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Duran

The Difference Between Copper and Copper Clad Aluminum Cable

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the new KK CCA is very good, same jacket as their higher grade wire, the 1/0 CCA can take up to 250 amps, as pure copper its from like 300-350+, i wouldn't sweat it at all. 2 runs of CCA 4 bucks > Singe run of kicker hyperflex 5 bucks.

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But actually because today's noise rejection technology in our devices you could just about run your power cable next to an old school speaker wire type RCA cable without much noise issue, as long as the system is well gounded that is.

You've been able to do that without issue for a couple decades. I know I've been doing it for over a decade without a single issue.

Power cable induced noise is an old wives tale in car audio :)

In today's systems, yes. But in the days of .5 and .25volt preouts we did see noise issues. I have been bundling my cables for years, but I still cringe in rememberance of the old days... back when Denon tape decks and CD changers were in my car... Yeah, Denon car audio.

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Very interesting read guys !!! :drink40:

So is welding cable ok to use ?? How bout coax cable for RCAs ??

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Very interesting read guys !!! :drink40:

So is welding cable ok to use ?? How bout coax cable for RCAs ??

Yes and yes. Welding cable is a fantastic conductor, and exceptionally flexible. Coaxial cable is basically just a shielded conductor. IMO it is superior to all UTPs out there. Also, if you go ahead and step up to a Canare system, including their cable and connector technology, you wind up with what many consider as superior to the vast majority of low level transfer out there. Being that you are a clipper, I would assume you are using Canare or similar crimping device, so getting a good set of ends will get you set up right.

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Good. I have somewhere around 100ft of welding cable in my ride.

Being a cable guy, Yes I had to try my own touches to my system. I Used Mini RG 59 cable (Cable TV headend cable) with custom preped RCA compression connectors.

Thanks.

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Lab Measurements

As we discussed earlier, additional resistance will increase the heating in the conductor and decrease the amount of power delivered. Let's look at safety first and examine the heat developed in the cables.

Why is the heating important? In most vehicles a portion of this conductor must "live" in the vehicle's engine compartment. Vehicle underhood temperatures here in Arizona often exceed 180F. The insulating jacket on most cables is only rated at 105C, or about 221F. That doesn't leave much of a safety margin for internally developed heat and, in extreme cases, can lead to softened or even melted insulation on the conductor.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here at Cogent Audio Labs, we're fortunate enough to have a special camera that allows us to photograph heat. In the accompanying photos (see below) you'll see radiometric images of three different cables, all sold as 4-gauge and measured under identical test conditions.

heat_test.jpg

There's a reason they don't let you use aluminum wire in houses anymore :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Lab Measurements

As we discussed earlier, additional resistance will increase the heating in the conductor and decrease the amount of power delivered. Let's look at safety first and examine the heat developed in the cables.

Why is the heating important? In most vehicles a portion of this conductor must "live" in the vehicle's engine compartment. Vehicle underhood temperatures here in Arizona often exceed 180F. The insulating jacket on most cables is only rated at 105C, or about 221F. That doesn't leave much of a safety margin for internally developed heat and, in extreme cases, can lead to softened or even melted insulation on the conductor.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here at Cogent Audio Labs, we're fortunate enough to have a special camera that allows us to photograph heat. In the accompanying photos (see below) you'll see radiometric images of three different cables, all sold as 4-gauge and measured under identical test conditions.

heat_test.jpg

There's a reason they don't let you use aluminum wire in houses anymore :lol: :lol: :lol:

It is actually because of expansion and contraction rates. They were causing the terminations to loosen over time and start fires.

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But actually because today's noise rejection technology in our devices you could just about run your power cable next to an old school speaker wire type RCA cable without much noise issue, as long as the system is well gounded that is.

You've been able to do that without issue for a couple decades. I know I've been doing it for over a decade without a single issue.

Power cable induced noise is an old wives tale in car audio :)

In today's systems, yes. But in the days of .5 and .25volt preouts we did see noise issues. I have been bundling my cables for years, but I still cringe in rememberance of the old days... back when Denon tape decks and CD changers were in my car... Yeah, Denon car audio.

You saw noise issues back then because of the piss poor ground isolation of the input stages of the amplifiers and output stages of head units and processors. The noise was a ground loop issue, nothing more. Fixing the ground for the HU and/or amp got rid of it pretty much every time. DC cannot induce noise in AC. If preout voltage mattered you'd have extreme noise every time you turned down the volume and the RCA voltage dropped to milivolts.

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Aluminum wire is garbage and I really think most people use it because it looks cool from Knu, being all thick and crap..... And cheap... lol....

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i've got a bunch of it but i already knew of it's decreased performance capability prior to purchasing.

That's why I bought so much of it because i am using it for multi run installations on everything, including amps, then cover them up with no-Ox... Something others should do with their welding cables that i never really see...

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It's Noalox, and I have been using it since the early 90s. It is especially useful in the engine compartment....

But again, this type of cable (aluminum) is only really popular to the car audio guys in these big-ass gages.... Why? For the only reason it flies with car audio guys, looks.

You don't see this crap on high current auto/boat installs hardly anywhere. This is because these people usually don't mind that it is some attention getting color with insulation that is twice as thick as it needs to be..... Additionally, who wants 4 runs of 1" cable going from one end of the car to the other when 1/2 as many is all you need with copper????

And last time I checked, CCA wire isn't half the price of welding cable.....

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I only use Knukonceptz Kolossus Fleks Kable from my distribution block to my amplifiers for there power and ground wires. Everything else in the car is welding cable, just how I roll :captain:

:+1:

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Continue on..

Yes, I'm trollin'.

Thinking about buying a roll of KK 1/0 wiring

Edited by ManRossDamn

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We have a 1K foot roll of 2/0 grounding cable here at work for the back up battery bank for the telecommunications area! Real nice and flexible and true copper made here in the good ol' USA!

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We have a 1K foot roll of 2/0 grounding cable here at work for the back up battery bank for the telecommunications area! Real nice and flexible and true copper made here in the good ol' USA!

I bet that cost an arm and a leg.. and probably a testicle too...

Good repost Duran.. But you know i'll be using Welding wire next... just because it's welding wire doesn't mean it's 100% wire.

Some of the sites I've been looking at they don't specify in plain English that it is pure copper.

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