Speaker wire?

[jgonino 10+ year member]

I need some speaker wire for my setup.

I have an alpine pdx4.150 powering my front components, and tweeters on seperate channels. I also have a fusion 2500d powering my single FI Q sub.

I have about 40 ft of 12guage KNU wire, but I dont think It can handle the power?

What should I get? I would refer twisted pair.

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[blazeplacid 10+ year member]

12 ga can handle way more than 150 watts

you can use 18 ga with 150 watts and be fine

 

[jgonino 10+ year member]

what about for the sub? I need it to handle about 1300 watts

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

12 g for sub, 16+ for components.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

how much power to the sub? Might not hurt to double up the 12 ga if the sub's at 1 ohm and getting 1000w or more.

 

[blazeplacid 10+ year member]

I have about 120 rms running 18ga on the highs and 16 ga on the subs

I switched to 12ga noticed no differance

 

[blazeplacid 10+ year member]

oh about 1400rms on the subs with 16 ga

 

[PaulD 10+ year member]

I always run thicker wires than needed, but have you ever really looked at the little tinsel wires you are running it in to ?

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

I always run thicker wires than needed, but have you ever really looked at the little tinsel wires you are running it in to ?

The tinsel wires are small but they are only a couple inches long. You could probably run a 4kw amp off 8 gauge if it's only an inch long. Same thing with fuses.

 

[jgonino 10+ year member]

I ordered some twisted pair 8 gauge to use for the subs, and I will just use the 12 gauge for the comps/tweets.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

I ordered some twisted pair 8 gauge to use for the subs, and I will just use the 12 gauge for the comps/tweets.

overkill on both, imo.

I use 8 gauge for my subs, and they're wired to 0.5 ohm receiving 2kw.

16 gauge for my comps, 150w @ 4ohms.

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

cheap radio shack 16 and 18 gauge wire FTW!!

i have 16 gauge on my mids (on 200 watts rms each) and sub (620 watts rms). and i have 18 gauge going to my tweeters (100 watts rms each).

 

[PaulD 10+ year member]

I think wiring size is mostly a personal choice above a certain point. I use whatever I can find, I am one of the "wire is wire" types. Sometimes the higher priced stuff is more flexible though.

Curious question though, why would you use twisted pair for speaker wires ?

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

I think wiring size is mostly a personal choice above a certain point. I use whatever I can find, I am one of the "wire is wire" types. Sometimes the higher priced stuff is more flexible though.
Curious question though, why would you use twisted pair for speaker wires ?

Choosing wiring size should be very to-the-point. Use what will handle the power, or larger. Simple as that.

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

i use metal clothes hangers. i disassemble them and straighten them out. then i tape them together to form a long line. then i bend them into shape to run from my trunk to my doors. they work great and never have to worry about broken wires.