Running Fresh Wire?

[Trender372 10+ year member]

Here is (more than likely) a rather n00bish question so please forgive me. My vehicle came with wire already ran for the mids and highs from a previous install. New wire was ran because it had the mach 460 sound system.

As I have taken the door's apart, etc, I have noticed that whomever ran the wire must have been short on the amount of wire. All wire ran is the same brand and size, but every 5-6feet there is a solder connection. The connections themselves look good and they were taped up thoroughly.

Now to my question/s. What type of difference (if any) will I notice running fresh wire without the solder connections and what are the benefits? Also, this is the wiring he used..

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Monster-XP-Compact-Speaker-Cable-100-XP-CI-BIG-100/sem/rpsm/oid/130460/catOid/-12927/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

He was the one that actually sent me that link, and said that he had a lot of 5 foot strips laying around from his home theatre. As you can see, its normally house wiring from monster cable. I'm not sure how much performance (if any) that would make switching to something normally made for the car environment.

Thanks for any help, as I gotta learn somewhere //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

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[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

NO difference between "house" wire and "car" wire. Nothing special about Monster Cable that makes it worth 3x what basic speaker wire costs either.

As long as his butt splices are good there is no reason to change out the wiring, however if he used tape instead of haetshrink to insulate them, I don't consider those good splices. Get some inexpensive 16ga wire (you should be able to get enough wire to do the whole thing for about $30 max) and make each run one solid piece.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

the CC link doesn't list awg, or at least I can't find it, but at $80 for 100' it ought to be plenty thick. The other concern would be the extra material shown in the pic -- my guess is it's not anything that will interfere with the basic function of the wire.

So -- if the solders ARE as good as they look I seriously doubt you would have anything to gain by replacing the wire.

 

[Trender372 10+ year member]

the CC link doesn't list awg, or at least I can't find it, but at $80 for 100' it ought to be plenty thick. The other concern would be the extra material shown in the pic -- my guess is it's not anything that will interfere with the basic function of the wire.
So -- if the solders ARE as good as they look I seriously doubt you would have anything to gain by replacing the wire.

I have noticed sometimes that on Monster Cable when you strip it, there is.. almost like another layer of material surrounding the wire and you have to re-strip it again in hopes to get it off. It's a pain in the butt. I'm assuming that was what you were referring to (the clear material on the right side of the pic).

Thanks for the replies. I was going to go to cc to get some wire, simply because I have a rather large gift card there otherwise I would go where it's cheaper. The longest spools they have it seems are all in their home audio section (which the above post let me know it doesn't matter) but it's all Monster Cable so its expensive as hell. The other brands listed on the website aren't available in stores or there are around 18 gauge.

 

[soydeedo 10+ year member]

you can get 16ga kicker wire for .29/ft with free shipping at sonic electronix if you need it. great deal imho.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

knukonceptz is $.25 a foot for 16ga or $53 for 250 ft. Save your gift card at CC for something that isn't overpriced (and hugely so) and just order some good wire for much less.

That Monster wire you linked I'm pretty sure is only 16ga. You can get more 12ga from Knu for less money. 100' of twisted 16 ga is only $35 from them.

 

[b0und]

I have worked with that same wire before, it has plastic bits running throughout the conductor. It's a little messy to solder.

Wire is cheap, just think of the wire thats in there as a free stringer and pull it out with the new stuff attached.