hey, i want to get a 12g wire to run from my trunk to my front doors, are there any good brands out there to look for, or should i just go with any 12g wire?

 

o yeah, one other thing i wanna ask is how long of a wire do you need to go from the trunk to the door?? i'm guessing about 10 feet?

 

it would be closer to 15 feet per door, but if this is just to replace the stock wiring, then don't waste the money. you will not hear any difference what so ever. unfortunately to many installers think it will make a difference when the mere science of it all proves that humans are incapable of hearing a difference between 18g and 12g.

 

no, not stock
does it make a difference if i use a long wire to connect the amp to the crossover (in door), then short wire from crossover to speakers, as opposed to short wire from amp to crossover (then it would be in trunk) and long wire from crossover to speakers??
that question sounds kinda dumb, but hey, it might make a difference....anyone know?

 

uncleb,

I would suggest putting the crossover in the trunk merely because of the easy access. When it comes to wiring up a car the length of wire is usually so short (15 feet or less) that any loss in signal is so small it's not noticable. Just remember the biggest importance is to seperate your signal lines from your power to avoid electrical noise.

 

Are you bi-amping the components? that is the only reason i can see for you to run all new wires.

 

i'm not bi-amping.
why would that be the only reason?? i'm figuring that i got some pretty good components (focal utopia), so i should make sure i get a good wire to give a good signal. is this pointless?

 

i hate to sound like an a**, but yeah it would be pointless. I can tell you with absolute certainty that running new wires is essentially a lesson in futility. Case in point: today i wired in MB Quart QSD compontents into my car for the afternoon. I used the stock speaker wire into the door, from there I ran it to the input on the xover, and then used 16gauge (only because it was what i got to first in the shop) to send the signal to the woofer and the tweeter. now the kicker on the whole deal. i was putting 190w on each speaker. the signal loss was approximately .1db under those circumstances since i didn't up it to 12 ga. Keep in mind that in is physically possible for the human ear to discern a .1db loss like that.

That is why i was saying here all along don't bother wasting the time, money, or energy running new wires. It won't help do anything other than give you something to tell your friends.

 

i see, dont worry, u don't sound like an ass, you're helping me out which is why we all here in teh first place

just for comparing reasons, do you know what gauge the stock wire is?

 

18

 

Parts Express and Sound Domain are your best choice (as much as i found).

The 14 awg at SD is plenty and it is really easy to work with. I started with 14 awg RCA brand speaker wire from home depot. That wire was stiff and hard to strip. The street wires was just a pleasure to work with. Its on sale! They have 12 awg as well. I got some of that for my sub run.

----------NOW---------

Scott is right, from a scientific perspective, but... How many of us would always wonder, "where is that .1db? is it all treble? all bass? is it just the cymbals on that really sweet jazz song that... aw, f-it! new wire!"

Now what about this point: you have to run wire from your amp to the wires somehow. Is it really that much easier to run speaker wires from your amp to the front of the car so you can splice into the wiring harness? Then you not only didn't increase the guage of the wire, you doubled the length. Again, probably nominal.

I left my factory wiring alone. If (when) I get a 2005 RL, I plan to pull my speakers and replace the factory blose. I won't have to rewire anything and I'm fairly certain no one would fault me for leaving the deck as it is so much better than stock.

So I sort of miss the point that humans are statisticly incapable of discerning a .1db difference. If you're rippiong your car apart to put the speakers in and dynamat, then your ripping it apart, why not run the wire straight to the door, tape the stock wire to the panel, and be on your merry way?

 

phoenix gold is a good brand

 

kimber kable.. lol...

 

hey scott so how did you measure that loss...

 

thanks for all replies....
...i was gonna start another thread for another question, but i'll just ask here
ok, for the wiring, is this how it goes??:
headunit (front) > amp (trunk) > crossover (trunk) > speaker (front)

i know this probably sounds dumb, but i just wanna make sure so i have a better idea of how much wire will be needed

 

^^ i just realized, the wiring from the hu to the amp is probably something totally different, right??




....yes, this is my first install (as if it wasn't obvious already)

 

most times cars are set like this: HU connects to amps using RCA's, amps are are connected to speakers using speaker wire. Usually the speaker wire is just ran back up to be hehind the radio where you can get all 4 speakers in one location.

Shaw, I used the shop's new termlab mic. Probably not the most reliable, but enough so for me to feel confident enough to not go through the motions of rewiring the entire car When none of us there could hear the difference.

 

I'll relate my experience for an alternative. Scott is correct, however, that you can run back up behind the radio with the speaker wire and splice into the harness adapter.

To install the head unit, you need a wiring harness adapter.
This plugs into the factory radio harness. Scott suggests running the speaker wire to this harness.

You'll also run rca interconnects from the back of the radio to the amplifier. Get quality interconnects! I chose "zero noise" from street wires. You can get them cheap from Buy.com I think I got 15 ft cables and have at least 3 ft of slack. Its ideal to use the shortest run appropriate. That said, I think 12 ft would be perfect. PLEASE verify this before you order 12ft, however. If you are amping 4 speakers plus subwofers and your head unit supports it, you'll need three interconnects (front, rear, sub). Your configuration may be different.

To power the amplifier, you need an amp installation kit. You can get everything seperately but don't, the kits are worth it. Make sure you have at least 15 ft of power cable. I had 14 ft and had to replace that when it came up short. I ordered 18 ft the second time, to be sure. You can ground to the chassis with a short cable or run all the way to the battery. Its your choice and I haven't found a definitive resource that supports the extra run. You may want to parallel the ground and power cables from your alternator, depending on how much power you're expecting. You must fuse the power cable by the battery and should fuse each amp individually. The amp kit should include the hardware. The power wire goes through an existing grommet just above and to the right of the gas pedal, no drilling required, then down the left side of the car. You'll need to remove the lower back seat. 1 bolt (i think a 12 millimeter) near the left seat belt receptacle (but not the bolt that holds the seat belt recp'l )

To wire the speakers, if you decide to run the wires to the doors, get 100ft of wire. This is more than you need but it never hurts to have speaker wire around and it sure sucks to run out in the middle of an install. To help decide, see this post how to run speaker wire into the door of an Acura TL. Its a little bit of a pain. If you decide on Scott's method, a 50 ft spool should be enough (order 60 ft if ordering by the foot). In this case you'll also want the speaker harness

That's all I can think of right now. Good luck. The whole thing is a pretty big job but I recommend either doing it yourself or hiring a reputable installer, never best buy or circuit city. The reward is immeasurable.