2 Runs Of Speaker Wire. Is It Okay? (just Need To Make Sure)

[RamenNoodles]

I use 8 gauge power wire from knu for my subs

[Forevrbumpn]

speaker wire gauge is over rated

nothing wrong at all with doubling up 14g, but if you are maxing the woofer, running 1ohm, stuff like that, its a little more important to go up a size or 2 or 3

One think I learned in electronics is, with AC size isn't THAT big of a deal, as compared to DC

If it did matter, why wouldn't an amp that takes 4 gauge in, have 4 gauge out?

Since its AC, and it alternates, the wire doesn't get warm as if it were a DC out on the amp

Why else is a 220v dryer that draws 30 amps only use 10- 12 gauge on there power cords? because its AC- and that is at about 6,600watts of use at peak, probably more realistic at 2000-3000 watts continuous

Another example is the power lines that go from power stations to your home. In the air they are what, 120,000v AC? and that is only like equivelant to a 4/0 g wire

But I assume people use small gauge power wire to keep electrical resistance as close to the coils resisitance as possible

DVC 4ohm coil actually read close to 4ohm at the amp, than 5ohms

Edited February 17, 2009 by Forevrbumpn

[Airborne]

How about 4ga? I have plenty laying around and am going to give it a shot when my new subs hit the doorstep.

[SPL2K]

2 runs of 14 ga is fine.

[Team Sundown's Charles]

2 runs of 14 ga is fine.

THE MAN HAS SPOKING

Check his stats if you don't know!!!

[raytard]

foreverbumpin, voltage doesnt mean anything, you can run 200k volts through 22g, the amperage is what matters

running 30amps peak through 10g, not so impressive, even if it does come out to 6000watts, its only 30 amps, and thats what the wire carries, the amperage.

that being said, you're fine dooubling up 14g for the subs, but doing a single run of 8 is probably a better bet.

[tacomabanga1986]

i unno why but how come i cant search for this company on the net? my local shop sells this stuff its called, mobile engineering inc. hyper stream 8gauge 2conductor speaker wire, its like $3ft tho but is tight as hell and cleans up space alot, i love this shit tho i wonder if anyone can find a website that sells it cheaper, i think its the only 8guage speakerwire ive seen, not like runnin 8guage single conductors this has 2 in the same caseing just like 10guage speakerwire n so on, looks like other companys would do this or is it cheaper to buy 8guage single conductor wire vs 8guage dual conductor speakerwire?

edit: it has some japaneese shit wrote on it also, but anyways most ppl run 12awg to subs so i unno why dual 14awg will hurt it, just as long as its not single 14awg, i dont think ur amp will like it lol

Edited February 17, 2009 by tacomabanga1986

[kentb]

2 runs of 14 ga is fine.

THANK YOU SIR.

was wondering why all the people are talking about wire size....

just need to know if there are penalties on the signal if using 2 runs of a speaker wire.

[Solotriggerman]

I have two runs of 14g on my BL no distortion or loss sounds good to me.

[creyc]

Regarding two runs of wire to a sub, perfectly fine and wont affect quality. Especially not at the frequencies we're talking about for bass, hell a stick covered in aluminum foil would probably work.

Secondly, strand count is a very poor method for comparing a wire's current carrying capacity, since again, at the frequencies we're dealing with power conducts THROUGH the conductor not on the outer skin as is the case for HF. Not to mention the size of the strand is NOT defined in either circumstance, it's a guess at best. So the proper way to compare the ampacity of two cables is to look at the conductors cross sectional area, in circular mils or kcmils.

A 14g conductor is 4106 cmils.

Two 14g conductors in parallel is 8212 cmils.

An 8g conductor is 16507 cmils. To equal the same current carrying capacity in a 14g cable you would need 4 parallel conductors.

Two 14g conductors is between a 12g and 10g conductor, perfectly fine for most subwoofer wiring tasks.