Speaker Wire
 

I'm going to run all new speaker wire when I install the Infinity's I ordered today. Any suggestions on what gague or brand? I'm running a Pioneer Premier 45x4 amp off the factory head.

Re: Speaker Wire
 

I have the BEST suggestion you can get....LEAVE THE SPEAKER WIRES ALONE! lol

really....with only 45watts/channel RMS you do NOT need to upgrade your speaker wires.....they are good up to about 80 watts.....

now...unless you just enjoy pain and just HAVE GOT TO change out the wires.....I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you just put the new speakers in and enjoy.....you will be much happier if you do.

All speakers I have purchased have come with 16 Guage wires, running to speakers that can take 75 RMS watts. When I had my amp powering my sedan speakers off the factory HU, I ran the factory speaker wires to the amp inputs using a RCA line converter (2), then used the 16 guage wires to run the amp outputs to the speakers.

Sir Nuke is right when saying use the factory speaker wires if you are able to. I have my alpine HU powering my speakers in my Protege 5 with the factory speaker wire and they sound perfect under a high load (60 Max watts, 27 RMS).

The only problem is getting the factory speaker wires out of their original position to the amp inputs, depending on where you are going to have the amp. I had mine under the passenger seat similar to Sir Nuke in my sedan. I actually just left the factory speaker wires in their place and connected other wires to them and lead them to the amp, under the seat. I did this becasue I knew I would not own the car for a long time and wanted to put the stock speakers back in place when I got rid of the car.

This took a little more time and had some extra wire running through your car, but there is pleanty of room to put the wire under the interior side plastic moldings.

I had no reason to take the factory HU out when installing my 4 channel amp to power the speakers. I also had the 200 watt amp powering my subwoofer in the trunk. Had both amps grounded under a bolt in the back seat of the sedan. They say to ground multiple amps to the same ground point in the car to eliminate any multiple ground problems (distortion/frequency interference noises).

I put my amp turn on wires into a fuse in the fuse box in the drivers side of the car. I can let you know the fuse. It is one that has power going to it only when the car is on......keeps you fom installing the switch like mentioned before. The turn on wire is a low amp/voltage wire and can be pretty much tapped anywhere.

Well, any other questions you have either PM me or place it on this thread.

Good luck this weekend.

-R

Well, to give reasons, I wanted to re-wire the speakers not necessarily due to the inadequecy of the factory wiring, but more due to the fact that somewhere along the chain of splices in my current setup I have developed a problem.

I noticed that my right rear speaker stopped playing- so naturally I assumed that either the wire had come off of the speaker or that there was some problem with the crappy speaker I had in there.

So, I cracked the door open and saw that the wires were connected- no problem there. I decided to take a speaker from my home stereo and connect it to the wires in the door... still no sound. Hmmm... Then I connected that speaker directly to the amp and, of course, it worked fine.

Now, I've done a fair bit of wiring over the years & I'm pretty sure I know how to splice 2 wires together. So... I have to idea what the hell happened to my wiring. Hence, I'll have to do some rooting around ayway & figured I might as well upgrade. But it sounds as if I might be better served just to track down my wiring issue and call it a day. Thanks guys.

Well I reran the speaker wires to the front doors on my car. Kinda had too i'm also running 160 watts to each side :eek: . I have a dx so i had less wires to contend with in the doors. I'm running knukonceptz Karma 16AWG Speaker Kable to each door. I didn't find the running the wire to the doors that difficult. All you need to do is open the door as wide as you can. Pop the rubber gromet that goes from the door to the car. Pull out the plastic molding. Now carefully look at it and determine which sections aren't being used. On mine I had 4 small compartments grouped together that weren't being used(no wires on both sides). Next you want to take a small drill bit and drill out each small compartment. Next you want to take a larger drill bit, i had one that fit perfectly within all four compartments. Use this drill bit to take most of the plastic out of the center. Next take a small round file and go to work filing away all the small pieces of plastic still in there. Just take your time, it wasn't difficult just tedious. :cool:

All I can say is be prepared to go through some shit trying to route those wires!! I have 16 gauge going to my kick panels, but used the skinny cheapass factory wires to the 6 1/2 inch midbass in the doors. I can't tell any difference from the 6 1/2s from when they were in a previous car and wired with 16 gauge. You may not want to fuck with it because you will save yourself sweat, curse words, time, and all the frustrations that go along with it. By the way, I didn't get the year car, but mine is a 2001 and that thing was a bitch trying to run wire to the doors, that I gave up trying. Just trying to save you the headache. It's a pain in the ass!:inthebum:

MisterT:shift:

BTW - the stock wiring can easily handle more than 80 watts, too.

Nuke's recommendation is at the conservative end of the scale, and that's fine. But I run 100+ watts through the stock door wiring with no problems whatsoever.

As for your speaker issue - sounds like something that may have come loose behind the deck. All it takes is one strand of wire poking through a connection and touching metal to shut the speaker down. IMO, it would be far easier to troubleshoot the existing wire than run new stuff into the doors.

More power to ya' if you decide to tackle it, though. I know it has been done successfully by several people here. But realize that 45 watts in not even close to the power limits of the stock wiring, as floss-thin as that is.

~HH

I'm having the same doubts about my future install, you guys says that the stock wiring can take it and that it wont affect SQ, I can believe that. But the thing that bugs me is not the wires themselves but the conections I'd have to make: splicing the wires from the amp to the stock wires then splicing again the ones that come out inside the doors to get enough lenght to hook them up to the crossover. Do you guys have components or coaxels(sp)?

I have 2-way components. So yes, there is a splice connection behind the head unit, and then another splice inside the door to extend the wires to the crossover. I mounted my crossovers inside the door, so as not to necessitate running any new wires through the jamb.

It works just fine.

~HH

I have components in the kick panels with 16 gauge wire running to the back and the midbass in the front doors running off of the 22 or so gauge factory wires. These are SoundStream Reference 6 1/2" midbass drivers that are getting 75watts RMS from the amp, and it works just fine. At first I was hesitant because of the size driver and the oversize magnet (for a 6 1/2), that the wires wouldn't be adequate, but I honestly cannot tell any difference.

Mister T :shift:

Damn it, it would save me a ton of trouble and I would also avoid having to drill the plastic moldings, knowing my luck I'd probably screw something up. Decisions, decisions.....

What's the worst thing that could happen if I use the stock wiring and it can't take the power? would it damage the speakers or would it just stop conducting the signal and I'd have to replace it?

The worst thing that could happen is you will get a crackling noise at very high volume, and only at very high volume.

You will not damage your speakers or anything else. And you can be 99% sure that the stock wires will have no issues carrying the juice you'll be pushing. Speaker wire is not a high-current situation - it's not like you can start a fire or anything.

It can always be redone later if you really feel the need. I have been told by several people that until you start getting into the 200+ watt range, wire gauge is of no consequence.

~HH

Well, Ill give the ol' stock wires a chance when I do my install. What butt conectors did you use to splice the speaker wire? the regular kind 16g found in home depot/any other hardware store or some sort of "special" car audio kind?

You can use any ol' connectors. In fact - and LOTS of people can gimme shit for this - I just twisted my wires together. I did, however, use shrink tubing over the connections rather than electrical tape - the shrink tubing is far more durable.

Butt connectors, twisting wires - it's all fine for all but the highest level of systems. The best way to connect the wires however is definitely solder. If you can, I would solder the connections.

Frankly, I have always just twisted my wires together, used shrink tubing or electrical tape and went on my way. I've never had a problem.

~HH

I agree with Hihoslva and I have done the same thing when connecting wires for my audio system. I make sure they are well twisted together and put extra elec tape over them so it should not come off. I have never had a problem with this method.

-R