Correct subwoofer wire gauge?

[oxphatxo]

I am running over 1200 watts rms per sub into 8 Titanium Elite subwoofers and my install is at the point where i've already wired for subs. I scratched my head and thought about it for a minute. Sh*t, am I using thick enough wire to run them? I'm using 12 gauge speaker wire, but on the spool of wire it says "handles up to 150 watts per channel". I can't believe I never thought about that part.
Anyone have something to say about this? Is it ok, or do I need to pair up 8 gauge power wires together or something?

[Jacampb2]

Is that Canadian watts RMS or US?

J/K

For music, IMO, good 12g speaker wire is probably fine. For test tone at full power for competition, probably not. In my old Camaro, I ran Eclipse Ti 12's and they were all wired with 8g for speaker wire. Everyone thought it was crazy, but I *thought* I could hear an improvement.

From an electrical standpoint, the wire is far to high resistance for that power level, and will severely limit the actual power that gets to the subs.

BTW, you got any pics of the system? I am intrigued

Later,
Jason

[oxphatxo]

I am still working on the system right now, I will be taking some pics within the next week. It looks like I might have to order some thicker speaker wire though now, I don't wanna risk having the speaker wire being the weakest link. So it looks like ANOTHER week or two before I can actually have the system ready. I'll post them into a new thread posted as something like "The 8 TiElite system".
Thanks for the push in the right direction.

[Jacampb2]

At 1200 Wrms, and assuming a 2 ohm load, then the current flow at maximum power is ~25amps. 12g wire is rated for about 21 amps, so it is not that much to small. If the drivers are 4 ohm, that puts maximum output at ~17 amps, in which case, 12g is perfectly fine, as long as the length is reasonable. If the drivers are 2 ohm, then the minimum wire gauge is 11g which is good for 26 amps, safer and a hell of a lot easier to find would be 10g. 8g is definitely overkill, but it looks cool

If you want to read about everything there is to know that is car audio related to wire, check out this link: http://www.bcae1.com/wire.htm

There is a speaker wire calculator near the top of the page.

Later,
Jason

[KHPower]

if you plan on using 12 gauge I would recommend Phoenix golds Power Flow , I use it to compete with 1600 watts to 1 15''. As long as you use good 12 gauge you should be ok. If you are planning on evert over powering your subs to do burps and are only using them to copete then I would do 10 or 8 gauge.

Other then that I agree with Jason .

[oxphatxo]

I found a guy on ebay who is actually local to me, he has 8 gauge speaker wire. So 8 gauge it is... And now I don't have to wait a week or more for shipping. Bonus! That calculator is great, thanks for the link Jason.

[bdubs767]

all depeends on how far the run of wire is....

It all about resistance....


12 gauge will be fine for 1200 watts. If you get worried abotu ti and are anal you can always double the wire up and not waste money on the 8 gauge wire. Also you dont need to buy speaker wire, you can use any 8 gauge wire.

[Bfowler]

12awg will do the job. there is a calculator on BCAE1.com that can show you the near unmeasurable drop in voltage from 8 to 12 awg.

imo; the cost, ease of instalation, and avalability make 12awg the one to use.

[Francious70]

I've always used just regular speaker wire for my subs. Whatever gauge I have lying about. Shouldn't harm you in the least. Key word is Shouldn't

[stipud]

With 8 subs you're probably going to run quite a length of wire. If kept short, 12g would be no issue. I suppose it depends what your longest run of wire will be. If less than 10ft I think 12g would be okay.

[Jacampb2]

12awg will do the job. there is a calculator on BCAE1.com that can show you the near unmeasurable drop in voltage from 8 to 12 awg.

imo; the cost, ease of instalation, and avalability make 12awg the one to use.

Earlier in the thread, I posted the link to that calculator. If you look at the bottom of it, it agrees with me, it says there is a problem with the 12g. The voltage drop is not that much with 12g, but the circular mills is too small. I too agree that 12g is likely fine, because the possibility of the system actually delivering 1200Wrms for long enough to cause damage is pretty slim. However, we don't know what his plans are for this, and if it is going to be a shop SPL demo or something, and playing wide open a lot of tte time, then it is better safe than sorry IMO. 10g speaker wire is out there, and is not unreasonable. 8g is overkill, but it will still be cool

Later,
Jason

[Bfowler]

12awg will do the job. there is a calculator on BCAE1.com that can show you the near unmeasurable drop in voltage from 8 to 12 awg.

imo; the cost, ease of instalation, and avalability make 12awg the one to use.

Earlier in the thread, I posted the link to that calculator. If you look at the bottom of it, it agrees with me, it says there is a problem with the 12g. The voltage drop is not that much with 12g, but the circular mills is too small. I too agree that 12g is likely fine, because the possibility of the system actually delivering 1200Wrms for long enough to cause damage is pretty slim. However, we don't know what his plans are for this, and if it is going to be a shop SPL demo or something, and playing wide open a lot of tte time, then it is better safe than sorry IMO. 10g speaker wire is out there, and is not unreasonable. 8g is overkill, but it will still be cool

Later,
Jason

ah, you are quite right. i left the calculator at 4ohms also.

[stipud]

8 subs is over the top. 8 gauge sub wire will fit right in

Now you just need... 8 batteries, and 8 alternators?

[oxphatxo]

Check the install section, my setup with pics is in there now.