200 watts with 16 gauge wire ok?

[digital mint 10+ year member]

i just installed my component speakers and ran 16 gauge wires and now just read manual for my amp and it says to use 12 gauge wire!!! . For 200 watts, should i worrie or not?

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[flakko 5,000+ posts]

no worries everything will be A-OKAY

 

[digital mint 10+ year member]

thanks! didn't want to re-run wires again.

 

[flakko 5,000+ posts]

i feel ya pain in the butt.

 

[digital mint 10+ year member]

i feel ya pain in the butt.

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[RandyJ 10+ year member]

For power or speaker wire?????

 

[RandyJ 10+ year member]

Just re-read. To inform you for future refrence, 16awg wire is usually sufficient for the sub-stage in most all dd systems. So for your high/mid-stage it is plenty.

 

[TeenWolf 10+ year member]

16 guage is fine for speaker wire. The key is to get high quality speaker wire with heavy duty insulation b/c the will take a beaten with weather and temp changes. I realize the importance of speaker wire guage, but I believe some people go over board. You really only need super thick wire for long lengths, which is not an issue in a car. Your 16 guage wire will be fine.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

16 guage is fine for speaker wire. The key is to get high quality speaker wire with heavy duty insulation b/c the will take a beaten with weather and temp changes. I realize the importance of speaker wire guage, but I believe some people go over board. You really only need super thick wire for long lengths, which is not an issue in a car. Your 16 guage wire will be fine.

wire is wire. no one wire is better then the other.

 

[TeenWolf 10+ year member]

That's crazy talk. Wire can be made of different materials, which all conduct electricty differently. Gold is best, but copper is the best bang for your buck! Also, how it's spooled makes a difference. All conductive material has varying levels of resistance and the guage plays an important role in this when dealing with long lengths. Shitty long wire hooked up to a 100w amp will not have 100w at the speaker end. Simple laws of AC/DC.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

^ I was lookin at some wire i had yesterday, one was Scoche and the other Stinger. world of difference. The scoche was made out of not very many thick twisted strands and was very hard to the touch. the stinger, however was made out of hundreds of tiny wire strands. it was very soft to the touch and just looked much better quality.

I don't think it would make a huge difference when theyre hooked up though...

 

[digital mint 10+ year member]

^ I was lookin at some wire i had yesterday, one was Scoche and the other Stinger. world of difference. The scoche was made out of not very many thick twisted strands and was very hard to the touch. the stinger, however was made out of hundreds of tiny wire strands. it was very soft to the touch and just looked much better quality.
I don't think it would make a huge difference when theyre hooked up though...

I think the main diff. between the two is the one tiny wire strands is more flexible than the other one. You notice more as you get into bigger wire. Easier to instal too.

 

[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

wire is wire. no one wire is better then the other.

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[digital mint 10+ year member]

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[RandyJ 10+ year member]

OK peanut gallery, which of yall could notice the difference in any daily or real world app between a sbs comparison of a 10ft run of some 16awg wire that is $29.99/ft and some that is $2.99/ft.

Im not disputing the obvious differences and small minute differences, but some people act like a certain wire will make all the difference in the world. In all reality, you will only see those differences on paper with your pen and calc handy.