Audio Enthusiast Needed For My System

[mr.lonelys12]

im trying to finish up my audio system i have almost everything. i have one problem through, trying to choose the right gauge for wiring it together.

this is my system:

2xFront= 2 way 6.5" infinity reference; 60watt rms; 16awg wire
2xRear= 6 way 6x9" formula 180watt rms; 14awg wire
front/rear powered by: Kenwood KAC-8401; 60 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms; 1000watt max; ?awg wire
subwoofer= 10" Audiobahn AW1051T; dual voice coils, it has 4 sets of pos/negs; 300watt rms; ?awg wire
subwoofer powered by: 800watt rms knock off amp; ?awg wire

i also have a 2farad boss capacitor before distribution block for the two amps.

question 1. what gauge positive and negative wire should i use for the amps? i was thinking of going 4awg to the cap and distribution block, then from the block to both amps run 8awg power and a 4awg ground. this is what i want to do because i have the wires for this. will this be too little?
should i go 0awg to the cap and block, then 4awg power and 4awg grounds to both amps? is this over kill, and will it put too much strain on my electrical system?

question 2. what gauge wire should i run from my amp to the subwoofer?

question 3. the deck i have only has 2 sets of preouts. i need three for the front, rear, and sub. could i combine the fronts and rears using a splitter type rca jack? would i be able to still control the gain on the front and rear separately from the amp?

thanks!

[white92_s13]

you can get away with 4 gauge from the battery to the power cap, from the power cap to the distribution block. then run 4 gauge from the block to both amps.

then just run 8 gauge grounds. if possible run 4 gauge grounds for everything.

i run 12 gauge to my sub. 14 you can get away with.

just run 1 set of rca from the deck to the midrange amp, and 1 set to the subwoofer amp.

your deck will always have independent controls for front and rear. and plus you can set the amp up for how you want front and rear as well.

[projectRDM]

Originally Posted by mr.lonelys12

question 1. what gauge positive and negative wire should i use for the amps? i was thinking of going 4awg to the cap and distribution block, then from the block to both amps run 8awg power and a 4awg ground. this is what i want to do because i have the wires for this. will this be too little?
should i go 0awg to the cap and block, then 4awg power and 4awg grounds to both amps? is this over kill, and will it put too much strain on my electrical system?

question 2. what gauge wire should i run from my amp to the subwoofer?

question 3. the deck i have only has 2 sets of preouts. i need three for the front, rear, and sub. could i combine the fronts and rears using a splitter type rca jack? would i be able to still control the gain on the front and rear separately from the amp?

thanks!

The power and ground wires should be the same size no matter where they run, so if you're splitting 4ga into 8ga to each amp for power, do the same for ground. Or just run a pair of 8ga grounds from one spot.

The woofer can run on any ga wire, I doubt the 800W your amp is rated for is realistic, so 10-12ga is fine.

You will not be able to control the front/rear separately if you split or merge the signal. I would split the rear signal instead to the rear speakers and subwoofer amp, leaving the front channels independent. Otherwise you won't have a fader control and be forced to adjust the gains at the amp to compensate, leaving it fixed.

[Future240]

juss a thought, when you choose the wire gauge I say leave room for improvement, that way in case you want to add a bit more power you dont have to replace all the wires. I have run into that problem. Then again i am jumpin from 585 watts to 2100 watts of power which is a tad extreme, but juss somethin for you to consider. I think bass/audio power is similar to horsepower in the "the more you have, the more you want" doctrine