What is my systems total wattage? And which gauuge wire?

[jragusa 10+ year member]

I have a JBL BP1200.1 which is rated at 1200w RMS at 2 ohms.

And a 4 channel JBL Cs60.4 amp rated at 80w rms at 2 ohms.

The 1200w amp is wired to a 4 ohm 12" type r rated at 600w rms.

The 4 channel amp is hooked up to Sound Ordnance P-69 rated at 55w rms at 4 ohms.

And infinity components rated at 75w rms at 2 ohms.

How do I determine the total system watts? Is the mono amp 1200w or is it 600w because of the sub is 4 ohms?

Is the 4 channel amp 4x 80w or 2x 60 and 2x 80?

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[sexy 10+ year member]

Those numbers are ratings put out by the manufacture to give you an idea of what they claim their product can do.

The way you find out what your max needs or draw on the system would be is to do a test with a volt meter and an AC amp clamp anything else is only going to be a guess.

Volts times amps = watts

Measure the AC volts from the speaker wires

Clamp the positive speaker wire as close to the amp as possible

Multiply the two numbers and you have watts

Sounds simple but there is more to it than that you will need some test tones to get an accurate measurement and you will need to let it roll for a few seconds to get a real number and not a peak number.

Now with music the total draw is always going up and down and what you want to know is can my electrical system keep up with the audio system right?

You can measure DC volts at the amp to make sure there is enough power there under the heaviest loads you can always use larger wire than you really need just to be safe.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Keep it simple. Look at your speaker's Ohm rating. Match that up to the RMS power rating of your amplifier at that Ohm number. Do this for all amplifiers in the system. Add the total RMS watts. Completely disregard the power rating of your speakers for this situation. It has nothing to do with your power wire. Then look at this chart: "Recommended Cable Size by Power and Distance"

Recommended Power and Ground Cable Sizes & Speaker Wire Size and Length

Most people are going to be deciding between 4 gauge or 1/0 gauge as these are common sizes of cable found in amplifier installation kits. Don't be overly concerned about going with bigger wire unless you're certain you're going to be upgrading. Get copper wire instead of Copper Clad Aluminum.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

From what I can tell, if you're using all 4 channels, that's 220w. And you have the mono-amp at 4 ohms, so I'm assuming that's 600w. So that's combined at 820w. If it was a real short run you'd be fine with 8 gauge, but that's likely not the case. I'd do 4 gauge to a distribution block. And then 8 gauge from the block to the speaker amp. And 4 gauge from the block to the sub amp.

 

[Tehgregzor 10+ year member]

If you run 8 gauge wire for a nice amp like that JBL it'll cut off at full tilt. That stuff isn't overrated, you'll wanna give that amp all the room it needs for power. It's a one time investment, get quality wire. Power affects every element past both those amps.