Hey guys,

I'm about to upgrade my wiring finally, since it's way too small for my amps. I need 1/0. I know people have recommended KNU Konceptz and Stinger. Pricing out what I need from KNU (including some 4 guage and 8 guage), the total will be a little over $100. Seems a little steep, so I started to look at www.weldingsupply.com for welding cable. KNU sells 1/0 audio cable for $2.25/ft. Welding supply sells 1/0 welding cable for just under $1.00/ft. So you can see why I'd be more inclined towards the welding cable.

I've done some reading about the use of welding cable for audio power on the caraudio.com forums. Many people claim that there's no downfall in using welding cable, short of it's ugly appearance, which I don't care about anyway. But is there a definitive answer to whether I can use this stuff or not? It would save me a helluva lot of dough. Thanks for the help.

-Brian

 

It'll work. So long as it's flexible I'd say go for it. One of the beauties of DIY is the money savings. Compare what a typical car audio shop would charge for 1/0 to knukonceptz which is nice n reasonable, to welding which is a steal (long as it's flexible) and you saved yourself some money.

Kudos! Make sure it's flexible. Obviously it's gonna be insulated well. I'm sure on those car audio forums, theres a few people who use and agree on one wire. Go wtih that one.

 

i hear flexibility is the issue.....harder to work with in those regards..but it is cable....

 

I am a mark for Stinger so you know what I would suggest. The Stinger Expert 0ga is uber flexable. The black ground they have is even more flexable(what I used for the big-3).

 

The KNU is also smaller than usuall. I just ordered some 4 gauge from them off e-bay and their cable is smaller than streetwire or monster cable. Also they haven't left me feedback yet( been 3 weeks) and when I ask them about it they don't reply. They answered my questions before I bought their stuff but not after.

 

!!!

my buddy just ordered the exact same thing knu concepts 4 awg off ebay, and i compared to my monster 4awg and it was noticably smaller. hrmm.. won't be purchasing from them anymore

 

Good heads up about the power wire. Thank you. VERY interesting.

Their RCA's are prolly the thing most people praise about them from a price/quality standpoint, but thats definately good to know when buying power wire, or if you're gonna really support them.

Thats dissapointing. And bad customer service? Well that's inexcusable. What a shame to hear. I was considering buying interconnects from them.

Edit: Oh, and you can make up your own mind but as long as were throwing around wire companies, what to buy, and what not to, some may consider avoiding the all powerful Monster because of their tendency to sue.


You can google search "monster lawsuits" or Litigation if you want. I've seen some more credible links than others, but that was a while ago. I don't like them because I think they're overpriced and not worth it, and unfortunately everywhere you go now. The lawsuit thing to me is just the icing on the cake.

I have soo much power wire lying around that thats not going to be a prob any time soon. But for RCA's, at the end of the day, I think i'm just gonna choose something that matches...I guess look for black, slick looking RCA's that are of decent quality.....

 

So how about using welding wire? Anybody?

 

Most important things to look for are strand count,thickness of strands and how tightly wound the strands are. These are key factors to consider. Flexiblility and appearance are all personal choice.

Welding cable lacks flexiblility due to the very low strand count and very large strange lously wound.

Just food for thought.

 

That's what I've been wondering about. Because I've read a few posts over on CA.com in which people who have apparently used welding cable claim that it's just as flexible as audio cable. The low strand count and poorly wound wire you're describing sounds like regular electrical wire. I thought welding cable had a higher strand count than normal electrical wire?

 

knukoncepts boasts a high strand count though...I love their wire, I am buying some 1/0.

 

hey man sorry to bump and old thread, but if you're still curious about the weld wire, i checked some out at work today for you, i remembered this thread when i saw it for some reason

The strand count seems pretty high, seems like its plenty.. the wire is plenty flexible, it would be very easy to run throught your car (just as easy as audio cable im sure) ..it was some 1/0 gauge btw.

 

Cool, I definitely appreciate it. I found a welding supply store right near me, so I'm going to call them up and see how much they'll charge for 1/0. Thanks again!

 

So what wire did you get?

Tony

 

I used 4 ga. welding wire on my old 3rd gen. It was flexible and had a high strand count, was wound just fine. Side by side, my old streetwires 4. ga. had more strands but I didn't notice any problems or negatives aspects in using it...

 

now...i want to know where in the freakin firewall do i put the power wire?!?!??! im having such a hard time and my friends tell me but i really dont know what im looking for lol... a rubber plug in the middle....im like ok yeah hold on,

help please?
i know this is a bad place to post this but i cant make new threads yet and this seems like a reasonable place sorry if theres another place i didnt look that hard for one lol

 

Nothing a little paint, or sleaves couldn't fix

 

oh...what about putting it through the steering rubber boot thingy?...its a rubber peice through the firewall and i could seal it back up with silicon. feedback please?

 

I have some welding wire for my amp, Its very flexable. I didnt use it for my main in power wire but I dont see where its a problem. as long as it can stand the high temp in the engine bay.

 

Hey guys,

Unfortunately, I had too much to do before going back to school, and I didn't have a chance to do the wire. I'll probably get around to it sometime later this year, but for now, it's 4 awg for me.

I tried calling that welding place and got somebody else. They might be out of business, not sure, but I really didn't pursue it after that. From the looks of the situation, though, I'll probably be going with welding wire when the time comes.