Understanding Different Types Of Wire

In this section we are going to to touch on different types of power and speaker wire that can be used when installing car audio systems in vehicles.

First we are going to go over how not all wire is equal. Whether it is the gauge or copper it is made of.

You will see terminology in our products saying CCA or OFC. 
CCA stands for Copper-Clad Aluminum.
OFC stands for Oxygen Free Copper.

Copper Clad Aluminum is a wire that is commonly used in the car audio industry. It is a "cheaper" wire to purchase as well it is lighter than OFC but it does have its drawbacks. One major drawback, and that is corrosion it is very susceptible to it and it corrodes a lot faster. As well as it is not as good of a conductor of electricity as it is Aluminum based wire, with copper cladding. CCA is more flexible than OFC due to the Aluminum core. That being said, if your system does not require a lot amperage to be transferred through, you can get by using it. 

Oxygen Free Copper is a wire that has been the "cream of the crop" for some time. The best benefit to it you may ask? It has too many! Better conductivity, allowing you flow more amps through the wire itself.
The name says for itself, it is 99% copper with no added elements, like where CCA is Aluminum based wire. The life span of OFC is longer than CCA, you will still notice that it will turn "Green" after sometime, especially in humid climates. That is normal of copper to do that, look at the Statue Of Liberty! But the life span of the wire itself is much better than CCA.
OFC is stronger than CCA and the strands of copper are less likely to break in the insulation. 
One of the biggest "cons" to OFC is that is more expensive than CCA wire. But let us be honest when it comes to our system, we should not cutting corners around the heart of the system. 

Now that you have some understanding of the different wire. You can decide which one you would like to purchase. Below you will see a quick reference for which Stinger wire is OFC and CCA. 

OFC wiring kits we offer are the: X Ultimate, SK 6000 Series, SK 4000 Series, 
CCA wiring kits we offer: The SS kits under the Stinger Select line.

Our OFC speaker wire part numbers start with, SHW, SPW.
Our CCA speaker wire part numbers start with, SSVLS.
 

Now you will want to make sure you get the appropriate gauge wire for your amplifier.
Almost all wire will be numbered like 0,4,8,10,12,14,16,18. You will also notice it will have AWG, AWG means American Wire Gauge.
Most of the time you can match power wire input of the amplifier. There are instances on where you can not do this, For example you can not run a 4 gauge wire for 20 feet that will have 150 amps flowing through it. You would need to use 0 gauge for doing so. Below we will have a basic chart for a good reference.

*Note that we do not sell 2 or 6 gauge. For 2 gauge it is recommend to do 1/0 gauge. And for 6 gauge to use 4 gauge wire. The below graph is a rough understanding on standard sizing reference for gauge and length of wire.* .

Now a common thing people think they need to do is run new speaker wire to their speakers in the vehicle, and in a lot of instances that is not needed. For example 18 gauge speaker wire can handle up to 1,900 watts. The time you would want to run new speaker wire is if your existing speaker wire is corroded and frayed, or you are running additional speakers. At that point you would want to run multiple sets of wires for the speakers you are installing. If you do run new speaker wire it is strongly suggested to run OFC, as it is will be able to hold up better in the door boot harnesses, and have better current transfer.