Wire guage/brand speaker cable

mbdyer12

What guage wiring would you guys suggest for aprox 75 watts rms/channel about 10 feet away from the amp for speaker cable? Also, what company would you guys suggest for a "pretty good" quality speaker cable for $0.60/ft or less. The cheaper the better. Thanks amigos.

LittleCar_w/12s

I would go with 12ga wire. I assume you mean this is for a regular speaker, not a sub... the 12ga will take much more than that 75w rms, but it'll be upgradeable.
The other guys here will have a few brands for you
-Jerry

LittleCar_w/12s

Here: Cody (exalted512) posted this on another thread for an amp install kit. this will give a good idea of the great prices at knukonceptz:
http://knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KOLAK4
It's a new brand to me, but highly reccomended here
http://knukonceptz.com/

-Jerry

TrappedUnder Ice

As much as the 12g would work...for that specific run..you could use 16g and not have any issues. I use RF 16g for my comp runs at 100+w.
Most wire is going to be about the same...though upon investigation....It looked like rf had more strands then some of the decent brands....compared to like lightning audio

what does this translate too...probably not a whole lot...but just better quality for the dollar...imo...and easier to to work with

LittleCar_w/12s

(electronics guy says...)
Reason more strands are better for audio wire is that A.C.(alternating current)... which is what audio signals are... travels on the surface of a wire... so more strands mean more surface area. which is also why high quality cables are also rated on their surface-area content of cupric oxide(copper rust) (ex 98% oxygen free..blah blah...)
Also keep in mind that DC (direct current) travels down the center of the wire, so your main power line should have lots of strands if you dont have a cap, but can have less strands if you do. it would be most efficient to have a low-strand count solid wire from the battery to the cap in the rear, then high stranded from the cap to the amp.

And I run12ga RF cables myself, which I am pleased with. they have a great deal of strands, 98%CuO2 free I think.
-Jerry

exalted512

16 is fine, 12 is what i run to my subs that handle 550...
i use RF myself, id like to switch to Monster next time i wire everything up
ive heard good things about them, but truthfully, wire is wire
higher strand count is better b/c of exactly what littlecar said, that and the more strands, the better flexiblility, but that doesnt really matter with speaker wire...when youre talking about 1/0awg power wire...thats when flexibility comes in handy
-Cody

LittleCar_w/12s

Hey, heres a ? for you Cody:
What would you think about running a 1/0 UNDER the car body? Think it would hurt anything? I's probably undercoat over it for abrasive resistance.
I don't have to worry about that for a while, but eventually I will put some power into my 12's.
-Jerry

edit:
Oh, I dont think I'll ever lower my car, (but my hitch hits speed bumps ) so ground clearance isnt really an issue.

exalted512

theres a bunch of people that do it
just put it in some wire loom and use a lot of zip ties and youll be good to go
-Cody

LittleCar_w/12s

Cool, I really cant fit it under the trim floor runners in the car.
-Jerry

MacLeod

Radio Shack has some speaker wire that is pretty good. Not the super cheap crap but they have a new "premium" series of wire and cable. While I probably wouldnt recommend their patch cables they have some pretty good speaker wire. They have a roll of flat, 14 guage at $20 for 50 feet. I replaced my Monster 16 guage with it about a month ago and it works fine. Im sure you can find better deals on higher quality wire on the internet but this works for me as Im skeered to order things online.

MTXMAN

yeah, personally i like 12 ga for my speakers and i'm going to be running 8ga to my subs... course they're gonna be getting at least 1000 watts each so yeah....

mbdyer12

All the spoeaker wire that I'd purchase from Knukonceptz.com are out of stock The twisted 16ga wire was a good deal too. Anyone know how often they restock?


-updated-
Oh I just looked at Sounddomain.com's speaker wire selection. That RF cable is reasonably priced too.

-updated again-
I don't like double posting as you can tell...haha. What do you guys think about Stinger/Lightning Audio/Phoenix Gold speaker wire? I'm thinking http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/LITLST16
Is this fine or is there much of of an advantage with going with twisted wire?

Systems

someone mind explaining to me why the rf speaker cables have 3 wires, rather then the normal 2?

neomagus00

perhaps the strand thing mentioned above? noise rejection maybe?