Hey Guys,

So right now I have a 10 gauge wire running from my battery to my trunk. I was all ready to close the panels back up and call it finished, but now I fear that I may need a bigger wire.

I will be running a 400x4 amp and a 200x1 amp off of this wire

This is in a TSX, I believe the run is 15' at most

Is 10gauge okay or do I need to bump it up to something like a 4 or a 6??

Thanks,

Max

 

I think you'll be fine but I would have gone bigger. "It's better to have more than enough" is what I always say. I ran 0 guage wire in mine and I'm pretty sure 4 guage would of been fine but I like overkill. What kind of amp do you have that does 400x4?

 

It's an Audison amp

I'm not exactly sure what the consequences are of running a wire that is not thick enough. Can anybody explain what issues might arise if the wire is too thin?

It's no problem for me to run to the store right now and pick up a thicker wire. I just don't want to spend the extra money if I don't have to.

 

It's better if you get a bigger wire. In this case, I'm going to say buy at least 4 guage. Consequences... I learned the hard way...
1. A certain size wire can only take so much amperage draw. If your wire is too small, you may not be getting full power from your amps.

2. I was driving one day (way back when I didn't know better) and smoke started coming from the side of my door. I stopped to take a look and saw my tiny power wire all burnt up because it was getting too hot too soon trying to draw all that power from the battery. Luckily I had a fuse in the wire which blew when the BARE wire touched the frame (ground).

Enough of a reason to got buy bigger wire?... I would say yes .

 

Well I guess I'll go to home depot and pick up a 4 gauge wire. I just hope it fits the fuse holder and crimp connectors that came with the 10 gauge kit.

 

home depot sells welding wire! don't do it!!

you'll only hate yourself later when you find that it won't flex the way you want it to

kicker makes a good 4ga amp kit. super flexible, i have the 0ga kit and their wire is more flexible than my rockford fosgate 4ga's

somethin like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/KICKER-CK44-4-GA...QQcmdZViewItem

gets you your 4ch rca's too

 

The main power lead to the distribution block should be 4 awg. From the block to the amps you can use 8awg. The grounds for each amp (separate runs) can also be 8awg. Fuse the main lead at the battery, the install manual(s) for the amps should give the fuse rating to use for a dual amp system. I don’t recall the max fuse size for 4awg but you can find it on the12volt.com.

Use car audio power wire it is more flexible and in properly insulated for use in the car. You will also get less resistance at the terminations because of more surface area exposed.

jeff

 

Alright, thanks guys. I guess I'll try to find some cheap 4 gauge online. A noob like me shouldn't have started putting 10 gauge wires without asking

 

don't go cheap on your wires... it can make or break your system...if you are on a low budget get decent wire, but don't just find the cheapest 4g kit out there... there is a reason the others are more money...

 

I went with this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ANMESACJ9PRE1B

I'm going to use my own RCAs, I really just need the power, ground, and fuse holder from the kit

 

I guess that'll work as long as the wire jacket isn't most for the wire, if ya know what i mean. I know that the Raptor brand 0 guage wire is actually closer to 4 guage because the jacket is so damn thick. That's why Raptor is so cheap. You do get what you pay for.

 

check out knukonceptz.com as well, they have really good wiring for the price. their kollosus is on par with kicker hyperflex, but the KLM should be sufficient enough if you're on budget

 

Yeah, they seem to have decent stuff. I'll definitely check there if the stuff I got off of Amazon looks questionable.

Now I just really need help with speaker spacers. Do any of the people on this board make custom ones? I don't have a jigsaw so it would be hard to make them myself.

 

If you do ebay, they can be had there. Just search for MDF spacer and your size should come up.

 

Checked ebay, only a few came up, all from Australia.

Is a 1" spacer what I need? Doesn't it depend on the speaker at all? I read the DIY and it said the overall height should be 1 1/8" but I'm not sure if that was just for his speaker or if that's for all speakers. Also, would the universal Honda clips do the job? http://www.millionbuy.com/aihsb518.html

 

Yes! Those fit perfectly for the TSX. I used them in all 4 doors for a plug-n-play installation with no custom spacers.

 

I am not sure which Audison amp you are planning on running but, I am pretty sure they do not make a 400 x 4 amp. I would not run 10 awg power wire with 1,600 watts. Now if its 100 x 4, you might could get away with 10 awg. Although I would still run 4 awg to distro block and split it to 8 or 10 awg to each amp. What model Audison are you looking at?

 

The amp is a Next 4.400

Most people don't know Next, its made by Audison so I just say Audison. I am not positive that it has the proper inputs but I will find out soon!

 

Thats great! Ill definitely try those out. Somebody said rgey wete not the best for sound quality, do you notice anything?

Is there a real advantage to wood or MDF spacers?

 

Max, just make SURE that your speaker inside diameter is < 5". This is where I had major problems with these spacers and had to make my own, which in the end, are much more solid than these spacers, but it took a lot of work and time. hth

 

Whoops, you're right, I meant 100x4. No way am I doing 1600 watts

However, I did order a 4 awg kit and it's on its way

 

Good call to be on the safe side