Gauge wire for amp to sub @ 900rms

[Alex JB 10+ year member]

I searched speaker wire and surprisingly didn't find any threads.

I can't imagine sh1tty bell wire will work well, but when is speaker wire enough?

I have some 16-20ga at the moment, but as I move form 4ohm 500rms to 1ohm >900rms I would think I need heavier wire?

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

usually 12 to 10 gauge is a safe bet.

16 would be doable for now but anything less would be limiting it.

 

[JohnKuthe]

I searched speaker wire and surprisingly didn't find any threads.I can't imagine sh1tty bell wire will work well, but when is speaker wire enough?

I have some 16-20ga at the moment, but as I move form 4ohm 500rms to 1ohm >900rms I would think I need heavier wire?

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I have 500W going to my sub and use 8AWG wire from amp to sub. Alpine specs.

John Kuthe...

 

[The_Quiet_One 10+ year member]

Bigger is better, but you can use what you have. Use two runs of 16 awg until you can get some 12 awg.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Id use a min of 12 ga.

 

[Alex JB 10+ year member]

Gone for some 12ga

I plan on running 2 lots to a 4 post terminal on the box, (parallel) as currently the single wire is series and loading the amp to 4ohm

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[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Bcae1.com has a great speaker wire caluclator on the wire page.

900w at 1 ohm is actually 30A, which would tell you 10 awg.

But realistically, the time it will spend at that level of current is a lot closer to never than all the time. At HIGH volume I doubt you'd see 20's very often -- depending a lot on the type of music of course.

I'd run 12.

That's what I have on mine at 1000-1100w.

 

[dudeogo]

8 gauge is always great. But you could probably do fine with 12 at the smallest.

 

[JohnKuthe]

8 gauge is always great. But you could probably do fine with 12 at the smallest.

Or you can run two 12AWGs and smoke one 8AWG!

John Kuthe...

 

[fixinit]

Or you can run two 12AWGs and smoke one 8AWG!
John Kuthe...

Haha. I know what I'm doing tomorrow with my extra 12awgs!

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

12 is fine. I've been using 12 gauge for years w/o any issues.

8 gauge is for those that are running 1000's of watts.

 

[JohnKuthe]

12 is fine. I've been using 12 gauge for years w/o any issues.
8 gauge is for those that are running 1000's of watts.

8AWG is what Alpine recommends for even it's PDR-V75 subwoofer output of only 150W RMS. Also the Alpine PDX-V9 which puts out 500W RMS which I am using.

John Kuthe...

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

8AWG is what Alpine recommends for even it's PDR-V75 subwoofer output of only 150W RMS. Also the Alpine PDX-V9 which puts out 500W RMS which I am using.
John Kuthe...

I think you're getting confused about power wire and speaker wire. They are made of the same thing but it serves a different purpose. It would make sense that Alpine recommends atleast 8 awg for their amps but not from amp to sub. It would be ridiculous to recommend 8 awg speaker wire for 150w but of course there's nothing wrong with overkill. In fact, it's encouraged.

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[JohnKuthe]

I think you're getting confused about power wire and speaker wire. They are made of the same thing but it serves a different purpose. It would make sense that Alpine recommends atleast 8 awg for their amps but not from amp to sub. It would be ridiculous to recommend 8 awg speaker wire for 150w but of course there's nothing wrong with overkill. In fact, it's encouraged.

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Yep, ands I bought into it because...well, I like the excess! Can't hurt! Got 0AWG power/gnd from battery to dist block, 4AWG power/gnd to both amps,and 8AWG from amp to subwoofer! Oh and 12AWG speaker wire to every speaker!

John Kuthe...

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

I think you're getting confused about power wire and speaker wire. They are made of the same thing but it serves a different purpose. It would make sense that Alpine recommends atleast 8 awg for their amps but not from amp to sub. It would be ridiculous to recommend 8 awg speaker wire for 150w but of course there's nothing wrong with overkill. In fact, it's encouraged.

It's not safe to assume JK knows what he's talking about, or that what he's stating as a fact is actually a fact.

It's 350. 12 awg is still fine.

I think they recommend it because many mid-range consumers are happy to see big wire recommendations regardless of whether it is actually needed.

You know -- "I bought this $300 400w amp and it needs 4 awg. It must be awesome!"