I'm putting inia 12" L7 soilobaric and a 1000BD RF amp, and need speaker wire for it. I was curious as to which brand to buy??? I found silver (color i wanted) deoxygenated for 1.00 / foot, but its from Kolossus Kable, was wondering if it was worth getting something like stinger or RF or is wire wire? I'm getting 4 gauge too.
THanks, Justin

 

Brand matters not, young jedi. All which matters is Gauge. :crazy:

 

so if i were to tell you that i could get 100 ft from someone on a roll for 15 bucks you would do it? 4 gauge red?

 

Copper wire is copper wire.
If you're worried about picking up "noise" then get an insulated wire.

I used some 12-14 gauge for my sub and between the amp and crossovers from Circuit City from the Home Audio section.... It picks up no noise whatsoever.

 

Hell yeah, as long as it was more than 100 strand, otherwise it's like fighting advances fom a fat girl, after a while you just have to give in, right M396 :D

 

So basically what your telling me is that M396 likes the fat girls?


lol Justin

 

I'll allow himself to chime in. :lol:

 

Oh by the way try using 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire to feed the 12.

 

you tryin to burn my car up with that 12 gauge?? lol

wait till you guys see the box that I'm finishing up on, the thing is fu*kin hot, all fiberglasses on the top withthe 12" L7 angled in towards the seats. I'll post pics as soon as i'm done. Actually I have a quick question about that, i was torn between (Silver car with black interrior) glossing the box black, or painting it silver like the car, what do you guys say????
Justin

 

I would do it in black :cheers: Nice choice on the Sub also :yesnod:

 

4-gauge for speaker wire? I see you subscribe to the overkill method of wire gauge choice. More power to ya (pun intended). :lol: :cheers:
Good choice of components, I am in the process of installing that very same amp (RF bd1000) to power an IDMAX in my C5. That L7 should pound for you.

I second the opinion of black for your enclosure to match the interior.

Btw, fat chicks need lovin’ too. :lol: :jester

 

12 gauge speaker wire would be fine. The things that matter are strands and distance. The current flows on the outside of each copper strand. A high strand count gives more surface area and flows better. Distance also plays a part. Wire has resistance. This is what stops the flow. The longer you go, the more resistance you have. 12 should be adequate but 10 would be fine also. 4 would definitely be overkill and there are few 4 gauge high strand wires out there. I'd wire the amp with 4 gauge power wire as it needs to go from the front of the car to the back(distance) and needs lots of power to fill its capacitors.

 

Current at audio frequencies flows equally across the cross section of each strand. Only at radio frequencies does the current concentrate on the outer surface of a wire. For the length of your car, even #30 wire has insignificant resistance and is of no concern. Zip cord (usually #16) will do perfectly. Also, there is no such thing as de-oxygenated copper wire. Copper doesn't have oxygen in it.
The equation for skin depth of current is: d = (y/pi x r x u x c)*1/2
Where d = meters, y = free space wavelength in meters, pi = 3.14159,
r = resistivity in ohm-meters, u = relative permeability (1 for copper), c = speed of light in meters per second.
Some junk science audio magazine several years ago started all this crap about speaker wire. You couldn't tell the difference if I switched between #30 and #000 wire feeding your speakers.

 

Yes and No. This is from http://www.mobileaudio.com FAQ.
2.3 What is the best power wire to use? [JSC]
There is much debate over the benefit of certain wiring schemes (oxygen-free, multistranded, braided, twisted, air core, you name it). However, most people do agree that the most important factor in selecting power wire is to use the proper size. Wire is generally rated in size by American Wire Gauge, abbreviated AWG, or commonly just gauge. To determine the correct wire size for your application, you should first determine the maximum current flow through the cable (looking at the amplifier's fuse is a relatively simple and conservative way to do this). Then determine the length of the cable that your will use, and consult the following chart, taken from the IASCA handbook See section 6.1 What is IASCA, and how do I get involved? [JSC, HK, IDB],

Length of run (in feet)
Current 0-4 4-7 7-10 10-13 13-16 16-19 19-22 22-28
0-20A 14 12 12 10 10 8 8 8
20-35A 12 10 8 8 6 6 6 4
35-50A 10 8 8 6 6 4 4 4
50-65A 8 8 6 4 4 4 4 2
65-85A 6 6 4 4 2 2 2 0
85-105A 6 6 4 2 2 2 2 0
105-125A 4 4 4 2 2 0 0 0
125-150A 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0

If aluminum wire is used instead of copper wire, the next larger size (smaller number) should be used. You should also consider the installation demands: will you need to run the wire around corners or through doors or into the engine compartment? These sorts of problems in the car audio application require some special care in cable selection. You will want to have cable that is flexible; it should have thick insulation as well, and not melt at low temperatures. You don't want to install wire that is rigid and prone to cracks and cuts, or else the results could literally be explosive.

2.4 What is the best speaker wire to use? [JSC, JW]
Again, there is much debate over the benefit of the various schemes that are being used by different manufacturers. In general, however, you will probably want to upgrade your speaker wire from the factory ~20 gauge to something bigger when you upgrade your amplifiers and speakers. In most cases, 16 or 18 gauge should be sufficient, with the possible exception of high-power subwoofers. According to an example by Jerry Williamson, using 18 gauge instead of 12 gauge would only result in a power loss of 0.1dB, which is essentially undetectable by humans. Thus, other factors play more important roles in the selection of speaker wire. One issue is that different wires will have different line capacitances, which could cause the wire to act as a low pass filter. Generally, however, the capacitances involved are so small that this is not a significant problem. Be sure to heed the warnings above regarding cable flexibility and insulation, especially when running wire into doors and other areas with an abundance of sharp metal.

Bottom line according to the IASCA, speaker wire except subwoofers generally don't benefit from big wire. However they state the example of large subs benefiting from larger wires. I usually recommend 12-14 gauge for speaker wires for higher powered seperates and never anything less than 16 for anything. Why? 18 or smaller is very delicate and can fail from foot pressure on it under a carpet or rubbing on something. And just like subs, seperates that are really high end can draw much more power in amps than most high efficency speakers that most people have. If you look at the power wire chart, it says 35 amps is good for 12 gauge wire for only up to 4 feet. Most subs would fit in this category but not over it unless you get really crazy. Hope this clears up the confusion.



[Modified by 92TripleBlack, 11:29 PM 9/27/2002]

 

brand does not matter much, but quality of wires, gauge, and what the wire is made is all important. Do not forget the connection.