Running speaker wire with power wire

[BassHead50008]

Is there anything wrong with running speaker wire down the same side as your power wire? The guy at a local audio shop ran the rca, amp wire and power wire down the side of the car. I was told a long time ago that the power wires are suppose to be on one side and every other wire ran on the other side or it will create a bussing noise in your system speakers. Fact or myth? Tips anyone?

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[huberoy123 10+ year member]

I ran mines on opposite sides. Why take a chance that there may be interference. When I installed mines, the general consensus was to run them on opposite sides. Maybe your installer has had a good experiences with the wire that he uses. Personally, I would avoid any future problems by running the wires opposite each other.

 

[Clifff150 10+ year member]

I run RCA’s and remote wire on one side and power wire on the other. I do try to run my speaker wire with the RCA’s though. If there’s no interference then I guess no worries?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

It may or may not cause issues. It is common practice to keep RCA away from power wires or cross them at 90 degree angle if they have to cross each other to avoid potential induced noise.

 

[Lasherž]

Is there anything wrong with running speaker wire down the same side as your power wire? The guy at a local audio shop ran the rca, amp wire and power wire down the side of the car. I was told a long time ago that the power wires are suppose to be on one side and every other wire ran on the other side or it will create a bussing noise in your system speakers. Fact or myth? Tips anyone?

That really depends on your pre-out voltage for the head unit. Above 4V and it doesn't matter too much until you get into big big power. 5V you'd be good almost no matter what.

That all being said it's true that it's good practice to separate them and not doing so could mean a lot of headache later. RCAs should usually go down the same side of the car as your antenna signal and then the power cables should go in the opposite side. RCAs may not mind too much (with a quality source signal) but your radio does.