Speaker wire size

[Emanuel Rodriguez]

Hello guys, I have a sundown sml-12 d4 running 500 watts to it. I recently was on YouTube watching videos of other builds and saw that they were using 12 gauge wire for their sub. On my sub I am only using a 16 gauge wire but the distance is really small. Is the 16 gauge wire restricting the amount of power my sub is getting or am I good?

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[Deiimos]

16 gauge will be fine, especially a short length on 500 watts music. If you plan to go bigger in the future with amp / sub, 12 gauge would be okay to upgrade to now if you want, but you would not notice a difference switching to it now. I personally wouldn't bother until I upgraded and went with more power down the road.

 

[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

Agreed 16 gauge is plenty for a 500wrms sub.

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

In for the hat trick. A.C. is a different beast, and I chuckle seeing guys running garden hose speaker cable to their speakers.

 

[some dude]

How much current flows through the wire?

Voltage is (general average) what, 30-100 volts?

I've always been fuzzy on the math for the electricity flowing through speaker wire.


Is it volts x amps = watts?

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Agreed 16 gauge is plenty for a 500wrms sub.

Given the peak to average ratio of music, I will agree. However, in wiring rules-of-thumb 16 gauge is ok up to 10 amps. That would be 200 watts for a 2 ohm sub. I think I'd use 14 gauge for 500.