13
Installation Manual
P
ANTAGES
G4
Speaker and Wiring Impedance
Speaker and Wiring Impedance
Wire Gauge
Run Length
25’
50’
100’
250’
500’
24 GA
1.3Ω
2.6Ω
5.1Ω
12.8Ω
25.7Ω
22 GA
0.8Ω
1.6Ω
3.24Ω
8.1Ω
16.0Ω
20 GA
0.5Ω
1.0Ω
2.0Ω
5.0Ω
10.1Ω
18 GA
0.3Ω
0.6Ω
1.28Ω
3.2Ω
6.4Ω
16 GA
0.2Ω
0.4Ω
0.8Ω
2.0Ω
4.0Ω
14 GA
0.1Ω
0.25Ω
0.5Ω
1.26Ω
2.5Ω
12 GA
0.08Ω
0.16Ω
0.32Ω
0.8Ω
1.6Ω
Speaker Wire Resistance:
Wire Gauge versus Run Length
frequency range, and speakers that are
rated at unusual impedances, for example
3.5 Ohms. The Pantages G4 is tolerant of
lower impedance loads, however, all good
designs use some margin of error.
Your choice of speaker wire gauge and
the length of the runs, also affects the
speaker impedance load presented to the
amplifiers. As you can see in this table,
even fairly short speaker runs can have
significant resistance if you use a smaller
wire gauge. This can be a benefit if you
are paralleling lots of speakers. The wire
itself acts as an impedance limiter, since
the amplifier cannot see a speaker load
lower than the resistance of the wire. The
downside of this wire resistance is that
you waste some part of the total power
available to the speakers.
Speakers, like other resistors, when wired
in parallel “show” lower values than the
individual components. Here are two
examples for calculating speakers wired in
parallel:
Calculating Impedance
For three 8 Ohm speakers wired in
parallel (pluses connected to pluses)
the impedance is 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 = 3/8
Then take the inverse or 8/3 = 2.66 Ω
For two 8 Ohm speakers wired in
parallel (pluses connected to pluses)
the impedance is 1/8 + 1/8 = 2/8
Then take the inverse or 8/2 = 4 Ω
Often the real world is more complicated
than theory, and for speakers this is
the case. An eight Ohm speaker is not
eight Ohms at all frequencies. Plus
passive crossover networks add their
own changing conditions. Be aware of
speakers that have significant dips from
“nominal” values in portions of their
