Has Anyone Ever Ran Speakerwire Into The The Driver/passenger Doors? Man I Have To Drill Out The Mollex Plug And Everything, Such A Pain! Have You Done This? If Not How Did You Do It?

 

That's the way to so it.

Search for Molex and you'll find instructions.

 

Yes, I have done it, and yes, it is a pain in the ***, and yes, it is necessary, if you are running high enough power to the speakers in the door (my opinion is anything over 100 watts per speaker needs new wire.)

 

It indeed sucks but at least you only have to do it once, per door. I however wanted a challenge so I ran 2 sets of wires per door.

 

Thats actually what I did, since I biamped my front speakers. 12 gauge wire to each component. PITA. But worth it, I think.

 

Do you have any references that say it is neccessary. I'm not being a jerk... I've tried and tried to find info on how much power each guage of speaker wire can handle and haven't come across anything. It seems like everyone just says its necessary without any scientific fact to prove it.

Again, I'm not trying to be an *******, just very curious on this issue.

This may be an issue for the Mythbusters!

Thanks much!

 

Read this: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articl...ter-cables.htm paying particular attention to the section on speaker wire.

Tehn read the BCAE page on it, located here: http://www.bcae1.com/wire.htm

And finally, you can enter in your wire gauge, amp power, wire length, and see if it works, at the calculator located here: http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/spe...rassistant.swf

Next time, though, try doing a bit of searching, since those were all easy google searches.

 

http://www.bcae1.com/wire.htm

So I found this site...

Lets say you are running 100w per channel from your amp through a 14 foot run of wire to the components in your door.

Theoretically...

... if our factory speaker wire is 22guage (which is really thin, anyone know what guage the wires is stock??) is now getting ~81watts of power which according to this calculator is .93db loss (which is still inaudible)

... if our factory speaker wire is 20 guage then you get ~87watts of power resulting in a .6db loss.

... if you upgrade to 18 guage then you are getting ~92watts of power resulting in a .38db loss.

... if you were to upgrade the cable to lets say 16 guage you are getting ~95watts of power resulting in a .24db loss

Assuming this calculator is somewhat reliable...
If our cars are using 20 guage speaker cable stock then I do not think the lose is all that bad. It is worth upgrading the speaker cable running only ~100w to your components? IMHO I don't think its worth the time and aggravation. If

 

heh, was posting that reply as you posted. I did try some searching, guess I wasn't using the right terms in google. Thanks for the links.

 

Yes, it is less than 1 dB of loss, but there are other factors; the error it gives for the 14 ft run with 100 watts of power for either 20 or 22 gauge is

In this case, it is not too much loss, but too few cm/A , which is still bad.

Also, the stock speaker wire is in fact 22 gauge.

So, maybe the cutoff isn't 100 watts, but it is pretty close to that. Also, 14 feet may be a conservative length, due to how convoluted your run from the amps to the speakers in the door may be.

Either way, to me, it was worth it.

Dave

 

Wierd... i'm pushing 150 watts... haha I am running 450/4 pushing MB QUART Q 216 Signatures. So I am guessing it isn't pushing to its TRUE potential?

 

Found this... does this apply to our situation?

"6. Wire all the speakers in parallel and connect to the amplifier. Use 22 gauge for low wattage short runs, 18 gauge for higher wattage or long runs. Do not use 24 gauge with amplifiers above 250 watts or 22 gauge with amplifiers above 400 watts due to over current in fault conditions."


http://www.yorkville.com/default.asp?p1=6&p2=17&p_id=73



But anyways... I want to replace the speaker wires! Is there instructions how to run the wire and stuff down all that crap? Let me know... thanks!

 

Depends on how long your speaker wire runs are, but yes, you are losing some power due to resistance. That lost power is actually getting converted to heat, which is never good. Use the calculator on the links provided to figure out how much you are losing; it all depends on how long the wires are.

I doubt you are in danger of a fire anytime soon, but it's definitely not the optimal situation.

 

thats a rough estimate; you can use the calculator at the link provided to see how much you are losing.

I don't know of any instructions on running new wire. I will see it is truly a pain in the rear to run new wire to the door. If you don't have to do it, I wouldn't recommend it. However, if you are running a lot of power through the stock wires, you should change them out. It depends on the amp you are using.

Dave

 

I am using a 450/4 JL amplifier. It pushes 150watts rms to the fronts and 50watts to the rear. Do you think I should change it?