Wire gauges... small to big...vice versa

[hawk45 10+ year member]

Questions:

1.)

What is the benefit of running larger gauge wire off of my HU when the standard HU wire is so small...

2.)

What gauge do you recommend to run 6x9's to back of truck from HU

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[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

Use the stock wiring if your running it off the HU... it will work fine. Head units rarely give off more than 20 watts per channel

 

[jsloan10 10+ year member]

You definatly should use 12 gauge Monster Cable for all your speaker connections regardless of power because Monster Cable is the best.

That was a joke.. actually for anything under 100 watts rms 16 to 18 gauge is fine as the current demands of a full range speaker are pretty small.

 

[ChiefontheDitty 10+ year member]

Is monster cable anygood? Chief

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

its good. just not for the price

 

[ChiefontheDitty 10+ year member]

Is stinger better for the price? Chief

 

[jsloan10 10+ year member]

^^ That about sums up Monster cable.

 

[ChiefontheDitty 10+ year member]

So what about Stinger Cable's? Chief

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

So what about Stinger Cable's? Chief

Wire is wire. Of course, youll get people who debate it from both sides, but in the end, wire is wire.

 

[jsloan10 10+ year member]

Some cheap alternatives for wires-

RCA's- the cheap kind with the thin black cords works fine, I have never heard an audible difference between them and the 69$ name brands.

Speaker Cable- Lamp cord is a decent 16 gage equivilent, although speaker wire is generally not that pricey so you don't really need to skimp.

Power Cable- Jumper/welder cables will work just as well at a fraction of the cost of the name brand stuff, and you can find some really nice flexible welding cable if you look around.

The concerns about corrosion are a little exaggerated, a cars factory wiring is made up of regular wire and you see alot of 20+ year old cars driving around with the original battery cables under the hood, you just need to do a little maintenance by cleaning the battery terminals every few months with baking soda and water. I would not reccomend using crappy speaker cables in your doors though, because you don't want to have to take apart the door and replace those in a few years, but cheap RCA's and power cable will work like a charm.