redbird555

iTrader: (14)

For the past 2 years I ran some kicker 6" subs in the sail panels, inifinity 62.9i's in the front and some small jvc special 4" speakers ion the heatch all wired to the monsoon amp like the factory intended.

Now about 6 months ago I removed the kicker subs and went with a boxed Fosgate T1 10" powered by a 1000w kenwood amp. I soon realized how good the base notes of the songs were, clear, precise and hard hitting but my highs tended to be lack luster thanks to ionly having 2 front speakers and crappy hatch ones. So this year for xmas (thanks to cyber monday) I decided to scrap the monsoon system and go with this.... I plan on keeping my existing infinitys up front as they do sound really good.

Another pair of Infinity 62.9i's for the sails


For the hatch I got a set of the inifnity 42.9i


And finally to put power to all 6 speakers I scored this.
JL audio xd600-6 channel

I'm thinking with the kenwood amp powering the fosgate this should make for one helluva system once its all done. The speakers I chose are all 2 ohm and will be feeding off each channel of the amp which kicks out 100w rms per channel at 2 ohms. I've been researching some good amp kits now that I'll have to split the power feed from the battery. So thoughts, concerns recommendations?

TyCZ28

ditch the fosgate sub.. i have one. they sound nice but kinda tin-can ish....

go with a sundown SA-10 matched to the kenwood.. or if you can manage an old school HCCA or zapco mono that can go down to 1 ohm.. get that sub in dual 2 match it to 1ohm and let it bang!!!... your going to want to run about a 4ga wiring kit (good quality is key)


y personal system going in is this

Pioneer time align and active deck
Cerwin Vega Pro 6" mids in the doors
Cerwin Vega Pro 8" mids in the sails
Cerwin vega Pro 3" bullet tweeters
deleted hatch speakers
HCCA 250g4 for the sub
highs amp not figured out yet but im going to need around 500 for the fronts and 400 for the sails.
the sub is a Digital Designs 1508 in a ported 1.3 cube box at 44htz... hits stupid deep and louder than when i had a pair of t2 12's... and its an 8" sub hahaha

sounds like a solid setup you got.. just get good amp wiring and run 14 gauge from the amp to EACH speaker...
id recommend the Stinger 6channel RCA's also.. good quality and filter noise nicly

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

well the fosgate T1 sub is already in and only 6 months old so it will be staying for a while lol. I'm currently looking at the tsunami rcas, any thoughts on those?

My head unit only has 4 channels coming out of the rear of it so I think I'm going to run a 4 channel rca to the amp. On the amplifier it has a switch to allow 4 channel inputs and it will send the fronts to the front rears to the rear and then will use a combination to send to the hatch speakers, so I think I'm going to go that route.

As far as power wiring I'm planning on going with 4 awg all the way to the rear and then split it to 8 awg wire. Question though, why the 14ga wire I've always heard 16 was sufficient for moderately powered systems..

TyCZ28

i say 14 because from what ive seen 16 is never 16.. i personally use he Monster Cable home theater speaker wire.

its true 16 gauge and higher quality. i can get a 100' roll for around $50 and its never let me down. most walmart or other off brand wire isnt a true gauge its always more jacket than wire.

as far as wiring kits go Stinger is pretty much top notch on everything and ive used the stinger RCA's on a few builds and have never gotten any distortion from them. maye sure you run a decent distribution block to split your 4 gauge down. you might even want to go 6 gauge to the ams from there if they can handle it.

another key thing.. make sure you set your amp on full pass and tune it.. most people run their highs at "high" but since the infinitys have their own crossover they will separate the highs from the mids for you... youll get the best overall sound this way.. tuning is properly done with the sub disconnected first then add the bass after you get the tuning down.. i have best luck this way

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

Well right off the bat, that JL amp has 4 gauge power inputs so you'll want something bigger then 4 gauge from the battery to distribution block, then 4 gauge from the block to the amps, also like mentioned before MOST wire is more insulation then wire, In my personal experience Monster Cable is the most actual cable for the gauge and KnuKonceptz is second and pretty close to some old Raptor wire I had laying around from years back, as to what gauge to run for speaker wire it has to do with length of wire and power running into it, google it there are charts out there. Also you have to watch out on amp kits, ALOT (most) of the cheaper kits use Copper Clad Aluminum (CCA) which isn't rated well for power handling and some underhood temperatures, you want your kit to be Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) it costs about twice as much but is worth every penny in how much more current can flow thru it, Also keep in mind Aluminum wiring in houses isn't even allowed these days.

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

I was planning on using the knukonceptz wiring kit based on its reviews. The reason I wasn't going 4 awg is that wire space is retry restricted and it would only be stepped down to 8 awg for a couple feet. Plus neither amps will ever be turned to their max power so I didn't think it was as important I could be wrong though.

I updated my list and I'm now going with 14ga RCA speaker wire as well as 4 ch twisted tsunami rcas.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

Here is a SHINING example of just how bad some wires can be. InstallBay 0 gauge in blue and Knukonceptz 0 gauge in red, the blue wire was so crappy I actually weighed it and calculated the pounds per foot of wire length and it weighed in at like 60% of what the KnuKonceptz weighed and I payed the same per foot price buying knukonceptz on amazon as buying that crap wire at the local stereo shop, I used these wires as part of my "BIG 3" upgrade (overkill, probably but f*ck it), I ended up using the crappy blue doubled up with the stock wire running from positive battery to underhood fuse block, and the knukonceptz for battery to engine block, battery to chassis and battery to alternator.

things you must remember about the basic concepts of amps is the GAIN control is RELATIVE to the RCA line voltage, IE a HU with 6 volt pre-outs (typically the lowest setting on the gain control) is equivalent to a HU with 2 volt preouts and the gain turned up to about half-way (roughly where most amps have there 2-volt mark at), the IDEA is your supposed to set the gain based on the voltage of your RCA outputs although you can typically go a good bit further without clipping, but thats the basic concept of GAIN controls.

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

Thanks for the reply. I ended up ordering a 1 gauge kit from amazon with really good reviews. I also ordered tsunami 4 channel rca's and 50ft of rca speaker wire. I'm planning on running the 0 gauge power wire all the way back to the amps. then about 1-2 ft before the amps it will be split at a power block and be good to go.

I used the formula from crutchfield to calculate my total current draw and got this...

500w rms (kenwood amp) + 600w rms (jl amp)=1100w rms total

1100x2=2200w/13.8v= total draw 159 amps.

according to this chart http://www.crutchfield.com/S-JPlfSL9...uge_chart.html

that put me at 2 awg for power wire which I exceeded and I can pretty much run anything from 8awg on up to the amps from the distribution block since it will only be about 2 ft from either amp.

TyCZ28

well thanks to my resident audio GURU my system is getting revamped and my order just got changed...

same head unit
dd 1508 8"
sundown sax 1200D for the sub
HCCA 225g4 for a pair of Morel tweeters
and then a set of Home theater Anarchy midbass up front getting 200 rms a pop.. and thats it.. no sail or hatch speakers... SQL ftw lol

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

I got good results with using a 6.75" midbass/midrange speaker in the sail panels, I run mine from 60 hz to 2k. Imo, running a tweet in the sail panel is going to be sound too bright right behind your head.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

I'm using a midrange that goes to 100 hz to 8k and thats to much that close behind you, so LISTEN to this guy, go LOW only there.