What gauge to use for subs

[dpu2014 10+ year member]

What gauge should I use from my amp to my subs. I have a ton of 16awg but i dont think that is big enough. Its a 1000 watt amp.

Click to read more...

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

14ga.

i personally like using 8ga.

 

[jbizzle 5,000+ posts]

8-12 awg

 

[Supergumby5000 5,000+ posts]

if your running two subs with a combined 1000RMS, 16ga will be fine for 500RMS. However, if you dont mind throwing down some money for wire, i would personally go bigger, something more around a 12ga

 

[dpu2014 10+ year member]

I think Ill use 12. Also I read on bcae.com that anytime you move to a smaller wire size, a fuse must be inserted. Ok I have a fuse at 12 inches off my 4awg wire from my battery. This leads to a DB where I have two more fuses and the wire branches to 8awg. Now one of these wires goes into my 4 channel amp that has two fuses built in that combine to 50a, which is perfect. But my sub amp, kicker zx1000.1, does not have a built in fuse which means I need to add an external fuse at 50a correct? Bcae also says that 50 a can house 537 watts. So does this mean that my amp will only be able to withdraw 50a or lower. Causing it too drastically decrease in performance?

 

[brtnboarder3241 5,000+ posts]

i use 10

 

[4runnercrazy 10+ year member]

i use 12 awg and it works fine

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

The outputs to your subs have much less current than the amp sucks from ur battery, because the amp converts that current into voltage. Otherwise you'd need the same as your power wires to wire your speakers. anything 16+ will be fine in 99% of cases