Cables

[Rony_ph 10+ year member]

Hello,

I need to buy speaker, rca and power/ground cables.

Now i was checking some cables on the net and i don't understand the measure unit they use (Gauge). Hope someone can help me in that.

What's better a 16 gauge speaker cable ? 10 ? 4 ? what should i buy ?

I know only metric units.

Thanks.

Click to read more...

 

[Corsica 5,000+ posts]

Okay for the power wire and the ground u should use at least 8 guage. I am going to be using 4 guage....................For speaker wire us at least 16 guage. The smaller the number the thicker the wire, and higher the wire strand count.

J

 

[fantomas 10+ year member]

Originally posted by Rony_ph Hello,

 

I need to buy speaker, rca and power/ground cables.

 

Now i was checking some cables on the net and i don't understand the measure unit they use (Gauge). Hope someone can help me in that.

 

What's better a 16 gauge speaker cable ? 10 ? 4 ? what should i buy ?

 

I know only metric units.

 

Thanks.

speaker...use 16-12 gauge

rca...i guess stranded...might want to read up on it

power/ground...use the same size. probably 8 gauge.

 

[Savant 10+ year member]

You have NO idea what size power/ground wire to tell him to use unless you have SOME clue as to what he is powering.. if you told me to use 8 AWG I'd melt down wire and blow fuses left and right..

The real answer is, it depends on how many watts/amps you will be pulling on the system.. For lower total watt systems, you can use smaller size power/ground wires.. that is, 8 AWG will work for (guessing) 500 Watt systems.. you will probably want 4 AWG wire (smaller numbers are bigger wire) for upto ~1000 watts... etc etc..

The speaker wire depends on the current going to the subs/speakers.. if you are running 1500 watts RMS to a sub, you will need a LOT bigger than 16 gague.. the same principle applies to speakers as the amps (but amps normally drive more than one speaker)..

here is a site that you can use to figure out the power wire size.. if you want a better idea of what to use for your speakers, you can change the 'efficiency' to near 100 % and set the main length of wire to ~4 ft.. (or what ever).. that should tell you wire size (to amps, but we are replacing amps with speakers in the second instance)..

hope that helps..

(link)

http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/systemdesignassistant.swf

 

[Rony_ph 10+ year member]

I have a JBL GTQ400 that will be powering the speakers it's 4 x 75 watts rms on 4 ohm.

the speakers are a pair of components in the front and a pair of multielement in the back.

I have Magnat Xtrema 216 in the front (150/200watts) and Xtrema 1620 in the back (120/180watts) (http://www.magnat.de/english)

and i will be also using a 2 x 110 watts clarion 2 chanel amp 2 ohm to power 2 x 8 inch (Dual Voice coil) clarion subs

 

[terifi 10+ year member]

I just got a rockford 500x, and am running 250x1 + 90x2

the place where i bought it from said to get 8 gauge, and the 8 gauge kit is more than the four gauge, how is this, if 4 gauge is bigger,

and also the sales guy was saying that for amps over 500watts, to usually use 8 gauge, whats the deal, im kinda confused, but you guys are probably right so just explain, im tryin now to find my amps gauge req. with no avail

 

[fantomas 10+ year member]

Originally posted by terifi I just got a rockford 500x, and am running 250x1 + 90x2

the place where i bought it from said to get 8 gauge, and the 8 gauge kit is more than the four gauge, how is this, if 4 gauge is bigger,

id say with 430 watts it would be safer to use 4 gauge. but what you need to consider is how many amps the amplifier pulls, as well as how long the power cable is going to be. 6 ga would be good....except there arent many kits with 6 gauge wire.

and also the sales guy was saying that for amps over 500watts, to usually use 8 gauge, whats the deal, im kinda confused, but you guys are probably right so just explain, im tryin now to find my amps gauge req. with no avail

he might have meant UP TO 500 watts, use 8 gauge

 

[terifi 10+ year member]

aahhhhh, ok, well how do i check how many amps, my amp pulls, would 4 gauge just be a safe way to go? my amp came with a sheet that said, actual ttl power at 2 ohms is 642watts, what should i do

 

[fantomas 10+ year member]

Originally posted by terifi aahhhhh, ok, well how do i check how many amps, my amp pulls, would 4 gauge just be a safe way to go? my amp came with a sheet that said, actual ttl power at 2 ohms is 642watts, what should i do

it probably has fuses built into it. add up all the fuse ratings and thats the max amperage that it would draw. the amp should have come with directions that say what size wire to use. it wont hurt to go up a size, but sometimes there might not be room for it or it might be too costly. where are you mounting it, the trunk?

 

[terifi 10+ year member]

yes its most likely going in the trunk, and the fuse is 50amp... but ive looked for that recommended gauge in the manual and it doesnt say

 

[terifi 10+ year member]

The problem exists here, they give me a manual for 3 diff amps, so i dont know which this applies to, one or all but it says:

"Power Terminals -the power and ground connectors on the amplifier are gold-plated and will accommodate up to 8 AWG wire maximizing the input current capability of the amplifier."

so can i not use six or four gauge

 

[fantomas 10+ year member]

Originally posted by terifi The problem exists here, they give me a manual for 3 diff amps, so i dont know which this applies to, one or all but it says:

 

"Power Terminals -the power and ground connectors on the amplifier are gold-plated and will accommodate up to 8 AWG wire maximizing the input current capability of the amplifier."

 

so can i not use six or four gauge

that settles that...

if you really wanted to, use a distro block from four gauge to 8 gauge...that is if you plan on expanding to more amps or whatever.