16 awg car speaker upgrade?

Hello all, I'm thinking about upgrading my stock car speaker wire. I measured the diameter(gauge) of my current stock speaker wire and it is really dinky, coming in at 20AWG. This stock speaker wire looks smaller than your typical lamp wire gauge. I'm getting distortion at higher volume levels, thinking that this tiny wire is the reason. Anyway, I'm thinking about 16AWG monster cable. I don't have an amp, this will be just for my (4) aftermarket RX67 speakers connected to my SONY CDXC580 head unit. I have an older BAZOOKA tube that has a built in amp by itself. Question is: Can I fit 16GA speaker wire in a wire harness? Do they make larger AWG speaker wire harnesses? Would this be a waste of time? Here is the cable I'm looking at: Monster Cable XLN 16GA Car Audio Speaker Wire 20 FT Monster Part No. XLN 16S-20 S/B RS

Agreed. At the power levels you are running, you can run 20G for about 50 feet with no appeciable loss of signal strength. (Less than 3dB) Also, the wire gauge (even the WIRE...)has nothing to do with distortion, that's the amplifier or speakers.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Monster is nothing more than marketing, don't waste your $$$.

I agree that things like Monster cable is a waste of your money.  But, if you want to upgrade your speaker wires, I suggest first reading the excellent tutorial on how to wire through a door molex.Support the12volt.com

18 awg is thick enough to support 100 watts of power peak. I doubt your head unit produces that much wattage per speaker. I think most after market radios have an RMS of about 20w per channel. I agree the 16 awg upgrade would be a waste of time and money. I would suggest an amplifier would solve your problem. A small 50 w x 4 made by a good company should be good or even a 75w x 4 amp would work as long as the speakers you have can handle that type of power. Boston Acoustics can handle 16 - 120w, I would amp them.The wire I'm test'n isn't doin' what it's supposed to be doin'... I am so glad I printed that tech sheet, with the wrong info.

Do it right the first time... or I might have to fix it for ya

if you are not going to upgrade your speakers it sounds as though you are pushing them too much? may want to think of some inline mod blockers. may be a little over board by i REALLY hate having to put new speakers in my ride. its a real pain in the pita. another issue ive heard of is the internal amp in some head units when the get hot will not help with distortion issues. you could also have the dreaded slimer on the end of you wires. yes slimer that nice chunky green crap.OWWWWWWWWWWW you said you discharged the cap!

daboss, he upgraded his speakers to Boston Acoustics if you did not read through his post, that is why I recommended an after market amp to power them properly. They are a 6 1/2 two way with a rating of 160 watts max.The wire I'm test'n isn't doin' what it's supposed to be doin'... I am so glad I printed that tech sheet, with the wrong info.

Do it right the first time... or I might have to fix it for ya

errrrrrrr my bad lolOWWWWWWWWWWW you said you discharged the cap!