right now i have 16 gauge wires (that came with my amp wiring kit) hooked from the amp to my subs. are 16 awg too small for subwoofer wiring purposes?

thanks in advance for any input.

 

Yes it is too small. That is what I have in my house. Try to stick with 12g on subs.
oliver

 

Yes it is too small. Try to stick with 12g on subs.
oliver

 

 

LOL. Tony get your mind out of the gutter.

 

My mind is always in the gutter.

However, in this specific instance, I was merely agreeing with your 12 guage recommendation.

Tony

 

how powerful is the amp? 16ga may be fine. It really depends on what amount of power is running through it and how long the wires are. As the saying goes, "bigger is better"...but is not always necessary. If you're running under 100W through each one and they are less than 5ft, you should be ok. If the amp is more powerful than that, step up to 12ga.

 

16Awg will work, but like posted above it depends on the power as well as distance. What is that you are running? and how far does the wire go?

--Don

BTW..I use 8awg

 

i have a 400 watt amp, it's wired in 4 ohms so about 100 watts per channel. it might be more than that since it's under rated and the birth certificate says something like 450 watts. anywho, i think it's more than 5 feet because i have it bundled up and zip tied. i'll go trim the line down a bit. i'm not running mad wattages, but i don't want the lines to be the bottleneck either.

 

sorry tony I thought the sign said "weird" My mind was in the gutter.
peace
oliver

 

well i've decided i might as well upgrade to 12g wiring for my subs. now...any brand recomendations? i was thinking about monster cable.

 

Fosgate Fan your electrical formulas are a little off
V=voltage
I=current
R=resistance

V=IR
P=VI=I^2 R

so if you have
400w=I^2 * 4 ohms
I^2 = 100

or I = 10 amps making 16gauge too small

hope that helps

 

Moster Cable will be fine.

As a side note, you don't have to spend a fortune on speaker cable to get good quality cable and/or sound. Insulation quality and flexibility are usually my top priority. Color sometimes plays a roll as well. OFC (oxygen free cable) is preferred because it conducts electricity better, but most good-quality cables are now all OFC if I'm not mistaken. I've always had good luck with 12-guage Monster Cable. It's very flexible and durable.

Tony