Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

If I bundle my 8 gauge amp power and ground and 4 sets of 16 gauge speaker wire together in split loom for about 6' will I get any type of weird interference. I'm not looking to build an audiophile system and keeping them all together would sure make running them easier. Thanks for any input.

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

When doing any type of stereo wiring, its is always good practice to run your speaker wires away from any power wires. They can and most of the time will pick up interferance from the alternator. Also what part of SLC and where do you run most of the time. I live just above Pineveiw.

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

I agree with Old E, I would try not to run them in the same loom. You probably wont get much interference because you probably listen to your stereo more when parked but it's just normal practice when installing stereos not to run them together. As far as noise to an audiophile, the wire and components you are using would be your weak point to begin with. I dont see any safety issue with though, I assume you have a fuse or breaker on your power wire relatively close to the battery? If so you can do whatever you need to do.

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll separate them. Was just trying to avoid doing two runs. I live in Emigration Canyon and run mostly Lake Powell and a couple of Flaming Gorge trips per year. What Eliminator do you have? I just sold a 94 28 eagle and I've got a 00 28 Nordic now.

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

We have met then, I have a '78 21 v-drive, and just bought a 28' Sleek Craft Enforcer from Jason Kidd. I came to your house and bought some exaust elbows. I also have a friend with a 28' Nordic with a blown 540 does about 90+ at Pineview.

Chad

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

Hey Chad. I remember you coming up. I think the Nordic with the blown 540 was Dave's - posted on here as Nordicheat. He sold that and now has a 35 Nordic with 496's and posts as Nordicflame now. I could be wrong though, I've heard there are 5 or 6 Nordics running at Pineview.

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

I wouldn't worry about that part (in a noisy boat).

You're dealing with low impedance in the speaker circuit... It's not the E fields that drive your speakers, it's the amp. The real trick is keeping the noise off the high impedance side of your amps.

If you twist the power and ground it'll help keep the noise down and common mode. You can't hear common mode noise from a speaker, i.e. if the + and - are at the same polarity (phase) the voice coil doesn't move.

A good amp will not use the +12-14V coming from the noisy alt to supply the actual amp. They will invert to A/C and then convert back to DC (+ and -) to supply the amp with some clean power... so get a good amp.

If you get it all together and have that loud rpm sound from the amp, try ground loop isolators on the audio input of the amp. If your lights dim with the bass run heavier guage power lines and get a big cap for at the amp.

Re: Amp & Speaker wiring question
 

In layman's terms:

Speaker level output signal from the amp is not as likely to have noise as the line level input side.

The amp will amplify noise on the line level input side.
It can't amplify noise on the output side AFTER the final output stage.

Arbitrarily twisting wires does not automatically constitute a shield.