I got a pair of 12 inch pioneer subs to go in my speaker box for christmas. My question is, what kind of wire do i use to connect the speaker to the terminal on the box? Will just any plain speaker wire work? and if so what gauge?

 

16 gauge phoenix gold wires. i dont know. regualor wires always worked fine for me. unless your going into comps or db races i shouldnt be a problem just using plain 16 gauge wire. ive even used extension coard wire for speaker wire when i didnt have any.

 

I didnt think that it had to be anything special. Ill probably just use 16 gauge wire. thanks Alot, Merry Christmas!

 

Um...16gauge sounds really small to me...

 

I just use regular home audio wire. But 16awg sounds about right... 12 maybe...

 

i looked at my 16gauge phoenix gold wires right before i posted. 16 gauge looks like it'll do the job just fine. if you running hign amperage like 1000's go 12g or 14. and i hope you using like a 0gauge for the power and ground if you in the 1000's amps.

 

i used pretty high dollar stuff i think it was a 10 gauge. Might have been overkill but you know what they say better safe than sorry. I had always used what ever i had lying around, this time i used all new stuff and as good as i could get. I think i got about 150 dollars worth of wire in that damn truck.

 

280 dollars worth of wire in mine, and 16 gauge is the way to go

 

ok, well i bought some 14 gauge wire. Also will this work to wire the speaker to the amp? or do i need bigger?

 

no. 14gauge is just fine. now for the power and grounds what are you using? they should definetly be a smaller gauge. like say the more amps the smaller.

 

Ive already got the power wire, it is huge but im not sure what gauge. I dont have the ground yet, what gauge does it need to be?

 

Power and ground should be the same gauge. What amp are you using? Normally 4 gauge is fine for most amps, but post what you have just to be sure.

Also, use the same wire that connects the box to the amp as connects the speakers to the box.

 

Its 820 watt amp

 

Peak or RMS?

 

The power on the amp means nothing here (or any where else).
What matters is current, see what size and how meany fuses the amp has.

 

I'm running 4 gauge wire...there's two 40 amp fuses on the amplifier.

 

hrm 2 40's... I might actually believe that its around 700 watts...

and about that... how the heck can you spend $280 on wiring alone??? That's nearly IMPOSSIBLE! You'd literally have to be wiring up a stretch-camaro limo or something...

Welding cable is perfect for amplifier wiring, and I believe its 0 guage or bigger, with plenty of insulation... and you can get that for cheap.... never buy into that monster cable crap... there's almost no difference in any of those brands-- in fact I've heard there's NO difference at all between brands... and even if there were differences, you can tell right away by looking at wire thickness and insulation thickness.... I've been tricked before where my wires are smaller than 4guage, but the insulation was thicker to compensate---most people would never know.

I'd like to know about that wiring... are you including the price of the amplifier in there?

plus the ACTUAL speaker wiring doesn't have to be very tough--- since its much higher voltage-- and in alternating current... (which I could have sworn that with AC there is essentially noise cancelling in the very physics of the design but I really can't remember now.) -- anyways you can use even smaller than 16 guage if you cant find any bigger... I'm not sure what kind of current truely flows through those wires... It must be much lower amperage than the amplifier power wires.

 

i have monster wire hooking my box to my amp but thats because ive had it laying around and didnt need to cut it at all..lol im lazy. although the scorpion wiring kit i got with the box and amp came with all teh wires i needed it had decent RCAs and 4awg power and GRound and 14 guage speaker wire.( i used this wire insid my box but got lazy because its harder to cut) the kit came with tons of extra speaker wire

 

262 Dollars, not 280 - its all wire with the exception of the ground distro block and the fused distro block that came in the amp kit. (Rockford Brand)

Gold plated Ground Distro block - 20.00
5M Dual Twist RCA - 40.99
4/8 Gauge Dual Amp Kit - 150.00
30' - 16 Gauge Speaker wire - x2 - 31.00
4 Gauge Ground - 20.00
Total - 262

And im not done yet, i still need to buy 2 more 5M Dual Twist RCA's for my 4 channel amp so thats another 80bucks right there.

 

820 watts is of course peak power. I acutally just got done wiring up the amp, i used 4 gauge power, and i used a little smaller wire for the ground but its just temporary. But every thing went fine and it sounds awesome!

 

wow those rcas were REALLY expensive!!! you can get a nice set of twisted oxygen-free stuff from bestbuy or walmart... i believe the brand is scosche or something... anyways, what's done is done

 

You're paying to much.

 

agreed.

I'd put that extra $300 into a better amp or another amp altogether. -- how about putting in some cheap navigation system or some lcds for that price? Something i'm sure...

 

goto crapshak (radioshak) get yourself 2 rca's for 10each. (i think 10 ft)
goto homedepot/buildingbox/rona pick yourself up some bulk wire. a spool of i think 18 gauge wire (250ft) 30 bux. goto bestbuy and ask for some 4gauge, bout 20 ft, usually runs you about 1 buc/ft only things left are fuses and im sure you can pick one up to your needs for 10 bux.

lets ses

20 (2-rca's)
30 (speaker wire and im sure youll have atleast 200ft leftover)
20 (20 ft 4 gauge)
10-20 (fuse(s) )
---
80-90 bux

 

as far as a power wire is conserned, u can get any brand, but when it comes to signal wires, there is no point in havin a good radio if ur not gonna have good wires so i dont care how much they cost as long as they sound good.

 

hrm, do you think you can tell the difference between the radioshack rcas versus the the monster cables?

 

i like the placebo feeling of having "quality" stuff. but thats just me, id rather pay more and rest easy. money is less of an issue for me becuase i can always save up for what ever i want

 

I hear and understand what both of u are saying, but the rockford dual twist RCA's have the better noise canciling materials, and id rather have the base of my system (the wires) the best they can be, in case i want to upgrade. because u can have a top of the line amp but if ur runnin 5dollar rca's then the sound quality is only as good as the wire.

 

yea... there are two sides of car audio. the everyday prolly wont notice the difference person. and the i need competition grade or i compete and need the best person

 

You're right, there are two sides of car audio... 1. People who make smart purchases, and 2. People who pay to much unknowingly.

I'm not saying that you're setup with your $300+ in wiring is worthless or anything... just that you probably couldn't tell the difference with equipment from NASA between Walmart RCAs (dual twist, oxygen-free), versus the $100 monster, or rockford or whatever....

If there was an audible difference, I would jump on this wagon right away.

Right now I have 4 sets of RCA's running to the rear of my car. Front, Rear, and Subs... then one going back to the deck for my future mp3 computer... now if I switch the rca's around (Go from the thicker, dual twist oxygen free stuff, to the standard everyday RCA from radio shack... there is zero difference...

maybe if you have a bad problem with interference then you'd be better off with the thicker stuff... but if you have bad interference like that, I'd think that your rcas are the least of your worries.

 

yea... well im not gunna spend 300 on wiring alone... but if its not much more and itll make me happy ill jump on it.

 

You can buy Sound King 12AWG wire from Parts Express very cheaply. 16AWG is sufficient unless you're running retardedly high power levels, or you have some kind of fettish that requires you to wrap the wire around the car 6 times between the amp and speakers. But... 12AWG is cheap enough, and in my opinion improves the appearance enough to justify it. Just don't expect to hear a difference.

 

parts express have a url?

 

Yes.

 

waht is the url

 

www.google.com

 

lol ok

 

well jesus dude. You expect to be spoon fed every last bit of information. You know the name of the company, it shouldn't take a genius to find their damned url. Especially considering the first thing any normal person would try would be www.partsexpress.com or www.parts-express.com. Had you taken the 4 seconds necessary to try the most obvious url that comes to mind, you would have found your website already. Instead, you wait a half day for me to give it to you.

 

actulally i get on the computer randomly during classes at school so it looks like a long time of waiting....but i got it....:lala:

 

I find you can get equally good wire at homedepot or any home-improvement store... usually for fairly cheap... sometimes the insulation is much larger though, and can cause some problems fitting the wire in your car... but I consider that a good thing.