what gauge wire should i be using for speaker wire?

[Tigerboy]

hey guys, so i feel like my speaker wire is too thin for my front speakers. i currently have 18ga wire on them running back to the amp. according to this list here http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/1005-wirefuse-guide/ it should be good for 120 watts, but is that max or RMS? because that's a big difference.

so what I'm running for the front stage is the following:

6ga wire back to the amp, http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22382_Pioneer-GM-D9500F.html

only using the two front channels, the fader is turned to front and the gain is all the way down on the rear channels. so it shouldn't be consuming power there right?

the front speakers are alpine type S comps sps-600c, specs are really close to the new models, so here's that

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_34373_Alpine-SPS-610C.html

mine were rated 75rms when i get em, and they have 18ga from the amp to them up in the doors.

i have issues with the front left speaker right now that I'm working out and may replace the wire, so I'm thinking ill go a higher gauge but i wanted a recommendation for gauge, looking at 18ga it looks like string.

[Tebo]

You dont really need bigger than 14ga-16ga wire for your door speakers.

[siucsaluki11]

id run 14-12ga for speaker wire, i think mine is 12ga, and I'm only running 50w RMS/ch (have my tweeters and mids ran active and nothing in my rear doors). I went with larger wire so i only had to run it once, so when i do go with more power, i don't have to deal with running that wire again, it was a PITA.

[Tigerboy]

awesome, thanks guys, ill try re-running with 16-14, i swear something is wrong with the line right now the left side is quieter than the right. and the longer it plays the worse it gets, down to almost silent.i feel like its a short or something. or touching bare metal on the car.(would still be considered a short right?)

anyways im dealing with that tomorrow morning or evening, working around the heatwave. if you have anything else you can think of i should check LMK, i checked the connections at the amp and the RCAs at the amp and HU. i also swapped the RCAs, so left is right and right is left, the passenger speaker still is the one thats louder. so its isolated to between the amp and speaker, really hoping its not the speaker going. ill swap them around and see if that switches/fixes the problem. but yeah again thanks for answering my wire question im new to SMD and i gotta say everyone here knows there shtuff.

[siucsaluki11]

awesome, thanks guys, ill try re-running with 16-14, i swear something is wrong with the line right now the left side is quieter than the right. and the longer it plays the worse it gets, down to almost silent.i feel like its a short or something. or touching bare metal on the car.(would still be considered a short right?)

anyways im dealing with that tomorrow morning or evening, working around the heatwave. if you have anything else you can think of i should check LMK, i checked the connections at the amp and the RCAs at the amp and HU. i also swapped the RCAs, so left is right and right is left, the passenger speaker still is the one thats louder. so its isolated to between the amp and speaker, really hoping its not the speaker going. ill swap them around and see if that switches/fixes the problem. but yeah again thanks for answering my wire question im new to SMD and i gotta say everyone here knows there shtuff.

so, find anything out? Im curious as to what it could be. I would guess your driver is going out and its time for new speakers, how old are they, i had the Type S components in my blazer, then sold them when i scrapped my blazer for my lancer, and bought the peerless home audio midrange that is pretty much the exact same thing as the midrange for the Type S components. Sounds just as good if not better (when i got them i only paid $10 a piece for my mids, parts express had them on clearance) and I've been running them in the doors of my lancer for 3 years, in the suburbs of chicago, and the year and a half i spent in stillwater oklahoma. They have held up to heat, cold, humidity, all the elements that could be thrown at it...and they still work great. watch, cuz i said that, I'm going to be driving to the train for school tomorrow and one will fucking blow on me knowing my luck

[siucsaluki11]

also, since you tried reversing your RCAs, have you tried swapping which speaker is connected to which output terminals (channel of amp)? Maybe that is where your problem lies, in the output section of that specific channel of your amp....