Heres the deal, I am soon to be buying a 92 corsica from my friend. Hes already got it all wired up, I helped him do it. Its gunna have a 200 watt pioneer amp pushing one 15 mtx thunder 3000. Its already in there, and it pounds nice. Well heres the thing, hes got like 10 guage power and ground wire, I was wondering if going out and spending the money on say...some 4 ga. street wires, would it really be worth it or should I just leave it how it is? thanks for any help.

 

Usually the minimum power wire guage that people run from the battery is 8awg.

However, if you're content with the sound the way it is, then you're probably okay. You may not be drawing as much power as you could be, but 4awg would be huge overkill for your current setup, and upgrading to 8awg only makes sense if you're not planning on boosting your system (incorporating a second amp or upgrading to a high current amp).

If you're keeping it as is and want to squeeze out every drop of power that you can, then 8awg will be more than enough. But honestly, the current draw on a 200W Pioneer amp will probably not be too constricted by your 10awg.

 

You are fine the way you are. That amp will not pull any more power than can be supplied by your run of 10awg...

Now, if you ever decide to install a new amp then you want to either look at upgrading that wire run or run a second primary from the battery since 10awg is generally going to be too small for a multi-amp setup.

Go to my site and click on Tech Articles...About half way down on the left you will see a "Wire gauge vs. Length" link that will display a table showing you your minimum recomended wire for how many amps you are drawing over the length of your run while maintaining less than .5v loss

 

i would use 8 awg OFC wire for no more power than you have,,,
I use 00 awg OFC,,,but i have 2600 watts,,,but the 10 awg should be fine,,,like the others said,unless you plan on adding another amp,,they say 8 awg is good for systems with up to 400 watts,,hope i helped some

 

Something to keep in mind... will you ever add more amps? Or larger amps? If you're going to go thru the trouble of running an 8 gauge wire to the back, maybe you want to run a big 4 gauge line instead. You'll need to get a "distribution block" to knock the 4 gauge wire into 2 (or 3 or 4) 8 gauge wires. Yeah the 4ga will be extreme overkill for now- but it'd save you from re-doing the wiring later.

The main thing you don't want to cheap out on is the preamp cords. Spend $30-40 and you'll get a nice set. Avoid the $15 ones! By spending the cash now you won't need to spend more later. Back in high school, I heard so many high $$ systems that sounded like crap because the people used $6 preamp cords.

 

if I was running two amps, wouldnt i just buy a distribution block? Also the pioneer amp is for the sub, but I may buy a bigger amp and use it for the sub, then use the smaller pioneer for the 6X9's, because the head unit doesnt give them nearly as much power as they need. The way he had it hooked up was he had a 4 channel 800 watt amp, and he had 2 channels bridged to the sub, and the other two running to each 6X9, would this require better wire? I may be getting a 4 channel 1200 watt amp, but its a hardrock, which isnt the best brand. with this I would run 300 to each 6X9, then 600 to the sub, would this require better power wire? I know that some amps you can only fit such big wire in it. My brother had a rockford 360a2 and he had 4 ga power wire, but it wouldnt fit into the amp so he bought a dist. block and split it into 8 ga. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

 

Yeah, you'd need a distribution block if you used 2 amps, but you wouldn't be using it on the 10awg, that's for sure. Anyway, here's a rundown of what I think people are saying:

1) Keeping your system as is = you'll be fine with your 10awg

2) Trading your amp for an upgrade but sticking with the 1 amp system (regardless as to whether it's a four channel or not, unless it's drawing a lot of current) = 8awg

3) Using two amps = 4awg (split at a distribution block into 2 8awg wires)

However, I've never even heard of this "hardrock" brand. I'm willing to bet that despite it's "1200 watt" description, it's only about as powerful as your Pioneer. Maybe less at that. Generally when you're dealing with bargain basement, flea market brands, you'd be LUCKY to get a fifth of the advertised wattage. You could still probably get away with your 10awg. But remember....


Choose your amps wisely!

 

I had Rockwood 6x9's once... they beat out anything I'd ever heard before!

'Course, they lasted for a little under a week before my Pyramid Pro 350 watt amp blew them out....