Speaker wire

Hello guys,

Yet another question for you guys.

I recently had a installation shop run wiring for me (biggest mistake ever). I find that they ran shitty patch cable as well as running their speaker wire to behind my dash just to branch onto the STOCK speaker wire. Yes, you heard correct, they used the stock speaker wire to focal components with about 90W RMS through the wire. I decided that the patch cable was the #1 priority, but will 2008 Tacoma stock speaker wires (18 guage?) hurt the sound at all? I have heard anything from "Ohh it doesn't matter" from the shop that did it to "you need no less than 16guage for 100W or power". Does anyone know what the stock speaker wire can handle?

 

i've been an installer for over 17 years and have done it both ways in the past without noticing a bit of difference. my last car was an 04.5 jetta gli and i chose to run new 16 ga. wiring because the door boots were so easy to get through. in my taco i just didn't feel like going through the hassle so i went to the factory wiring behind the radio. i am using the same amp and components that i had in the jetta and i notice not even the slightest difference. so no it really will not make a difference in the sound in my opinion.

 

I agree. Copper wire is wire is wire. The connections are going to be your weak point, just make sure you have good contact and secure the splice.

 

+1...I don't know squat about car audio- but I do know electrical engineering. The issues are going to come from the place where the splices are made.

You shouldn't notice a significant lack of volume or quality cause of those wires.

 

I think you should run some 12 gauge speaker wire or at least some 16 gauge. The Tacoma is a very easy truck to get wire through the door boots. I have two 12 gauge wires and three 16 gauge wires running to each of my door panels. Have you seen the disgraceful looking speakers that were put in these trucks? All I can say is that if you want your Focal component speakers to sound there best and not make your amplifier work any harder than it has to run new wire! You won't regret it. I rewire an 82 Impala with a new Pioneer CD player, pioneer replacement speakers, and just new wire from the CD player to the speakers. It amazed me how great it sounded without an amp. I have about $150 in speaker wire and connectors alone in my Tacoma.

 

While I don't disagree that he won't regret running new wire, there is not a need for it. Yes, the stock speakers are crap and the wire is not thick cool looking stuff, but it is more than adequate for the job. 12awg speaker wire is way overkill and will not cause the amp to run any more efficient. Physically, there is no justification for running new wire.

Now, peace of mind and the plecebo effect might be justification to do so. In that case, I reccomend kimber cable.

 

Well I ordered new RCA cables. i got a 4 way and a 2 way MONSTER CABLE XLN PRO for sub amp and 4 ch amp. They actually put a $10 Patch cable in each so there was very little shielding and I already had 2 RCA connectors fail just from detaching them!.

I'll end up doing 12/16 guage wire for all components in there, but it's not high on the priority list (since I suspected it doesn't matter and have now heard the same 2 places).


I bought a relay to set up fans with. Anyone have recommendations on how I should cool these amps? The sub amp tends to heat up a bit if running at loud volume for 20+ minutes. The reason for this is the amp rack. See below for cooling idea.



below for few more pictures of layout