Importance of "Marine" rated wire

[dom w. forte]

I would recomend that the battery cables also be soldered , crimps increase resistance and also come loose with heat and expansion.

[chpthril]

Before you invest the time and labor to rewire with inboat speakers and sub, I believe its already tinned marine cable that the boat is prewired with.

The biggest thing about marine cabling, is its insulation construction. Its designed to resist flame and heat to a certain point for a certain length of time. Well, god forbid the boat is on fire, atleast I know my amp cabling wont melt. Then theres tinned copper cabling. This will resist saltwater corrosion than OFC cable.

So, is there a benefit to a marine grade cable, sure, is it needed for every boat stereo, i dont think so.

[carcrz]

I'm going to replace all of the power & speaker wires when we do the new amp/speaker install in the upcoming weeks (hopefully). How important is "marine" specific wire vs the standard "car audio" wire? I'm planning on running 1/0 AWG to the amp area & then distribution blocks to both amps & then 12 AWG to the Rev10s. I am also going to get new RCA's that are closer to the correct length than what's on their now since the loop their tied in always seems to come loose or snagged on stuff being stored in there.

The 1/0 will have crimped lugs with heat shrink tubing at the battery side. The speaker wire will be soldered & heat shrink tubing used on the speaker side. The RCA's will have heat shrink used at connections to help prevent them from coming loose any more.