Power cables

Would you install a huge turbocharger, bigger fuel injectors and use an exhaust system with the size of a straw? I didn’t think so. The same thing goes for power supply for your amplifier. You don’t need to mount a 100mm³ to supply a 2x5W amplifier but you will need a proper cable area in order to supply a amplifier with sufficient power. A good rule is to use a power cable with the same area as the power connection on the amplifier. If you have four amplifiers and each of them use a 4mm ³ then you should go for a 4x4mm² = 16mm². Do you have five amplifiers and two of them have 4mm² power connection, one amplifier have a 8mm² and two amplifiers have 10mm² power connection, simply add the areas together 4 + 4 + 8 + 10 + 10 = 36mm².  The area also has to be adapted to the length of the cable and the longer cable you need the bigger it must be. A cable can never have to big area but it can be to small. Never use a too thin cable it may damage your amplifier!

A cable shall deliver the power with as little resistance as possible and the difference between an expensive cable and a less expensive cable is the amount of threads and the purity of the material used. Many thin threads with a high quality material are the key to build a good cable. Some expensive cables may also be shielded against interference with the surrounding.

Cable area
12gauge = 3-4 mm²
10gauge = 6-8mm²
8gauge = 8-13 mm²
6gauge = 13-19mm²
4gauge = 21-27 mm²
2gauge = 27-35mm²
0gauge = 35-45 mm²

Audio speaker cables

As for a power cable a speaker cable shall be built with many thin threads and high quality material with good leading capacity. Using a 0.75mm² speaker cable to connect a subwoofer to a 300W amplifier will never end with a good result. Look at the speaker cable connections on your amplifier and choose speaker cables according to the connections and the purpose. There are physical laws to calculate the exact area for all cables. The length of the cable will be a factor when choosing speaker cable area.

capacitor

XXX

Power block

XXX

Fuses and fuse block