friend fixing to use 18 gauge sub wiring
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=120058
Printed Date: May 15, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Topic: friend fixing to use 18 gauge sub wiring
Posted By: mustanglife
Subject: friend fixing to use 18 gauge sub wiring
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 11:17 AM
A buddy of mine is cheap and has alot of 18 to 20 gauge speaker wire laying around. Not sure exactly what kind of watts his amp will be pushing but probaly around 500 watts rms, maybe 800 watts rms. Hes going to be wiring his two 12 subwoofers with 18 guage wiring into a 2ohm load. Tell me what to tell him on the reason he needs 12 gauge wiring? Thanks Josh ------------- 2003 Modded Mustang GT
Replies:
Posted By: yimke
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 11:25 AM
He's fine. It is minimal SPL difference. Even though 12ga would be preferable. It depends if it is ACTUALLY 18ga wire or "labeled" as 18ga but actually 22 ga.
Posted By: awdeclipse
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 11:42 AM
Was he planning on doubling it up to "increase the gauge" too or just running a single wire?
Posted By: mustanglife
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 12:01 PM
No just regular single wire.
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2003 Modded Mustang GT
Posted By: smtgolf
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 12:31 PM
If the speaker wire run is short (a few feet), it should work. The longer the wire, the bigger the impact. It can show up in SPL as mentioned before.
Then again, people will do what they do no matter what. Threaten him that it could heat up his equipment too much due to resistance and it will all melt (figure the cost of 12-14 ga versus new amp/sub). Not that it would work (wink-wink) on him anyway........
Posted By: mustanglife
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Will do. I'm running 12 guage sub wiring and only have about 2 feet from the box to amp. I almost think I wasted my money now, lol.
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2003 Modded Mustang GT
Posted By: smtgolf
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Nah, you're just maximizing the power transfer and eliminating a possible SPL reduction. I run 16 ga (real 16 ga that is) for 300w RMS. But the wire is 4 feet. If that changed (more watts, longer run), I would consider 14 g. So far it hasn't been an issue.
Posted By: haemphyst
Date Posted: February 11, 2010 at 2:25 PM
800WRMS through 20 feet of 18g wire into a 2 ohm load equals a loss of 1.04dB. Anything less than 20 feet, and he'll never hear the loss, period.
He'll be fine.
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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."
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