Dimensioning cables for passive speakers.

Power cables for not amplified speakers.

Dimensioning of the cables to connect amplifier and speakers considering important factors related to the sound reproduction.
A right dimensioning of these links keeps to aceptable levels the resistance, the inductance, the losses and the resultant damping factor.

Data input

RMS power to transfer to the speaker.

W RMS

From music power : W RMS = W / 2

From peak-to-peak power : W RMS = W / 4

Nominal impedance of the speaker.

Ohm

Maximum loss allowed in the cable.

Hi-End audio system.

Hi-Fi audio system.

Professional audio system.

Generic background sonorization.

Amplifier output impedance.

Ohm

Cables lenght . . . L

Results
Output peak-to-peak voltage of the amplifier.			V PEP
Output RMS voltage of the amplifier.			V eff
Output current of the amplifier.			A
Theoretical cable section.			mm²
Total cables resistance.			Ohm
Real power dissipated by the cables.			W
Maximum obtainable damping factor (real short cables).
Resulting damping factor with the selected cables (approximate value).

Notes.

Maximum cable current is limited to 5 A mm².
Minimum cable section is limited to 0.3 mm².
All results are referred to normal cables of braided electrolytic copper cable (unipolar or multipolar) used for electrical system.
Avoid absolutely the usage of shielded cables or other kind of cable with high capacity in a special way for the long connections.
For the sonorization of ambience requiring very long connections is reccomended to keep high the circuit impedance, if necessary using appropriate transformers.
For long connections increase the cable section means improve the transient response and increase the global damping factor.
Pay attention on the kind of connectors used depending of the current value that they have to handle.

Instructions

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Notices