I_Shaw_I

I'm starting to plan out my install and still have a lot of reading ahead of me. I've tried searching on google and the forums but haven't come across the answer to whether or not stock speaker cables need replacing....

Additional info:
I got a 2001 Sante Fe. Plan spending less than $1000.

Gen.Ben

iTrader: (4)

by stock speaker cables do you mean the speaker wire that goes from the head unit to the door speakers?

Do you plan on running your door speakers off of your head unit? Or having them powered off of a amplifier?

If you are powering your speakers from your head unit, the stock speaker wire should suffice. If you are going to be running them off a amplifier with a higher power output then you're going to have to most likely use higher gauged wire instead.

sirsleepsalot

iTrader: (1)

As Gen.Ben mentioned, if you're planning on running your speakers on a separate amplifier, your best bet is always to use higher quality bigger wire. However, you doing so is not an obligation, but a highly suggested upgrade. This being said, if you plan on using a smaller amplfier (50W to roughly 100W) will still be fine.

This is going off an estimate that factory wire is around 20AWG sized. The impedance of this wire is about 10ohms per slice of 1000feet. Guessing that we're using about 20 or so feet in a car, that equates to a 0.2ohms resistance. Now, this part I'm not 100% sure about, but I remember reading about tests that suggest that speaker wire will not produce audible differences as long as the impendance of the wire remains within a certain tolerance of the impendance of the speaker. I believe this value was 1/4, but I'd have to find the paper where I read that to confirm. Regardless, most car speakers are 4ohms, and 0.2 is well below the 4 mentionned here, and is even well within tolerance if using 2ohm drivers. Also, this wire can transmit loads of up to 11amps safely. In the case of a 100W amplifier, you should be running peaks of about 5amps, so the wire will have no trouble with this.

But again, upgrading to better wire si still very much worth it especially since wire really isn't that expensive unless you go for crazy high end stuff, but a decent quality 14 or 12 guage will suffice for about 95% of installations.

veeman

iTrader: (3)

Given that your vehicle is 9 years old now, and it probably has 18-20 awg wire...it's probably not a bad idea to upgrade at this point. Wire does get oxidized over time and 9 years is a reasonably long time for wire. OEM wire is the same as aftermarket wire and works just as well as long as it's right for the application (awg, condition, age etc..). Depending on how much power you plan to run, you'll need to determine what's the best awg to use...generally for mids 14-16 awg will do fine and Tweeters 16-18 awg is more than enough. Subwoofers may need 8-14 awg depending on power level and length.