I've seen so many conflicting opinions on this. Just how important is it? I've gone heavy duty with the rest of my wiring... all rockford fosgate stuff but I just have some basic speaker wiring. Is it possible for speaker wiring not to be able to carry the load from the amp to the sub box? Because i seem to have some issues with that.

I can post stats of exactly what I have but I don't think it's all that important at this point. I just need to know if speaker wires could play a part in the problem.

 

so far, you have not really stated a problem

For a short sub box run - if you are running a reasonable ammount of power, even 16ga will be plenty large enough.

On average, I think people tend to use 12ga for subwoofers.

 

expensive wire make the electricity travel faster.

What ga. of wire are you using now, how many watts did the salemen tell you the speaker will handle etc... give us the goods, and we can help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nOOber &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">expensive wire make the electricity travel faster.


</TD></TR></TABLE>
Not Completely true.
Higher grade materials will transfer better.
Most of the more expensive wire is the same material, but they put tons of marketing about time correction and all that bull to make you want to pay more.
In a car environment, IF your equipment is revealing enough, then go for it.
Otherwise good ole copper will do the job just fine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spider Man &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Not Completely true.
Higher grade materials will transfer better.
Most of the more expensive wire is the same material, but they put tons of marketing about time correction and all that bull to make you want to pay more.
In a car environment, IF your equipment is revealing enough, then go for it.
Otherwise good ole copper will do the job just fine.</TD></TR></TABLE>

sarcasm is fun...hehe

 

16ga should be fine, I used 12 on my sub. Quality does make a difference but as long as it isn't really crappy it should be ok, speaker wire is relatively cheap and it doesn't wear out so it pays to spend a bit more.

 

Ya, your not going to get the full performance out of your sub by using speaker wire. Like stated above, go with 16GA. Be sure to use high-quality connectors also, it makes a difference. I work for a Private Audio Company here in South Orange County, we use nothing but high qualit connectors and nothing smaller than 16GA wire for running subs. Also check the type of material used in your wire, some types of metals conduct better than others, so dont be fouled by the cool blue and red wires, cause all you'll get is cool 2 fast colors and a hefty payment!

Let me know if you have an other questions.

 

if you have a newer home depot check out their electrical section. I got a huge role of real nice RCA brand 16ga oxygen free copper wire, for a really, really reasonable price. I have no complaints about it, much better than some of the **** sold at pepboys and circuit city.

 

It's been proven time and again that copper is copper. Sure, more pure copper conducts better but you can't hear it. Wire gauge only matters for the distance you are running. 16 gauge is plenty for any car.

Here's an interesting link for those who are interested:
http://www.audioholics.com

I've never been much of a believer in fancy wires and twisted wires and all this mess. I just wonder how much people buy into the new fad of "twisted pair" interconnects. What happened to the shielding?? The problem with this is that you CAN hear EMI, but you probably cannot hear the effects of twisting the pos and neg wires of a speaker cable together.

Back to the point...I got some 16ga generic zip wire from one of my wholesalers. I paid about $3 for 50 feet. Sounds the same as the 14ga fosgate wire I used last time (only used it because I got it free). Same car, same amps, same speakers, different wires, same sound.

Hopefully this will convince you to buy reasonably priced cables. Put the money you saved on cabling towards a turbo!

 

curley knows.

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solid core vs. multi strand wire. discuss.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nOOber &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">curley knows. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Damn right I do

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<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">solid core vs. multi strand wire. discuss.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nice way to open the - "I know about skin effect" can of worms....

Let's put it this way - solid core is useless in an environment where flexibility is a necessity and vibrations are ever present - try to bend 0/1ga solid core wire and let me know how it goes - unless you are superman, it isn't going to work

And for what it's worth - once you use 0/1 ga in a car, 4 ga suddenly becomes "small" - and 8ga is a joke

 

Skin effect...lol. Those marketing folks are a bunch of sly foxes!


Solid vs stranded: technically solid will conduct electricity better in the long run, but again, this is not audible or measureable (sound wise) when pertaining to speaker wire.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HatchbackComeback &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Skin effect...lol. Those marketing folks are a bunch of sly foxes!


Solid vs stranded: technically solid will conduct electricity better in the long run, but again, this is not audible or measureable (sound wise) when pertaining to speaker wire.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Solid will probably conduct better for dc, since there is technically more wire area. With ac inductance comes into play.

Here is a blast from the past explaining everything https://honda-tech.com/zero...85941

 

But I already know everything no need for explanation threads. Use copper 16ga in a car, and inductance will not be a problem.

Hell, use any wire in a car...most cars are too noisy to try to listen to "audiophile" components and accessories anyway. I pretty much deaf anyway, as long as I can hear it I'm doing good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HatchbackComeback &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...most cars are too noisy to try to listen to "audiophile" components and accessories anyway. I pretty much deaf anyway, as long as I can hear it I'm doing good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I use 12 gauge for bling factor