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Lightning Audio Strike LST12-50 Speaker Wire
The following review taken from here: LA Wire by rashiki
Also, I can get 50 feet for $25. Is this a good deal?

 
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Grey.. Wire is wire..so long as it's OFC wire you'll never know a difference. Just use 16 guage wire or bigger. How much power is this for???

 
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I'm planning on only using a HU's internal amplifier for now. About 50W (25W RMS).

 
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Grey...then just keep the OEM Wiring.. upgrading will not make any difference dude.. the OEM wire is 18 guage and is good for 40Wrms.. just leave it..save yer $$$ and buy a few CD's [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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Oh yeah, the stock wiring is good to 40Wrms? Hmm... It's so tempting though! [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG] I could list that under the list of modifications on the Member's Rides too.

 
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[IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG] funny

but also if you do plan on bumping up the power (later) you dont really want to take apart the dash again to run new wire

 
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That's true. See, that's another reason to get some. Although I'de still have to do some re-wiring. Use the pre-amp outs on the HU to hook up the amp. Then route more wire from the amp to the speakers. I guess I'de still need to take apart the dash. Hmm... At least I'de have the wire though. Question is, is 50 feet enough?

 
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50 feet is about the right amount, that is if youre gonna use the same size to every location, factory locations, and then running a sub/subs. when i still had my system, b4 my car was broken into, i think i used like 35 feet to get to the factory locations. and then another 15 feet to get to the sub/amp. but, i used two different sizes, 8 guage to the components, and 0 to the subs/amp. so, 50 feet should be about right. i dont have the exact measurements, because i get it at my friend's audio store where i work part time, and he has it on big spools, and i just cut it as needed. he gives it to me. too bad my stuff got stolen.[IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/IMG]

 
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Thanks for the reassurance. I think it'll be enough. Especially if I'm only hooking up the HU to the speakers. I don't have an amp and I don't think I ever will have one. The amp in the HU I'm considering is really nice. An amp would probably clean up the higher and lower frequencies, but I bet that after I install the HU and the wire my system sound quality will be very high. Probably out of my range of hearing now, so it would be pointless for me to consider getting something cleaner. That and the fact that I don't want to make the car too heavy with all the extra equipment. I think I'm dead-set on this speaker wire though. I read up on the facts and it seems that guage is the #1 factor in determining wire effectiveness. #2 factor are wire strands. They basically just help to make the wire flexible. If you think about it they also kinda increase the guage since a wire made out of 3 strands will have a lot of space for a particular guage, but a wire made out of 300 strands (like this one) will fill in all of that space. Anyway, I think I'm rambling...

 
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OFC wire offers little to no advantage in conductivity over electrostatic tough pitch copper. OFC has a rating of 101, and ETP something like 100-100.5

you'll never know the difference between either. so why go with OFC? its SUPPOSED to be more expensive, but its so mass produced, its hardly anymore.

but searching for OFC in the first place? no need.........

 
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like Grey, im also considering rewiring my car's audio system, and replacing the speakers and HU. but, just one question, what is OFC and ETP?

 
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OFC = Oxygen Free Copper (it's a BS term basically because even the dirtiest copper that's available is so electrically conductive that it doesn't make a difference)
ETP = ?

Anyway, I decided against going with that speaker wire. Not because it's not good, but because I looked at the instructions of the mp3 player that I'm going to get and I found... That the mp3 player has a sort of harness with smaller guage wiring than 12 guage. Probably the same guage as the stock wiring. It still makes sense to use thicker guage, but merging thicker guage to thinner guage is a pain and not worth the hassle IMO. What mohawkboom said earlier made sense. The factory wiring will handle more than enough current flow, so spending more money on wire is just not worth it. Thanks dude.

 
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ya, wire is wire.... i found out the hard way. spent like 100 on monster cables when i could have gotten the same lightning audio for $25

 
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ETP = Electrostatic Tough Pitch copper. its 99.5-9 % pure copper, with ideally .04% oxygen.

basically, any extra atoms in the structure hinder conductivity (even at .04%) the reason that oxygen is in there, is because it ties up other elements that could not be taken out of the structure. The oxygen in ETP copper actually HELPS conductivity!

OFC is 99.9% pure copper, not even any oxygen. the reason its just as conductive is because even though it is much more refined than ETP, (which usually means more expensive) there IS no oxygen to tie up any elements still present in teh microstructure.

there is basically no advantage to OFC, from a conductivity point of view.

so what you should really shop for is teh correct size, and a good number of strands in the wire (one of the reasons knukoncepts wire is so great) 4 stranded 0 gauge wire wouldnt be a good choice at all! [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/IMG]