sub woofer wire
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=27436
Printed Date: July 07, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Topic: sub woofer wire
Posted By: BangBang
Subject: sub woofer wire
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:20 AM
is a 16 awg wire good enough for a 400 watt dhd 2 channel amp to 2 10" generic subs?
Replies:
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:29 AM
yes that will be fine.
-------------
Big Dave
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:31 AM
wow, cuz i'm looking at it and comparing it with my other awg wire, its pretty small. but if u say so i'll take ur word thanx alot guy, and hey wut u doing up so late?
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:35 AM
just got of my night job making news papers
-------------
Big Dave
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:42 AM
oh i c, so yea u know where can i get a good distribution block for cheap? also my wiring size is 8 guage, could i use a distribution block to split that wire up then take the splitted wires and hook it up to 2 amps?
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:46 AM
what part of the states are you in? if your going to run 2 amps i would use 4 awg wire to the dist block then 8 awg to the amps. ------------- Big Dave
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:53 AM
im in california, west sidE but my car is already hooked up with an 8 awp wire, could i just go 8 awg to 2 awgs? or should i just buy about 20ft of 4 awg wire, then re wire it?
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:57 AM
also its cuz i got my stuff installed at good guys, i have this warranty thing, and i dont wanna mess with it, incase if mes'z up i wold be blamed for it. i can hook up the second amp my self , but needed to know if i could put 8 awp to a distro block then out to 2 8awgs?
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 3:59 AM
i'd go with the 4 awg. then use the 8 awg that you already have from your dist block. I sell audio stuff but i don't think i could sell you a block cheap if i ship all the way to Cali. I'm in florida. try Wal-mart some times they have some stuff like that.
-------------
Big Dave
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 4:08 AM
ok but wut if i dont go with the 4 awg. instead i just keep it a 8awg , then use a distrobution block and split out to 2 of the 8 awg wire, into 2 amps???
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 4:14 AM
the 8 awg is to small for 2 amps. it will not let enough current get to the amps. if you ran 2 8awg wires one to each amp that would work fine. you can run both amps on the one 8awg wire but you would not get all you can get out of the amps...........The 12volt should start a chat room that would make this alot easyer.
-------------
Big Dave
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 4:18 AM
speedwayaudio1 wrote:
the 8 awg is to small for 2 amps. it will not let enough current get to the amps. if you ran 2 8awg wires one to each amp that would work fine. you can run both amps on the one 8awg wire but you would not get all you can get out of the amps...........The 12volt should start a chat room that would make this alot easyer.
ok so can i or not? ur getting me confused "the 8 awg is to small for 2 amps. it will not let enough current get to the amps. if you ran 2 8awg wires one to each amp that would work fine" ???
Posted By: speedwayaudio1
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 4:26 AM
yes you can, but i would not if it were me. i would go with the 4 awg or run 1 8awg for each sub. but yes you can run one 8awg for both amps. it just will not perform as good. good luck with your project i'm going to sleep now.
-------------
Big Dave
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 5:24 AM
ok thanx.
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 5:51 AM
I understand what you mean that you had someone install it... 8 awg should be fine if....to find out take your rms of the amp...?...say 400 divided by your cars idle voltage...say 12.6v....you get the ampsof amprees your amp is pulling which in this case 400/12.6= 31.8amps you would need a 8awg wire running between 10-13feet according to IASCA's gauge chart ------------- If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: Clean Install
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 5:53 AM
so you should be OK  ------------- If we learn from each success and
each failure, then we can improve ourselves
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 6:34 AM
so it is ok for me to take the 8 awg, that is already instaleld to my single amp, and cut it and install a distribution block and have two 8 awg wire out, one in each amp? lolz just tryign to verify, before i work on it and get screwed lolz ^_^
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 10:19 AM
If you're adding another 400 watt RMS amp then you will definitely need 4 gauge wire coming from the battery and then at leasta 8 gauge to each amp.
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 5:14 PM
so all i need to do is take out the 8 guage that is already hooked up, then switch it to a 4guage, and then take that 8 guage wire, and cut it in half, 1 to each amp, so do i need to upgrade the rca wire? ground wire?
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 5:53 PM
Do what you said except use a distrobution block of course for your power wires. You can ground your second amp the same exact way you did for your first. You can ground them to the same point also but make sure you have a good clean ground so your amps will work their best. You shouldn't have to upgrade the rca wire.
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 6:20 PM
Here is a cheaper distrobution block actually. Fused distrobution block. I dont know if it comes with fuses. If it dosn't then you will need either of these or something similar: 40 amp fuse or 50 amp fuse depending on the fuse rating on both of your amps.
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 11:21 PM
customsuburb wrote:
Do what you said except use a distrobution block of course for your power wires. You can ground your second amp the same exact way you did for your first. You can ground them to the same point also but make sure you have a good clean ground so your amps will work their best. You shouldn't have to upgrade the rca wire.
the ground wire is an 8 guage. do i need to replace the ground wire with a 4 guage ? also wut do u mean the ground wire has to be a good clean so it can work great? ???
Posted By: SDmustang21
Date Posted: February 29, 2004 at 11:35 PM
use the same guage wire for the ground as you have for the power. Don't forget to upgrade your ground from the battery to ground also. No sense in having your amp like say a 4 guage power and ground cable and then have it choked by leaving what most cars have on the battery which is like a 8 gauge wire for ground.
-------------
Buy it, install it, play with it. Then take it back out, read the instructions, install it better!
Posted By: customsuburb
Date Posted: March 01, 2004 at 8:40 PM
You shouldn't have to replace the battery's ground to make your amp work. It should only be something done if you are just not getting a good ground at all. Yes you should upgrade the ground cable to the same size as the power cable like SDmustang21 said.
Posted By: BangBang
Date Posted: March 02, 2004 at 3:03 AM
ok the fosgate helps thanx but which one is best wiring for 2 subs ? with single voice coil?
|