does speaker wire size matter

[Based]

Right now I have my OA 15s wired together with I think 8 gauge or maybe even smaller wire. it's probably CCA too. Would going up to 4 gauge OFC make a difference on anything?

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[CSCStang]

Right now I have my OA 15s wired together with I think 8 gauge or maybe even smaller wire. it's probably CCA too. Would going up to 4 gauge OFC make a difference on anything?

8 GA speaker wire? Man 12 GA is plenty, given it's actually 12......

 

[Based]

Idk exactly what it is but I know it's not more than 8. The OA subs can take up to 4 gauge and I'm just wondering if I'm getting a little more resistance than I could be.

 

[CSCStang]

I recently picked up some 12 ofc at Radio Shack and had to trim it a little to fit in my terminals. Hella thick.

 

[slim2fattycake 10+ year member]

16 gauge will be fine too. What is the deal of people thinking they need big *** speaker wires. lol.

 

[ylpkm]

WIRE

Yes wire size for speakers has some effect based on what bcae says. Use the link above. At about 2000 watts you start to lose a very small amount of power on 14 gauge wire.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Go as big on wire as you can possibly make fit....and make sure all your connections are clean

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

WIRE
Yes wire size for speakers has some effect based on what bcae says. Use the link above. At about 2000 watts you start to lose a very small amount of power on 14 gauge wire.

That's for current. Output is more voltage than current. Look at the wiring in your home.

 

[ylpkm]

That's for current. Output is more voltage than current. Look at the wiring in your home.

Are you saying you never drop in voltage in a home voltage of 120 vac? Idk, but turn on a 1200 watt (in home) device and monitor the drop in the 110-120 volt range, i bet it goes down just a bit...

True the OP might not be running 4000 watts on .5 ohms on 14 gauge wire, which the calculator says there may be audible loss, but others might be.

Just turned on my 1100 watt microwave and monitored drop, dropped 2 volts (122 volts to 120). whereas amp voltage can be 1.5-3 times lower, the drop would be even more. Apparently home wire gauge is 12-14. None the less, there is power loss. just like power in a home comes from a power source juxtapose it to a car audio situation. Amp is the source, and the speaker is like the microwave. but the microwave only uses a max amount of power, whereas the speaker "takes" what it is given.

A person with a multi sub build wired to

Maybe I am wrong, but in a multi thousand dollar build, I would rather get thicker wire and save some watts, rather than cheap out and lose watts to resistance because people say hundreds of watts are not enough to matter.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Are you saying you never drop in voltage in a home voltage of 120 vac? Idk, but turn on a 1200 watt (in home) device and monitor the drop in the 110-120 volt range, i bet it goes down just a bit... True the OP might not be running 4000 watts on .5 ohms on 14 gauge wire, which the calculator says there may be audible loss, but others might be.

Just turned on my 1100 watt microwave and monitored drop, dropped 2 volts (122 volts to 120). whereas amp voltage can be 1.5-3 times lower, the drop would be even more. Apparently home wire gauge is 12-14. None the less, there is power loss. just like power in a home comes from a power source juxtapose it to a car audio situation. Amp is the source, and the speaker is like the microwave. but the microwave only uses a max amount of power, whereas the speaker "takes" what it is given.

A person with a multi sub build wired to

Maybe I am wrong, but in a multi thousand dollar build, I would rather get thicker wire and save some watts, rather than cheap out and lose watts to resistance because people say hundreds of watts are not enough to matter.

I don't think you understood what I was saying. The output side of the amp puts out higher voltage and lower current. That higher voltage allows the small amount of current to pass very easily.

 

[ylpkm]

But for US amps, we use V^2, cause of its design, right? whereas some imports use a different design and gains cannot be set by the same voltmeter method right? (again just going from memory here). Sorry for going off track a little, and I dont exactly know how voltage and amperage from the speaker output on an amp correlate. But based on the calculator on bcae, it looks like the amperage is the voltage that is given divided by the impedance of the speaker .

example: 8000 watts into 4 ohms=

44.72 amp (current)

178.89 volts

and 178/44=~4

decrease impedance and current goes up, voltage drops.

Again, maybe thats not how the volt to amp relationship works, just what i noticed using that calculator. If it does, voltage can be very high or rather low depending on impedance of the sub.

and 2nd edit: now im confused, this makes no sense.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

I don't think you understood what I was saying. The output side of the amp puts out higher voltage and lower current. That higher voltage allows the small amount of current to pass very easily.

Not true. Especially with car audio and most especially with subs. Home audio at 8 ohms has higher voltages and low currents, but the sub amps we're using nowadays in car audio are low impedance and high current. The lower the load impedance, the higher the current and the more it matters what size wire we use.

The OP asks about "speaker" wire. If he means main speakers, then 16 gauge is fine unless you're going long distance with a lot of power. But a 2 ohm sub at 1000 watts will draw 22 amps and that should be 12 gauge wire by electrical codes. Will you notice a difference between 14 and 12 gauge for 3 feet of sub wiring? Nope. But the 14 gauge will get warm.

 

[LongThrow]

I'm not an expert by any means but if you can afford a high end system I think getting the biggest gauge of wire (for any of your equipment) is minimal. Its not like its hurting the equipment.