# 8 gauge too much ?



## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

i have a pheonix gold tantrum amp that puts out about a total tested power of 476.87 watts .. i went to talk to best buy audio techs and they said to use an 8 gauge wire but then i heard from a few other people that i should use a 4 gauge and that will be plenty.. what do you guys think? and also what brands and stuff should i get of the wires. your advice is greatly appreciated ! :thumbup:

oh yea .. this is for my speakers only.. boston acoustics FX6 and the RC620


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

You do know that 4ga is larger/better than 8ga right?

8 will be fine, but if you plan on upgrading in the future I would go with 4 just to make things easier later on. The price difference is very small anyway.


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## Punkrocka436 (Jul 8, 2003)

Definitely go 4 gauge. It will only be a couple of dollars more, and withstand more. Once you start upgrading car audio, you never stop, so do it now and not worry in the future. Plus, running wires correctly is such a bitch, and very time consuming


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

no i didnt know that the 4 is bigger than the 8.

so what brands do u guys that recommend ?


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## asleepz (Feb 24, 2004)

Hmm I am going to use welding lead for my set up.. I can get it for free If that cant hold it nothing can


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

LIUSPEED said:


> no i didnt know that the 4 is bigger than the 8.
> 
> so what brands do u guys that recommend ?


When it come to power wire it doesn't really matter. The difference in price is normally attributed to 2 different things; flexibility and name. Obviously name doesn't matter, but that's why Phoenix Gold wire is twice as much as say darvex or knukonceptz. When it comes to flexibility it's all a matter of preference, retardedly flexible wire is kind of nice, but really any wire can be run through a car without any problems. I've used darvex, knukonceptz, generic ebay wiring kit brand, and welding cable. Personally I prefer welding cable (www.weldingsupply.com) because it's cheap and the insulation is the best I've ever found (it would take some serious work for something to cut through and ground out the power cable). The darvex cable was the most flexible out of what I've used and the welding cable was the least flexible, then again the welding cable is 1/0 gauge and the rest are 4 gauge. The knukonceptz was the prettiest, and the ebay one didn't really have any advantages.


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## schebs240 (Apr 13, 2004)

I ran a 4gauge through my 240sx hatch, we'll it's not a easy install when the wire has limited bend and is thick that when u run it through things.

8 gauge will obviosly not give you what 4 does but should be adequite. If you have a 8 gauge I say just use it.

I bought my 4gauge in the city for $25 bucks.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

4 guage monster kit


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## Jasper (Apr 2, 2004)

8ga. running 2 amps (Alpine M350 and a T320) off a fused distro block. havent had ANY problems at all, no lights dimming, no blown fuses. nothing


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## faithandfame (Jan 25, 2003)

I have all 4 gauge monster wiring throughout my car. I have had absolutely no problems with it. It is kind of expensive but definately worth it.


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## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

faithandfame said:


> I have all 4 gauge monster wiring throughout my car. I have had absolutely no problems with it. It is kind of expensive but definately worth it.


 :thumbup:


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I woulldn't go less than 4AWG on any amp wiring. I will hopefully soon have a 500/1 to go with my 300/4. I will be running 2AWG to a distributer block, then a 4AWG lead to each amp. I also use 1/0AWG for my main power and 4 seperate 4AWG grounds on the battery.


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

what your guys opinion on knuconceptz RCA connectors . i jes bought some on ebay for 25 bux shipped which is alot cheaper than i found @ best buy , circuit city and frys.


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## Chicago Tony (Apr 15, 2003)

Very Clean looking!!!!






Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> I woulldn't go less than 4AWG on any amp wiring. I will hopefully soon have a 500/1 to go with my 300/4. I will be running 2AWG to a distributer block, then a 4AWG lead to each amp. I also use 1/0AWG for my main power and 4 seperate 4AWG grounds on the battery.


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## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

as stated earlier.....once u start messin with car audio...u wont stop, u'll always want to keep going to get that cleaner sounding system............


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## Honest Bob (Nov 7, 2002)

Remember when putting in the 4 awg to fuse it to the WIRE's amperage rating. Not your amps. The fuse is there to protect the wire from melting and causing a fire in the car. The fuses on the amp is what protects the amp.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

it should be below the wire's amp rating. Yes, it does keep the wire from melting, but it's also important to not fry the amp. Make sure the fuse on the cord is the same amperage as the combined fuse rate on your amps.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> Yes, it does keep the wire from melting, but it's also important to not fry the amp. Make sure the fuse on the cord is the same amperage as the combined fuse rate on your amps.


what?
before I jump to conclusions, I really want to know what you're trying to say here


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## Honest Bob (Nov 7, 2002)

I beleive that he is trying to say is that the wire should be able to hold at least the combined amperage of the amplifiers you plan on running. It should also be fused to the same or as close as possible to the amperage.


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## 1loudex (Mar 25, 2004)

well i seen this post and i thought i would throw my opinion in about a couple of things....as far as brand go's i dont know if you have ever heard of them but when i ran my 4 guage i bought "Raptor" i had never heard of them but it's good....i payed bout 50 bucks and it came with the power wire, ground, rca's, distribution block, and a 100 amp inline fuse..but i think that thats a bit big for that small of an amp but its all you, depending what you want..just make sure that if your amp isnt exactly made for 4 guage wire that you trim the wire down enuff so that it dont touch any of the other terminals on the amp, i have a friend that didnt do to good of a job at that on his fosgate amp and now it is blown :\


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

sr20dem0n said:


> what?
> before I jump to conclusions, I really want to know what you're trying to say here


He said the main reason to fuse the wire is to keep the wire from burning up in a short. I said that's partly true, but you're going to fry the amp before you fry the cord. You should fuse the power wire at (or a little above) the fuse rate on the amp or combined amps.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

It just sounded like you said that if you fuse it too high, it could kill the amps, and I wanted to see if that's really what you were saying or I was just reading it wrong.

The main and only reason to fuse the main power wire is to keep it from burning up in a short, the amp is protected by its internal fuses, not the one in the power cable. You could have a 300 amp fuse on a run of 1/0 feeding a 100 watt amp and there would be absolutely nothing wrong with it, other than being incredibly overkill for the amp you're using.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

sr20dem0n said:


> It just sounded like you said that if you fuse it too high, it could kill the amps, and I wanted to see if that's really what you were saying or I was just reading it wrong.
> 
> The main and only reason to fuse the main power wire is to keep it from burning up in a short, the amp is protected by its internal fuses, not the one in the power cable. You could have a 300 amp fuse on a run of 1/0 feeding a 100 watt amp and there would be absolutely nothing wrong with it, other than being incredibly overkill for the amp you're using.


yes, true. It _is_ overkill. If a wire can handle 200A, it's INSANE to fuse it at the wire's maximum Amperage. If you know you're not going to pull more than 30A through the wire, you don't wanna go any higher than 50A with the fuse, it's insurance.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Ninety-Nine SE-L said:


> yes, true. It _is_ overkill. If a wire can handle 200A, it's INSANE to fuse it at the wire's maximum Amperage. If you know you're not going to pull more than 30A through the wire, you don't wanna go any higher than 50A with the fuse, it's insurance.


why?
If your amp only draws 30 amps, then if the power wire's fuse is over 30 amps it will never blow unless the wire shorts out to the chassis of the car. If the amp shorts internally then its built in fuses will blow, if the amp works just fine then nothing will happen. If the wire shorts out to the chassis the main power fuse will blow fast enough to prevent any damage whether it's 50 amp or 300 amp (as long as the wire can handle 300 amp, which 1/0 can). I don't know how there's any extra insurance by using a small fuse vs a large one. The only time the fuse would blow at all is if there's a short before the amp, and if there's a short it doesn't matter what size the fuse is (up to a point) because it will blow within a couple milliseconds in either case. The only thing you're doing by using the bare minimum fuse is forcing yourself to buy new fuses every time you change amps.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I'm jus saying it's overkill, besides, a 30A fuse is much cheaper than those big 60+A fuses you need to get at an audio shop. I guess the only real reason is the fact that it's overkill.


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## Honest Bob (Nov 7, 2002)

Just get the fuse size for the wire. If you upgrade amps you dont have to worry about purchasing a new fuse. I've run my 1200W JBL amp thats got a fuse rating of 120A off of my little 60 amp fuse for about 3 or 4 years and I have yet to blow it.

:fluffy:


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