todd

What exactly is the differance between differant gauage speaker wire?

In the basement we've always had this old Yamaha stereo system set up. It was my fathers, who past away some time ago. I don't know much about this stereo system, other than the speakers have been acting up for a few years now. The wires that connect them to the amp are very large, and barly fit in the holes on the speakers. The floor speakers (which are fairly large themselves) constantly cut out or become very staticy, usually because the wire came lose. I finally decided to go out and buy some new, smaller wire - I picked up some 24 gauge. I set up the new wires, and now no sound comes out of either speakers at all.

Do you think this is because the 24 gauge wire isn't big enough to power the speakers? Do differant gauge wire carry differant types of currents or something?

One other question - do the audio meters on an amp 'flicker' only when sound is being sent through the speakers, or do they respond as soon as audio comes in through the input, like from a television? The meters don't flicker anymore either (but truthfully, I can't remember if they always did or not before).