Power Cables: Brand Name vs Cheap No-Name

[pl4yboy]

I love people who quote pictures that are right above them You get what you pay for. I would not skimp on wire because it will only cause more headaches later on. And for real, Ducky's fuse holder was GONE! If you're buying car audio wire and don't know where to start, make sure that the wire you buy meets or exceeds the AWG ratings and matches the input size for the amp.

I do it just to bug you too. Welding wire is hard to beat when you're looking at larger gauges. They really have to meet the standard for safety reasons.

[Frenchy]

There really is a big difference but it only starts to matter when you get in to real serious stereo where sound quality is noticable but the sound and power quality is only as important as the signal being sent to it or the quality in the amp that's drawing the power so unless your planning to be involved in sound competitions the difference in sound in different grade wires doesn't matter.

Really?! So I can just use standard 14 gauge wire to power my amp? I never did like the big bulky stuff. Thanks for the heads up. Moron. Most of us like our trucks intact, not as smoldering heaps.

[petey62782]

Why don't you learn to read I said different grade as in monster cable verses Walmart brand not gauge learn to read before you comment

[pl4yboy]

Why don't you learn to read I said different grade as in monster cable verses Walmart brand not gauge learn to read before you comment

While you're telling people what to do, I'll take a lesson from your grammar and speek leik thiz wit n0 punktuati0n.

Also, the difference in wire from one company to another makes no difference as far as sound quality. Wire has zero to do with sound quality when it's power wire. Don't be an idiot, stay out of the audio section.

[blade7022]

One thing I am not seeing mentioned, as to proper wire guage, is amp draw. You only need a wire heavy enough to carry the amp draw from the amp. The budget wire may claim 4awg based on the jacket size, but they still have to put the max amp rating along with it. Best way to be safe is to know the max amp rating of your amp(s) based on internal fuse ratings, or as stated by the mfg. and aim above that. Most, I repeat, MOST good quality 4awg wire is rated to 125A at 20' lengths, some oversize and can do 150 at 20'. Above that your looking at 0awg, wich for the most part is good to 300-325A at 15-18'. This is all in pure OFC wire. If you get into CCA wire, it all goes down, eg. oversized CCA 0awg can go up to 20A at 20'. Just incase some didn't know.

[Sport91]

Are we allowed to point and laugh on this board??


WTF.........

[speedie mc pete]

I worked in the Telecommunications field for a few years. The differance in the "same guage wire" was astronomical. On another note to this all sometimes the "cheaper" wire is made mostly of metal strands, and NOT copper. So you get a mix of copper and steel resulting in the same guage wire as the quality stuff you obviously pay more for. The "signal" is definitely compromised when you use the cheaper stuff. My boss found out the hard way when we had a systems crash on New Years Nite and he had to go in and fix the issue.

[pl4yboy]

^ As long as it is copper, you're good to go. More strands is obviously better for carrying power. When it is a power wire for a sub amplifier, you aren't going to notice a difference in quality as long as they carry the same power. Subs don't need the perfectly clean signal that components and such do to sound good.