I've gathered up most of the gear I'm going to need to do my install but I have a question for you veterans.

I have to run 1 power cable, 2 RCA's and 4 sets of speaker wire. I plan on running down both sides of the car but which wires should not be run on the same side?

For those of you in Niagara....I went to Gibbys today so this explains my confusion. [img]graemlins/freak.gif[/img]

 

Try not to run your gpower cable on the same side as your speaker and rca wiere, sometimes if you do, you can pick up noise along the way. Try and keep your rca cables as much away from your power/ground as you can.

 

Thanks JT, that's what I figured.

Now the next question.......what size of speaker wire should I buy?

[ March 07, 2004, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: Canadian GP ]

 

Well it depends really, it's not that big of a deal unless you're runing huge pwoer through it.
Some people like to run huge wire to their subs (ie 10 gauge) but that's not really neccessary.
I would say anywhere from 12 to even 16 gauge should be fine (although 16 is kinda getting on the smaller end.)

 

Hey
Like JT said, 12 awg to subs should be fine. As for speakers, 14 awg is as big as you need. Just make sure all speaker (ie, components)connections are soldered nicely (terminals). As for type? I use decent OFC stuff, but there are many who say lamp cord works just as well. I figure there's no sense in having nice audio bits (Amps, etc) and connecting them with not so nice bits. Happy install...

 

It will not matter if you run cables all down the same side of the car.

Just run a decent twisted pair cable and you will be fine! [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img]

 

^ SQ judges may feel differently

 

^why?

and where does he talk about what judges may think.

 

I agree that with good quality twisted RCAs, and a higher voltage signal, there will likely be little induced noise. Judges are not going to be ripping your panels off to see what side your cables are on, however a vetran SQ judge with a good ear may be able to hear something. It is not difficult to run the cables on the appropriote sides of the car, and it's an easy way to keep the signal path as clean as possible, so I'd say do it right the first time if you can.. Hey.. it doesn't hurt [img]smile.gif[/img]