For a short run, 3 feet or less, I would be willing to bet that you could get away with 16 gauge, especially if you are wiring your subwoofers to the terminal cups!

 

Alrite thanks, just one more question, it says reccommended fuse is 100amps, does that mean the fuse inside the amplifier is 100Amps, or does it mean the fuse in my power line right next to the battery has to be 100Amps?

 

Your fuse next to the battery should be 100 amps or more. Technically, the fuse at the battery is there to protect your car from going up in smoke if the wire grounds out between that point and your amp. IIRC, most 4 gauge wiring kits come with either a 120 or 150 amp battery fuse.

The fuse next to the amp should be whatever the manual states you should use. If it says 100 amps, then make sure the fuse next to the amp (or in the amp) is 100 amps.

 

the amplifier should be fused on the side, that 100amp rating is for the main fuse next to the battery. 100-150amp fuse should be fine.

and IMO theres no such thing as to large of subwoofer wire dont skimp out, buy the largest walmarts got

i had a friend in high school that hooked up his own system and he did good until he wired the subwoofers.LOL he wired them with this TINY @SS WIRES that was only slightly larger than my floss.LOL and he wondered why my weak @ss 300watt amp and single sub was killen his setup.LMFAO i looked at his setup to check it out and then i seen his tiny wires and said thats your problem! i had some scrap pieces in my trunk so i kinda wired up one of his subs and it sounded 5Xs better... and i told him to go buy some large wires in walmart since we where there. he did and swaped em out to the good stuff and it was pounden like it should! boy did he feel stupid!

 

IIRC 50 feet of 16 gauge wire offers a resistance of .2 ohms and 50 feet of 24 gauge wire offers a resistance of 1.28 ohms. Of course, I always recommend using the biggest wire that you can afford, even if it means overkill.

In this case, if JizzleCX just wants to hear his speakers, he can get by with 16 gauge wire! Should he go bigger? Eventually, yes.... but he shouldn't let that stop him from hearing his subwoofers today! Then again, if the amp is relatively close to the subwoofers and the subwoofers connection to the terminal cups on the box are relatively short, 16 guage should do just fine.

 

I went out to tons of places today looking for fuses, I couldn't find a 100 amp fuse. I just ordered some off ebay, but if anyone can give me a store name that carries them for sure, it would be appreciated

 

it doesnt have to be specific for the battery fuse! even a 80amp fuse will work as long as you dont crank the music up all the way. your amplifier is not pulling full power all the time.
but any car audio store should have some!

 

Well I wired everything up, turned on the car, the amp was on, but the speakers weren't working. WTF?! I'm getting so frustrated with this crap I just wanna pump my music! One question: I'm using 8 gauge wire for my ground, but my power wire is really long (has a lot of slack in it) should I use a piece of the 4 gauge power wire for the ground instead? Because 4 gauge doesn't even fit in the slots in the amp (I had to cut some of the wire until it was thin enough to fit in) so I don't know. Also, would banana clips be the best way to connect the speaker wire to the terminals? (I don't even know if they would fit, link to my box: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=130251185344

 

Bananna clips are pretty good, but completely unnecessary unless you plan on removing your subwoofer box a lot!

Also, you should use the same gauge of wire for your ground as you did for the power.

As for your amp not getting any sound. How did you hook it up to your head unit?

ETA: I skipped reading an important part. I didn't realize that your amp won't take 4 gauge wire without trimming. Although I have a hard time believing your amp only calls for 8 gauge wire, if that is all it calls for, you will be okay with 8 AWG for your ground.

 

The amp calls for 4 gauge, I'm gonna change it tomorrow, and I'm gonna get banana clips cuz I need my trunk sometimes lol.

I troubleshooted the system today, and traced it to the amp being f***** up. I the first time I touched the power wire to the terminal I heard a *poof* sound, must have blown something, because the amp doesn't power any subs, all the wires are set up properlly (the amp gets power, ground, and I connected the remote wire last so I know it's right) I tested the subs on someone else's system and they worked perfectly, and I even tried using 8 gauge wire instead of the 16 I already have to power it, nothing. Fuse isn't poped, different RCA's don't work (tried 3 pairs), turned on subs in the headunit, nothing.

Long story short, I have to go for a 30 minute drive tomorrow to exchange my amp :@ As soon as I get the new one I'm gonna plug it right in the parking lot