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What guage 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=4978
Printed Date: July 23, 2025 at 3:22 AM


Topic: What guage wire?

Posted By: adamiscertified
Subject: What guage wire?
Date Posted: October 30, 2002 at 5:35 PM

Ok....I got everything I need and ready to get installing except for my wires, ect.  I got a pyramid 1000 watt amp.  I am replacing my current speakers with new ones.  What all do I need now?  And What guage wire should I get?  No where in my manual did it say anything about what size to use.  Thanks for your input.




Replies:

Posted By: djfearny2
Date Posted: October 30, 2002 at 6:43 PM
4  guage power wire and you can use either 4 or 8 guage ground.

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Jon
Installer/Help Technician
---coral springs florida---
mecp certification is not always needed. I have it and it has not helped me out at all. my experience out shines it.




Posted By: djfearny2
Date Posted: October 30, 2002 at 6:44 PM
4 for power and four or eight for ground.

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Jon
Installer/Help Technician
---coral springs florida---
mecp certification is not always needed. I have it and it has not helped me out at all. my experience out shines it.




Posted By: magcmedcin
Date Posted: October 30, 2002 at 6:53 PM

if you're only wiring one amp at 1000 watts then a 4 gauge would be fine. unless you plan on upgrading in the future. 

everything you need piece by piece:

1 battery terminator, 1 fuseholder, fuses (get a couple extra), grommit to seal the hole in the fire wall, power rings for a secure connection,4 gauge ground and power wire, fused distro block(if you plan on adding another amp) incleded in most wire kit's

speaker wire, speaker connector's, a 1 farad cap(if you want it to run smooth), Rca's



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Thomas




Posted By: Velocity Motors
Date Posted: October 30, 2002 at 7:16 PM

Match your ground to your power wire. Make sure you use a central grounding configuration as well.



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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA




Posted By: iworkatzips
Date Posted: October 31, 2002 at 9:15 PM

It is important that the ground wire is the same as the power wire.

Brent, Car Audio Manager, Generation Sound





Posted By: wvsquirrel
Date Posted: November 01, 2002 at 10:39 PM

Think of it this way since the ground completes the electrical connection... If you have 2 bottles of water, one 1 oz and one 2 oz, then obviously you couldn't put all 2 ounces of water from the 2 oz bottle into the 1 oz bottle. 

The same thing happens when you use a 4 gauge power wire and only an 8 gauge ground (remember that when gauges are concerned, the lower the number the larger the diameter of the cable). Think of the 4 gauge wire as the 2 oz bottle, and the 8 gauge wire as the 1 oz bottle.

I have always been told that you always want to make sure that your ground and power wires are the same gauge, like Velocity said before.  You could use two eight gauge grounds as well (equilivant to a 4 gauge).



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Squirrel
"No more Cpt. Kirk chit chat"
If its too loud, then you're too old
Donate to the12volt.com




Posted By: HANDBALL
Date Posted: November 03, 2002 at 12:00 AM
YOU SHOULD USE 0 GAUGE WIRE FOR UR POWER AND UR GROUND IT MIGHT BE BIG BUT IT'S BETTER THAN 4 GAUGE I WOULD ALSO RECOMMEND A BATTERY CAP




Posted By: SOUND PRESSURE
Date Posted: November 03, 2002 at 12:19 AM
Your Pyramid 1000watt amp should say what size wire it allows on the input power, wheather it be 8 guage or 4. I don't think that 0 will fit. Although if you wanted to go with it what you can do is run whatever size guage you want 0, or 4 and run it to a distribution block and break it down to the next size. As some said here and I am going to say it as well, cap your amps. You don't want to deal with replacing your alternator and dishing out that much cash for it when you could get a capacitor for a faction of that. When I started in car audio many years back I held a nice little record for myself of going through 13 alternators due to the system I had in my car. Until I was introduced to capacitors and learning more and more about mobile audio. Take it from me and be safe and not sorry.posted_image 

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Sound Pressure

You know you have the right amount of pressure when your eyes start to water! Now you've got Juice!





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