How can I tell whether speaker wire is 14 gauge?

Robert Green · 2012-01-20T19:01:58+00:00

Got some new speaker wire from an Amazon vendor today. It was claimed to be14GA but looks to be a bit less. The wire is marked 14GA but the bag saysBRX-14 and nothing about gauge or size of any kind other than 100' (Iprobably should measure that, too). When the bag appears to describe anindustry standard but doesn't, I get suspicious. Well, even more suspiciousthan usual. (-:Lately I've found that many things, from wires to batteries, that havestandard ratings here in the US are fudged there in China. Batteries marked2500 and marketed as 2500mAH are actually in the sub 1200 range. Wiremarketed as Cat 6 came in a bag re-labeled with a small dot label that said"6" applied wherever "5" appeared on the bag. The wire itself was actuallymarked Cat 5.In this case, the wire jacket is that of typical 14GA wire, but the copperstrands are almost identical to the remnants of a spool of Gemini EIGHTEENgauge wire. They appeared to have jumped two full wire sizes in this scamor mislabeling.The Chinese AA NiMh fraudsters are so common whole sites are devoted totracking them down. - what's the test for 14GA stranded wire? I've got the typicalmultislot stripper crimpers to use as a gauge and electronic calipers. Anyother tests?--Bobby G.