Length of Speaker wire from sub to amp?

[swollen_cu 10+ year member]

hey guys i have a 500/1 powering 2 10w3v2 in a ported box and wanted to move my amp under my passenger seat so i can push my box all the way against my back seat. But my concern in about the length of the wire going from the subs to the amp.

From my passenger seat to my trunk is about 5-6 feet in wire. Would it be ok to run 5-6 feet of 14AWG speaker wire to the subs without having any problems?

Thanks in advanced.

Click to read more...

 

[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

no issues

 

[TNTR70 10+ year member]

no problem at all....if you can get some thicker wire then change it out later but you'll be fine

 

[swollen_cu 10+ year member]

no issues

no problem at all....if you can get some thicker wire then change it out later but you'll be fine

THANKS! i'll be doing this soon than. So i can have more trunk room!

 

[RuinedAng3l 10+ year member]

I believe 14AWG is enough for a 500/1 on 2 10w3v2s... I dont see a need for any bigger...

 

[MakeshiftAudio 10+ year member]

Well, to make an accurate guess, what load are the speakers wired to? IE 1 ohm, 2 ohm, 30 ohm with 300'dbs?

 

[joeboxer5876 10+ year member]

good to go! if money is no issue, why not get some 12 gauge though! won't be a noticeable difference though.

 

[swollen_cu 10+ year member]

Well, to make an accurate guess, what load are the speakers wired to? IE 1 ohm, 2 ohm, 30 ohm with 300'dbs?

they are at a 4ohm load.

I already finished the wiring today, but now i have a bad alternator whining noise. A couple of months ago, i had no alternator whine, and just before i decided to rerun the system, i got some alternator whine. AND NOW after i have rerun the sysytem, each amp having their own separate ground, i have a bad alternator whine. I sanded down the spots to bare metal where i put the grounds, and made sure that it was tight.

THe alternator whine only appears when i either accelerate about 3/4 throttle or get into passing gear to pass someone up on the road.

Here's my setup just incase anyone needs to know:

Kenwood Headunit

Audiobahn 4 Channel

JL 500/1

2 10w3v2

Optima Yellow top with 2/3 Big 3.

Dual 4 gauge running from the battery.

Rockford fosgate Twisted Pair RCAs.

I am going to get my alternator tested tomorrow to make sure that it is putting out enough volts to the system before i jump to coclusions about anything.

If the alternator is fine, then i will try to ground the headunit first. Also, going to try the ground looop insulators, or maybe even possibly relocating my grounds to a different spot...

 

[AlterEgo99 5,000+ posts]

It is preferable that you ground your amps and your HU to the same common ground. 90% of the time this will solve the alternator whine problem.

Here is a very good link you should check out that will help you isolate where the alternator whine is originating from (HU, amp, sound processor, etc.):

http://www.termpro.com/articles/noise.html

 

[SicAudio 5,000+ posts]

It is preferable that you ground your amps and your HU to the same common ground. 90% of the time this will solve the alternator whine problem.
Here is a very good link you should check out that will help you isolate where the alternator whine is originating from (HU, amp, sound processor, etc.):

http://www.termpro.com/articles/noise.html

are you smoking crack? grounds for an amp are supposed to be as short as possible, less than 24 inches if you can, not run 15 feet up to the deck lolz.

 

[MrChow 10+ year member]

http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

Try that out...

 

[swollen_cu 10+ year member]

It is preferable that you ground your amps and your HU to the same common ground. 90% of the time this will solve the alternator whine problem.
Here is a very good link you should check out that will help you isolate where the alternator whine is originating from (HU, amp, sound processor, etc.):

http://www.termpro.com/articles/noise.html

well i have one amp under each seat, so i cant really run run a long ass ground to one of the amps. thats just too much wire. I thikn the problem was that i used a preexisting ground that was already on the car. IT was a bunch of 22awg wires bolted down with a 10mm bolt.

I think i am going to try and created a new ground spot tomorrowm and groudn my HU. I am going to follow the steps on the site you gave me and see how that works.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

are you smoking crack? grounds for an amp are supposed to be as short as possible, less than 24 inches if you can, not run 15 feet up to the deck lolz.

never really understood why people get all bent on this issue.

It's a simple matter of resistance and wire >= 4ga is roughly the same resistance as a car's chassis over the same length. The few tests I have seen claim the average chassis is equivalent to something between 1/0 and 4 ga.

It might be SLIGHTLY advantageous to run a short ground to the chassis, but if there are noise issues, and making the ground a few feet longer to ground to a certain spot fixes it, by all means fix the noise.

Resulting change in voltage drop will be in the hundredths of a volt at the worst.