Coyote Five O

I wondering if people don't run new wire because its more work or what ?
I haven't seen any pics of better wire run to new speakers...

I'm going to install a signal processing unit, a 400w 4 channel amp, components up front and 6.5's in the rear, i'll be sending roughly 60-80 watts to each speaker.

I haven't done anything yet except take one door panel off for a peak.
In My opinion the stock speaker wire is too small...

What do you guys think ?

_MacLeod_

You don't need to. For purists and the OCD type like me, I probably would just for my own peace of mine but for 60-80 watts, the stock wiring will be fine. You could always run new wire from the amp to the kick panels and tap into the stock wiring. Kinda the best of both worlds I guess. I haven't looked at the stock wiring but as long as it's not 22 gauge wire the thickness of sewing thread, you should be fine. Generally it should be 18 gauge and that should be thick enough for

Coyote Five O

It looked like 22 to me......
i'm not one for partial runs either, if there is a bottleneck or stepdown in size anywhere i consider the bigger wire being wasted, its also not safe practice.
I'm not seeing any ocd there ???

_MacLeod_

Not safe? Speaker wire? How is that not safe? The higher wire would not be wasted. It's a matter of resistance. It's not so much the thickness of the wire but the length. 1 foot of smaller wire would add very little resistance compared to 10 feet of larger wire. So running 16 gauge to within a foot of the speakers then tapping into the OEM wire would actually yield less resistance than running OEM wire the entire way.

But like I said, either run new wire or don't. It's not going to make an audience difference either way. I also doubt it's 22 gauge. That's pretty tiny wire. I'm betting it's 18 or 20 at worst.

Coyote Five O

The problem with that is the amperage rating of the different sized wires....
If the larger wire is carrying amperage close to its max rating it will flow into the smaller wire which its not rated for and heat up, melt or even catch fire.....
Plain and simple its a bad idea.

The bigger the difference in wire rating the more the risk...
simple as that, doesn't matter if its a speaker, amp or any electrical component.
the reason people are getting away with this is they are luckily not exceeding the smaller sized wire rating....

_MacLeod_

You're not wrong necessarily but the amount of current we're talking about is very small. That 60-80 watts is nowhere even remotely close enough to cause the 18-20 gauge OEM wire to melt. Maybe if we were running several thousand watts going to a sub but not from a front stage amp. Again, the stock wiring would work fine with your amp going the entire run so it definitely would be ok just running the last foot or so.

Manuellabour247

I haven't put systems in newer vehicles, but the older ones I would always run new wire. That was mostly for the age of the stock wire though. Biggest wire I ran to door/dash/behind the seat speakers was 18ga multi strand. I used to have several spools of 20ga since I wasn't pumping that much power to the speakers. I'm a cheap *** and no sort of expert on sound systems, I just ran what I thought would work best for the sound. If I used an amp to power the auxillary speakers, that's when I would run the 18ga. I pull to the speaker, no multi-size wiring. Personal preference.

tuclai

I have a 2017 Super Duty which share the same cab as you guys, and have been debating on this. New wire vs. cut and use OEM wiring. For fronts, specifically on Platinum trim vehicles the molex connectors are fully populated with tires, so no way of just boring out and adding aftermarket wires. Only option is, 1. Use OEM wires.. 2. Drill holes through door and pillar jams and run additional boot (may not look nice with two tubes)... 3. Kick panel speakers. I'm still trying to see if anyone else has come up with a better idea before doing anything.

TimelessR1

I ended up moving some of the pins to open up some "real estate" in the molex plug and ran a straight shot of 18ga and 14 ga wire

Kevinpmac

I run 75 watts RMS to JL components in all four doors. Decided to listen to opinions on here that the factory wires would do just fine and gave it a go, versus all of the work needed to upgrade wiring thru Molex connectors. Results are no complaints at all. The sound and power is spot on fantastic.

My amp is on the back wall. I ran wires from the amp up to the dash and tapped into the factory speaker wires behind the head unit. My suggestion is to try it. You can always redo with bigger speaker wires if not 100% satisfied.