I've read a few posts in which people mentioned running a new power wire(ie 16 AWG) to their head unit?? what is the purpose of this?? is there any advantage over the stock wire that came with the stock deck?

the only reason i could see for this is increased amperage but to aftermarket decks really draw that much more power??

 

at high volumes, your headunit likes to eat up more power. ALWAYS and ALWAYS upgrade your constant 12v battery and ground wire to 14gauge or better with an aftermarket headunit. when you use small wires, your headunit is trying to get more power, and if it doesn't get enough, it will fry in doing so. trust me on this. i used stock wirings on my pioneer headunit, and the ground wire melt. smoke started coming out. the battery wire didn't cuz it was a 12 gauge so no problem there. stupid me should have just installed new wires for everything

 

Actually by using / keeping smaller wires, they cannot provide current quickly enough to the deck as it requests it.

You should ALWAYS use the same size ground as power. Upgrading past 12ga is not necessary and 16ga should be fine for all decks.

The bigger the gauge, the more power it can POTENTIALLY deliver, and the longer runs you can make with it. The stock wires are 22ga or smaller, and when you hook up a high(er) current deck like the pioneer (with its lcd screen/flourescent blue lighting etc) it needs more current, the wire melted because it was running very hot from transferring so much power to the deck.

A 16ga power/ground = Happier deck because it can run to spec.

-Rage