speaker wire too small

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

the amt of copper is too small, how bad of a idea would it but the run 2 wires for each of the + and -

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[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

What size wire?

What amplifier?

How much power?

We're not mind readers.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

What size wire?
What amplifier?

How much power?

We're not mind readers.

From what I read it doesn't matter in this case. He was simply asking if he could do two runs of speaker wire per terminal.

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

"12 AWG" speaker

"4 AWG" power and ground

around 350 RMS

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

From what I read it doesn't matter in this case. He was simply asking if he could do two runs of speaker wire per terminal.

yea, more like would it be a good idea or not

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

Yes, you can do that. It will double the amount of copper. Just make tripple sure you don't switch the +/- on one of the lines or you could smoke one of your amps.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

"12 AWG" speaker"4 AWG" power and ground

around 350 RMS

You don't need to double it. That's plenty of copper for that. Also it's okay for speaker wire, but I would not reccommend this trick for power wire. Each power wire would have to be fused seperatly.

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

Yes, you can do that. It will double the amount of copper. Just make tripple sure you don't switch the +/- on one of the lines or you could smoke one of your amps.

okay im not that stupid //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

but it doesnt matter that the copper is split in two

 

[Blue Fury 10+ year member]

Electricity will take the least resistant path so doubling up wouldn't help. The wiring you described seems adequate but if you still want to upgrade, go with bigger wire, not a double run of the same size.

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

You don't need to double it. That's plenty of copper for that. Also it's okay for speaker wire, but I would not reccommend this trick for power wire. Each power wire would have to be fused seperatly.

but the speaker wire has very little copper in it

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

it doesn't matter. i'm running cheap *** speaker wire from radio shack. doesn't make anything sound any different.

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

the reason why im asking is that its not as lo9ud as i know it can be, its being bridged at 4 ohms for about 400 RMS on a hifonics (so more like 300-350) and it just isnt hitting

anything else i can check?

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

but the speaker wire has very little copper in it

You said it's 12 gauge speaker wire. What else is in it other than copper? If it's 12 gauge speaker wire, then it's fine. If your having problems, it's not the wire.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

the reason why im asking is that its not as lo9ud as i know it can be, its being bridged at 4 ohms for about 400 RMS on a hifonics (so more like 300-350) and it just isnt hitting
anything else i can check?

What is it? A sub, door speakers? Your giving us little bits of info like this is classified need-to-know information.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Electricity will take the least resistant path so doubling up wouldn't help. The wiring you described seems adequate but if you still want to upgrade, go with bigger wire, not a double run of the same size.

What you are missing is, the current flow through the wire causes resistance. It wont all flow through one or the other wire, it will flow through both.
You are basing your theory on the idea that one of those wires is slightly shorter than the other, thus slightly less resistance. So you think all the current will flow through this one piece of wire only. But you forget as current starts flowing through that piece, it heats up and resistance increases, making the other [slightly longer] piece of wire more desirable (less over all resistance because of less heat). The end result is the electrons will flow through both pieces of wire. Doubling up in this manner is perfectly acceptable, as ghetto as it may look.

12 gauge wire is more than enough for 350-500 watts. If you are really running 12 gauge wire, and 350-500 watts, you do not need larger speaker wire. Changing it out will make no audible difference what so ever.