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Stero Cabling Questions

2K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  SilverEA 
#1 ·
Hello all again :)

Tomorrow I want to cable up my car in preparation for buying various bits of stereo. Hence, being an extreme novice at anything car audio, I have a few things I need help with:

1) Does quality vary very much in speaker wire? I've been told I shouldn't use the wire provided in the boxes of speakers I buy? Any guidelines? I've seen the 'two colour' wire JB HiFi sells (reasonably thick, one line copper, one silver, clear insulation) used quite a bit, would this be good to use? Is thicker better? Thinner? Basically I'm looking for some guideance :)

2) I need to buy a wiring kit to wire up an amp. Where do you get these sorts of kits (preferably in SE Melbourne)? The amp is an Alpine V12 4x40w, running 2 50w splits and 2 60w 6x9s, what 'gauge' cable should I be using to power it?

3) I want to put sound-proofing stuff in the doors - what type is recommended for doors, and where do I get it?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help,
Matt
 
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#2 ·
2) JB hifi should have amp wiring kits... but any good car audio store should have them.
8 Guage is the normal size.. but i'd recommend getting thicker (4 gauge or even 2 gauge) for the simple fact of upgadeability... you might decide you want a bigger stereo system in the future. Having thicker cable than needed cant be a bad thing.

3) You can either use deadning mats or brush-on deadner. It all depends how easy it is to access the inside of the door.... if you have large areas that are easy to get too.. use the mats. Other wise use the tin stuff.
There are a few name brand deadners.. it all depends on what you want to spend. I myself just used a tin of sound deadner from a hardware store... Auto One I think was the brand.
 
#3 ·
1) Stuff you get with speakers is OK to use...........however with all things the thicker the better to a point.........the more power running through it the thicker it should be........wit hthat in mind subwoofer cable should be thick than say 6.5" speakers...that wire you mention is good, there is two main sizes the smaller for speakers the larger for subwoofers.
2)Most Car audio places have amp wiring kits or cable on a roll for a cost per metre. for that amp probably 4g, If you were going to be running subs, 2g.
3)I wouldn't suggest the spray on stuff.......unless it is really really hard to get in the doors. The matt style stuff is alot more expensive too but will deaden the door panels plus quieten your ride, giving the appearence of more sound from your speakers.
 
#4 ·
MattK, Most audio manufactureres make full wiring kits for whatever purpose you need 1 amp 2 amps, subs 1 or two, these come with fuses battery connectors etc.... almost every variation. Stinger seems to be the market leader in "affordable" cabling but dont be shy when it comes to spending money in this area as upgrades will undoubtedly follow. I would be hesitant in buying of the roll at JB hi fi and such. Reputable brands are the go if you ask me. Most of these brands have entry level gear as well as platinum coated top end equipment. It certainly pays to be informed, read car audio reveiw mags and the like, they are worth the $7-8 price tag if you are looking to spend money on car audio.
 
#5 ·
TPG said:
2)Most Car audio places have amp wiring kits or cable on a roll for a cost per metre. for that amp probably 4g, If you were going to be running subs, 2g.
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How do you tell what guage of wire to use for a certain amp?

I would assume that it's loosely based on the power of the amp, if so, what guage should I be running for my 440W RMS 5 channel amp?

At the moment I'm running 8g cable, is this too small?



Cheers,
Dave
 
#6 ·
I am running 4G cable at the moment for my 125WX4 amp for subs and another amp for rears.
Thanatos, running amps like this i would say a minimum would be 4G, because after a while u might be wanting to upgrade again. 8G should be alright to run the amp for now, but just keep in mind that if you ever run another amp, you really should run 4G. I found the problem of my amps with just 4MM cable (dodgey backyard last minute job!), was that they would cut out when the subs started going hard. I was getting about 8 volts just cause the cable was not thick enough. You can definitely tell the different guages of cable by there size. 4G is about 10mm thick and 8G is about half that size. Any good store that sell cable should be able to tell you what is what....
 
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