Except, it’s not advertised as such. A plain wire gauge would probably measure this at least at 16AWG. For example 16AWG strippers are too small, and they cut some cores.

Regarding the estimate/cimplaint that it is 19.5AWG by measuring resistance and weight, it seems exactly like those reviewers forgot to take the composition of the wire into account. “aluminum has 61 percent of the conductivity of copper, but has only 30 percent of the weight of copper” (Anixter). This is Copper Clad Aluminium (CCA), not pure copper. Although at a glance it looks like copper, if you just heft it, it’s obviously aluminum core.

I find myself a bit surprised that I gravitate towards a brand name with “basic” in it. But as with all the other AmazonBasics products I have purchased, I am continuing to find good quality products at good prices.
After picking up a new receiver I decided to stick with my original speakers and instead of trying to reuse the old wires from a different house I figured I would do a clean install with new wire. I was quite happy to see an AmazonBasics brand of wire.

I cannot claim to have a trained ear, nor do I have audiophile level equipment, but for my mid-range Yamaha receiver and speakers I can tell zero difference between this wire and Monster branded wire. My only caution, would encourage you to measure before you buy. I did not and figured 50 Feet would be enough and got the 100 foot roll just to have spare wire, and ended up using a majority of the 100 feet of wire.

As with other AmazonBasics products I am finding them to be solid, quality products priced less than the low quality products.

I have a Logitech Z906 speaker system I installed in my garage. The included wires were pretty thin – maybe 22 gauge, and long. I have this aversion to cutting OEM stuff. So that, and it’s gauge, made me look elsewhere.

Saw someone post that Amazon Basics 16 gauge speaker wire would work great for these speakers (16 being the largest I could go with these speakers) so I bought it. Was packed well, clean. The wires were flexible, easy to bend around corners. I was able to use a standard wire staple gun (which just barely fit over the wires) to secure them to the walls/ceiling. The sheathing, I used a wire stripper, but 16 gauge stranded wire cut out seem to be stripping some of the copper stands, so I switched to the 14 gauge stranded wire cut out, and it was just about perfect. 80% of the time it stripped the coat, the other 20%, I had to grab and pull (not a big deal) or hit it again with the stripper, carefully. The stands twist easily by hand, and though the strands themselves seems brittle, they didn’t break when I mashed them (the port on the speakers is not forgiving if you didn’t twist them tightly). When that happened, back it out, re-twisted, and re-inserted, no issues. I found using a blade CAREFULLY in between the two wires made it easier to separate the two when I was getting ready to insert them into ports.

Sound quality is excellent/speakers play a part in that too of course.

Good sound and wire quality, easy to work with, would buy these again

I still own the same Bose 301 bookcase speakers I bought in 1982, and I still love them. I decided to redo my entire stereo system (well, *systems*) and needed new speaker wire as a result. Sure, I love my fancy Sonos wireless speakers. But I love the sound of Bose.
The local stores don’t care speaker wire and it’s a 30 mile drive to store that does, so naturally I ordered from Amazon – and it was here the next day.
In the old days, you had to be really careful cutting the plastic around your speaker wire. It was so thin you could easily cut right through it. This has a nice thick sheath to it, so I used a small box cutter to make cuts on both sides – and the sheathing slide right off.
A quick twist of the right and left wires and they inserted perfectly into the speaker and into my receiver.
Sound quality is excellent – and now my Bose have a new life because they’re playing my music subscription service wirelessly through my receiver.

While I’m sure there are audiophiles who’ll quibble, I think this stuff is awesome. It’s got enough (but not too much) insulation to make me feel comfortable pulling it through walls. I got this to run through the wall and outside to connect some speakers to the Sony 100w amp we use with our AppleTV so we can play music out on the porch. The wire’s nice and thick, easy to work with, and the spool’s not ridiculously large. Other than that, the price is right.

I was in need of some wire to run my surround speakers. While this speaker wire might not be solid copper and I wouldn’t want to use it to drive my front mains which are large speakers. It was just perfect for small surrounds. They sound just as good as they did when I did testing with short leftover runs of my solid copper core front speaker wire. If you have large main speakers, get something more substantial for those, but for surrounds or smaller bookshelf speakers. This wire will be just the ticket, and you probably won’t be able to tell any difference from it and a solid copper wire at twice the price.

When buying any new sound system, be aware that they typically come with short cables that don’t reach all the way around your room. Therefore, you absolutely must buy this. The rubber coating is very strong and pets won’t be able to nibble through it.

I only wished it was not transparent as a gold/brass color looks kind of garish. It should’ve been coated with some kind of black plastic, not transparent.

Gone are the days when one could bop down to the local rad-shack store (may it rest in fond memory), to pick up soldering, terminals, resistors or SPEAKER WIRE…that’s why when I found we were down to a pitiful 10 foot length, we figured it was time to give AmazonBasics 100-foot roll of 16-guage wire a try. Though it states it was made in china, it was wound properly (no kinks, nicks/cuts, breaks or twists anywhere on the spool), and one side is marked with a stripe so that you can’t get the polarity backwards, unless color-blindness is an issue, ie, one wire is clear the other has a black stripe.

Quality-wise, it carries the proper load and the music sounds fine. The price was great so this spool of wire gets the full five star rating.