I have one Ref 1052 10" runing off a Ref 1600a amp @ 600 watt peak

should i do 4 gauge or 8?

 

4ga.

 

8 will work fine, but I would use 4 so if you ever upgrade to a bigger amp you don't have to rewire it.

 

^+1

8 will work but 4 will be much better and leave you room to grow.

 

The current draw for 600w is 42.8A at 14.4v (I=p/v, 600/14.4) assuming a 60% efficiency of the amp gives peak current draw of 71.3A.

71.3A through 15' of 8ga is a 1.4v drop, same through 4ga is 0.5v drop. as a general rule 0.5v drop is acceptable. I would go for the 4ga, it's more suited for a 600w-1000w amp. I only like to use 8ga on amps in the 300w range. Anything over 1000w should use 1/0.

 

http://nedm.tunl.duke.edu/~yq/resear...Gauge_Size.htm

 

As people have said 8 is fine but go with 4 gauge. I assume you are mainly asking b/c of budget constraints.

 

Price is not that much of a difference if you think. $10-15 maybe for the 4 over the 8. Look into the long run. If you ever want to upgrade just get the 4ga now.

 

I went with 0 guage and ran a wire for every RCA cable my deck had. Wiring that car is a pain in the a$$. I only wanted to do it once no matter what I wanted in there later. Might cost a few extra now, but later on it may save you time and frustration.