Speaker Wire - What gauge?

[cab13367]

I will be installing an amp to run the cabin speakers. Currently, they are driven by the head unit's internal amp. In looking at the speaker wire that Moomba used, it seems to be a pretty heavy gauge. My question is, I am going to be running a 4 channel amp rated at 65W RMS. Is the stock speaker wire adequate, or do I need to run new, larger gauge wire to all the speakers and if so, what gauge should I use?

Those of you who have added amps to a factory system that did not originally have an external amp, did you upgrade the speaker wires or used the stock wires?

Thanks,

Al

[Buttafewcoe]

Used the stock wire, however got bigger gauge for the tower speakers when I add them.
.
B

[tazz3069]

I did not have the factory amp. Everything in my boat is new. Including the speaker wire. It's not that I did not trust the factory wiring, I just wanted to make sure that the wiring was 100%. I will check to see what size wire I used.

[McMoomba]

Cab I have used the chart on this website for a few projects and it has always worked well.
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

[byronkoz]

I used 16 guage for speakers and 10 for subs.

[04OUTBACK]

CAB,
assuming yours is wired like mine, the factory wire was pretty good.. it was much better than what most cars come with.. actually was about the same gauge as what I use in the house.

[ian ashton]

You should be able to get away with the factory wires without a problem, but speaker wire is so cheap I'd reccomend upgrading to 12 or 14 AWG, just to be positive.

[cab13367]

Thanks all. I was pleaseantly surprised that Moomba used pretty decent size speaker wire and it looked adequate to me to use with an amp and most of you have confirmed that.

Ian, it's not the cost but the hassle of having to change out the speaker wire to all six speakers. I don't want to go through the trouble. And one person who recently added amps to his 2007 LSV and used the stock speaker wires estimated them to be 12 gauge.

Thanks again everyone.

Al

[JoeTechie]

For those speakers and that amp - 14 or even 16 gauge is excellent. You are not pushing a large enough signal to need 12 gauge. That stuff is harder to run too.

Just stay away from the 20, 22 or 24 gauge stuff that comes with some gear. I think the SC standard speaker wire is 16 gauge.

-J