Not all power wires are made the same even at the same wire size
10-22-07, 10:12 AM
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Not all power wires are made the same even at the same wire size
I'm sure most people into car audio know this but for the ones that don't you shouldn't take a manufacturer's word on their wire size.
Take for example this weekend where I needed about 4 ft of 4 gauge ground wire. I went to a stereo shop near my place. They only them in red. When I asked if they had black or some other color he said they use red for both + and - because the wires are hidden anyways. So if you forget which is which and fry your amp or your electrical system, that's just is fine? Okay. He then offered to open a wiring kit and sell me just the black ground. I took one look at the amount of wire strands and I knew instantly it wasn't 4 gauge even though the package said 4 gauge. There was more rubber shielding than the wire strands. I've seen 8 gauge with more wire strands than this. I told him this isn't 4 gauge and he starts off on some bs about you'll want more rubber because it's more flexible. LOL, yea like I'm going to be running the wire at 90 degree bends. I also couldn't understand why he was so motivated on trying to sell me 4 ft of power cable.
So I went to another shop and they carried power wires made by Kicker. Much better quality wire and true 4 gauge. I'm currently wired with StreetWires (great stuff too). So basically avoid the cheap no brand power wires because you are not getting what you're paying for.
Take for example this weekend where I needed about 4 ft of 4 gauge ground wire. I went to a stereo shop near my place. They only them in red. When I asked if they had black or some other color he said they use red for both + and - because the wires are hidden anyways. So if you forget which is which and fry your amp or your electrical system, that's just is fine? Okay. He then offered to open a wiring kit and sell me just the black ground. I took one look at the amount of wire strands and I knew instantly it wasn't 4 gauge even though the package said 4 gauge. There was more rubber shielding than the wire strands. I've seen 8 gauge with more wire strands than this. I told him this isn't 4 gauge and he starts off on some bs about you'll want more rubber because it's more flexible. LOL, yea like I'm going to be running the wire at 90 degree bends. I also couldn't understand why he was so motivated on trying to sell me 4 ft of power cable.
So I went to another shop and they carried power wires made by Kicker. Much better quality wire and true 4 gauge. I'm currently wired with StreetWires (great stuff too). So basically avoid the cheap no brand power wires because you are not getting what you're paying for.
10-23-07, 01:14 AM
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10-23-07, 02:31 PM
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