Speaker wire, 16 guage ok?

Just wonderin, found a nice deal on ebay, 50ft for $10.75, or 5 ft for $1.75. so I figure 50ft will work nice, I can do the speakers, and do it for all of my switches in my custom trunk enclosure I am making. I know 16 guage is fine for the switches, but will it be ok for the speakers?

Thnx

Here is the auction by the way

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1380484427

Look at the power you're wanting to send through it, calculate the peak current and compare that to the wire guage.
For example, if its peak is 100W at 12V, you'll have about 9Amps peak. [Amps = Watts/Volts]. 16 guage should handle that OK. But if you were to double the current, and hence to power, you'd probably want to drop down to 14 or... run 2 parallel 16G wires.

It doesn't really hurt to run 2 pairs anyways. More copper = less resistance.

I use 12ga throughout my car. More expensive, yes...but you never know when you are going to increase the power. Better to do it once right than 3 times wrong. Kinda like power adders and the stock fuel pump?

Well all I have is some kenwood 3 way 5x7's, so the 16 gauge should be fine.

Thnx

depends on how much power. If its from the stock setup you could get away with 20ga. Most aftermarket units 18-16ga. You'll be a little on the large side but as they said it doesn't hurt to go bigger especially if you plan on running more power to them in the future. Go for it.