Wiring Inquiries

vawakemonster

First off will wiring one or both my my tweeters backwards effect their sound and or break them?

I was playing with my midbass speakers they sound the same when wiring both correctly and one backwards. is this normal? am I not listening close enough?

I am running 4 Gauge to a distro black in my truck and then 8 gauge to each of 2 amps. Where is the cheapest place to get 4 gauge? is there a preformance difference between the industrial 4 gauge at Lows and the rockford 4 Gauge? I Know the threads are thicker and more stiff.

mwh9

While I don't know everything about car audio, I do know about electricity. It travels on the surface of the wire, not on the inside. Wire of the same gauge, 4awg for example, that is stranded [many small wires] would carry more current than one that is solid [one single wire]. Therefore, one that has more strands would also carry more current and have less resistance that one that had fewer strands. It should not matter who makes the wire, unless there is some how a difference in the conductor. If the wire was made of gold instead of copper, that would be better but, very impractical and expensive. Wiring things backwards or out of phase does have an effect, if two speakers are wired this way, one speaker will be pushing out while the other will be pulling in. This should have an effect on the sound, but hopefully someone else will explain this better.

MacLeod

Wiring the tweeters out of phase usually doesnt change anything. They say it can make the tweeters blend in better with the mids if theyre seperated but Ive never been able to tell.

As for wiring the mids out of phase, you should hear an instant difference.

Put on an AM radio talk station and listen. When the speakers are in phase the voice should be somewhat clearly located and focused. When the speakers are out of phase, the voice will seem to come from everywhere and be virtually impossible to locate. It will also lose some low end response.

Dont be suprised if it sounds better with one speaker out of phase especially if the mids are low and forward in the doors. I have my left mid out of phase right now in my Accord.

exalted512

mwh9 wrote:

While I don't know everything about car audio, I do know about electricity. It travels on the surface of the wire, not on the inside. Wire of the same gauge, 4awg for example, that is stranded [many small wires] would carry more current than one that is solid [one single wire]. Therefore, one that has more strands would also carry more current and have less resistance that one that had fewer strands. It should not matter who makes the wire, unless there is some how a difference in the conductor. If the wire was made of gold instead of copper, that would be better but, very impractical and expensive. Wiring things backwards or out of phase does have an effect, if two speakers are wired this way, one speaker will be pushing out while the other will be pulling in. This should have an effect on the sound, but hopefully someone else will explain this better.

True for AC, not for DC. More stands will not carry ore current.
-Cody

mwh9

You will have to explain how the electrical molecules know the difference. I personally like the idea of using bread ties that I read some where on here. By the way, I'm from Deer Park, TX. I just live here in Siberia around all these stupid f-ing yankees.

vawakemonster

So if I used lowes 4 Gauge for a power wire it would not make a difference?

my mids and highs tend to ring a little is there a way to fix that?

mwh9

As far as the wire goes, the more strands it has the better. If you were to buy wire at a hardware store, it most likely is made for house wiring. You probably would want wire with more strands internally. Other than that, brand would not matter. You could try Radio Shack and see if they had this type of wire or Walmart has inexpensive brands of amp wire in car stereo area. As for speaker wire, you could use lamp cord, 18 gauge or 16 gauge, this may be less expensive and just as good. If you do, be careful to check the polarity as the wire is only marked with ribs on one side. I used twisted pair wires for my RCA's but, just regular 18 gauge speaker wire for the speakers and do not have any engine noise at all. I did run the amp wire down one side and the speaker wire down the middle under the carpet.
I don't remember which speakers that you have but my db6500's were that way also. The HU that I have has a high pass filter and parametric EQ, and it was easy to remove just the frequencies that were causing this. If you do not have this ability, a separate EQ would, but this might be more that you would want to spend.