I heard the Big 3 doesn't work...
 

As the title states. Whats the deal? I went to Oxford Audio on Kennedy today and through speaking with the guy there I was told the big 3 doesn't work well for American cars.

"On Japanese cars its great, but on American cars like yours it doesn't work because they already use a big wire...they put in 8 guage...its a big 8 guage...the best thing is just change your alternator and get a bigger battery."

Thats the short version to our discussion. In my head I was thinking he just wanted to sell me a battery because the first thing he mentioned when we talked about batteries after I told him the vehicle was "...the 1800." Then I asked if he was talking about the Kinetik HC 1800 and he looked at the floor and then said "Uh yeah Kinetik HC 1800". He was telling me it was $400 so in my head I was also thinking this guy's off his rocker, theres an economic crisis and I need a stimulus package, but it seemed as though he was more interested in make the sale on a big item.

But is it true? The big 3 doesn't work that well on American cars? I should really just get a bigger battery and put in under my hood?

if anything the big 3 is absolutely needed on most american cars. The trucks have big wiring. The cars are usually pathetic and the wiring would be restrictive with loads the car puts on the electrical system, never mind the audio.

Most american cars do give a good sized alternator (105amp on most)..this being american cars that are not rebadged foreign cars.

that person working at that shop is a tard. I can't comment as to the rest of the people at that shop, but you got the wrong guy there.

8 gauge is not very large
Americal Wire Gauge (AWG) goes from larger to smaller meaning that; 0>2>4>8>12 etc
8 gauge is 3.2mm diameter, it cannot do more then 50amps of current.

Edit: See above comment

See I was going to get into the more technical stuff with him, but the more he mentioned my best bet being to spend 400 on a battery from them, the more I wanted to leave. Here I was planning to do it with multiple runs of the 8 ga. I plan to rip out of my van he's trying to make me spend money. Maybe I should have told him I'm a CCA member, then maybe he would have thought twice knowing I would come here and file a complaint lol

for the big 3, I always reccomnd 0, or 2 guage...overkill is just enough kill when it scomes to power supply.

nm read it again... guy is full of and gives shops a bad name. people like him are why i buy online.

he's right. you need a bigger battery. go back and pay the $400.

You were talking to a salesman, he may or may not be technical. He did have a plan for you though and the plan involved a sale.
A modest goal when assembling a loud system is to have the volume knob control your stereos volume, where max volume from the HU produces the max volume your stereo is capable of making. Without a good battery and without good wiring you may be short changing yourself. Always fix inexpensive and easy things quickly, the big $ purchases can wait, that is why the 'big three' is so important because it is cheap and easy.

big 3 works on my van. still a voltage drop even with a good batt but a hell not as much as it use too.big 3 first and batt after or both if you can

i used 0 gauge for it

big 3 will do nothing but help in any application. The guy's a idiot.