Question: Does wire gauge matter for subs to amp?

[TheCandyMan 10+ year member]

I got a 12inch mtx 9500 yesterday and am powering it with a 1600w brutus hifoncs amp this years model. My question is... i have a 14g wire(average size speaker wire) comming from my sub to my amp. If i put 8-6g speaker wire there instead would it make my sub louder or deeper or does it not matter?

I've had people tell me it does and installers tell me it doesn't. Whos right ?

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[93dakota 10+ year member]

A bigger gage wire is always better. it will have less resistance on the wire there for getting a higher % of the power from the amp to the subs. I have seen people use 14 gage going to an 18" sub from a 5000W amp. It is all up to you. you will gain but the question is will the difference be noticeable by you. unlike power wire you wont fry speaker wire because it is high voltage and low amperage. so it is really up to you

 

[soundstreamer 10+ year member]

You're fine with 14 guage. I generally use 12 gauge rockford speaker wire for everything. I've never run over 1200 watts though...

 

[2006gmcman 10+ year member]

i have a big ass amp and i use 12 gauge kicker wire the bigger wire the better

 

[DonH 5,000+ posts]

i use 8g just to use it! haha it looks cool! when ppl c that i have *g wire going to the subs they wonder why they have the same exact wire powering their amp haha! but you should be fine man!

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

Just use the calculator below to see if you are safe or not. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

 

[BallinByNature 10+ year member]

im usin 10ga stinger wire

 

[Alex JB 10+ year member]

I tried the calculator...

I'm using 14ga (just what I had a spool of for door speakers) and with a 2 ohm load at 500rms with a 6 ft long run it says the dB loss is 0.13dB. At the top it says less than 1dB loss is inauduble, however it says in the box below the dB value...

There's too much loss, too few cm/A and/or an error due to the values entered. Use a larger wire or a shorter length of wire.

I'm going to get 6 feet of 10 or 12 anyway, but just wondering what was wrong with 12ga in this instance?

 

[thorshammer1 10+ year member]

x2 on 8 guage! Thats what i use. you should be fine with 12g.

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

i use 8ga for my remote wire on my amps and 1/0ga to my speakers. makes a total difference..

 

[myhcca15 10+ year member]

i use stinger pro 8ga. to sub and stinger pro 1/0ga. to amp..soon to be 3/0 stinger expert flatwire