Concerned about wire sizes with my system

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=21697
Printed Date: May 15, 2025 at 5:05 AM

Topic: Concerned about wire sizes with my system

Posted By: lavamadness
Subject: Concerned about wire sizes with my system
Date Posted: November 20, 2003 at 4:33 AM

I have a Kicker KX800.4. On the first 2 channels, I plan on running some Infinity Kappa 6.1 Perfect components, and on the second 2 channels, 2 Apline S-series 10" DVC subs, bridged.

The amp should be putting out 100W RMS @ 4ohms to each woofer/tweeter pair, and 200W RMS @ 2ohms for each sub. (Correct me if I'm wrong here.)

I've got a 4 gauge power wire (20-25 feet). I'm using 12 gauge wire to the components, and 12 gauge wire to the subs.

Can anyone see any problems with this setup?

Replies:

Posted By: wvsquirrel
Date Posted: November 20, 2003 at 6:14 AM

The 12 gauge for the components is a little much. Most of the time the largest size recommended for component speakers is 16 gauge. It wont hurt having larger like you have, but it's not necessary.

12 gauge for the subs should be fine.

4 gauge is fine for the power wire. Make sure it's fused within 18 inches of the battery.

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Squirrel
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Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: November 20, 2003 at 8:26 AM

This amp requires a 4 ohm load in bridged mode. Just be sure you are connecting your subs as a 4 ohm load when you bridge the second two channels and you should be OK. The factory specs for the KX800.4 recomends 2 gague power and ground cables as it can draw 120 amps.

Posted By: forbidden
Date Posted: November 20, 2003 at 1:16 PM

And make sure to check the resistance on your ground wire. Upgrade the ground wire from batttery to chassis to 4 gauge, if the resistance is still high after that, try a different grounding point (nice clean bare metal) and finally if the reistance is still high, then it may be necessary to ground direct to the battery. Other than that things look great.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

Posted By: lavamadness
Date Posted: November 20, 2003 at 5:30 PM

Thanks for the replies. :)

The voice coils on the subs are wired in series (making the load per sub 8ohms), then the subs will be wired in parallel to the amp (making the load 4ohms).

Should I upgrade to a 2 gauge power wire? The 4 gauge is already run. What problems should I look for if the 4 gauge does turn out to be too small?

Never thought about upgrading the battery to ground wire.... thanks for mentioning it! How do I go about testing th resistance of the amps ground wire? What resistance should I be looking for?

Thanks for the help everyone. :) My first time with a decent amp, and I didn't realize how much else there was to consider.