8 or 4 Gauge kit?

[KnightHawk63 10+ year member]

Hey all, new to the forums here. I searched around to find an answer but none are really definitive, I always saw a link on here that shows a chart of watt's RMS to power cable gauge ratio but that still didn't help much. I just got my 8 gauge amp kit today and really want to get installing that to get ready for my subwoofer and amp (when I buy one). Tomorrow my sub and enclosure are coming in, it's the Kenwood KFC-W2513PS 10"er with a ported box. At the moment I only plan on having one, but in the future I may want another. Now the amp's I was looking at are the Alpine MRP-M500, Kenwood KAC-8105D, Rockford Fosgate Prime R500-1, and MB Quart FX1.600. Almost all of these say that they require a 4 gauge ground and hot wire. Do I really need this? Or will I be able to skimp by with the 8 gauge? I can always order the 4 gauge kit and send the 8 gauge back for a refund, but I really wanted to get the wiring done today. I'm going to be getting the amp the friday after this when I get paid.

What do yall think? Also what amp do you guy recommend?

Thanks!

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[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Don't bother with the kenwood, I had good luck with my rockford. Ideally anything over 800w you should use 4g for, if you're running anything under that you'll be fine with 8g.

 

[Crapalier 10+ year member]

4 Gauge is nice because you'll be all set if you ever upgrade or add another small amp, But 8 is enough if you run 600 or so watts

 

[KnightHawk63 10+ year member]

4 Gauge is nice because you'll be all set if you ever upgrade or add another small amp

This ^

Thanks for the reassurance that the 8 gauge would work, I may keep it as a spare for another project. I just ordered my 4 gauge kit which I should get by friday, means I have all saturday to work on it. I think I would feel better just getting it all out of the way with the 4 gauge then having to go back and run new wire through!

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

Always better to go bigger than you think you need.

As for the amp, buy what you want/like. I personally have had good luck and am pleased with my Kenwood speakers, never had one of their amps though.

 

[KnightHawk63 10+ year member]

I've only used Kenwood as my head units, very very pleased with them, never had a problem. I would assume the amp would be fine but I think I'm going to go with the rockford fosgate.

 

[kramer_212 10+ year member]

if you do get the 4 gauge kit go with monster, rockford, kicker, tsunami, streetwires, etc...

make sure its ofc wire not cca.

and make sure its full 1862 strand.