Thanks alot milhouse. how does this sound for a new setup? this is what my complete system is going to be like, I'm going to buy all the cables some time this week and get to it. The plan is :

4guage from the battery to a fused distribution block (at 600 rms for the subs, and
130rms for the 2 channel) what amp sized fuse should i use for the inline? 80? and how about the distribution block? when i order it looksl ike theres fuse 1 and fuse 2 on the distroblock. now, at the distroblock they have a 4gauge in and 2 4gauge out for 17 bucks i think or 20, ill be getting that one. (its ok to do 4in 4 out, no need to downsize?) and from there ill be using 4gauge to ground each amp to the same spot. hows that sound? did i miss anything?

 

80 should be plenty, not very likely to be pulling that much current with a 600 watt amp + the other one.

No need to downsize
Sounds good

 

According to this site I may need to use 2 gauge but at that point as might as well get the zero. I think I'm right around 16 ft but I may be wrong. Is it too hard to wire a 0 gauge through? Thanks.


Recommended Power and Ground Cable Sizes

 

Alright thanks a lot. I think I have it figured out now. 4 gauge is more than I'll ever need. I will be powering two amps. My subwoofers amp and speaker amp. The subwoofers amp is a single 600.1 rms and max of I believe in the 900 but I'll never use near that since I don't really crank the music. The speaker amp runs 65 watts rms at 4 ohms to each speaker so that is a total of 130 watts rms. Adding 600 to that is 730 watts rms which 4 gauge will handle no problem. I will do 4 from te battery to the trunk into a power distributor, and 4 gauge from the distribution block to each amp an use 4 gauge to ground both amps at the same location. I think I'm all set for now. Just have to order my cables and get on my way. Are gold connectors worth the extra $$? And I think I'll pass on a capacitor.

 

This is my logic when deciding on power wire.....

Is there any chance at all that I may upgrade my amp to something significantly more powerful? If that answer is yes then I never get the size needed for the current application, instead I always go bigger. So my suggestion would be to ask yourself that. It's generally a good idea to get the largest wire you can afford....to a point. I mean unless you can see yourself going super big (2500+) then no need to go crazy and get 4/0. But unless you answer a definite "No" the the above question, you might want to go ahead and get 0ga.

When it comes to wire, it's current capacity that you need to worry about, not amplifier wattage. Gold connectors are marketing hype, use copper if you can.

 

Alright thank you. I decided to go with the 4 to give me the option to upgrade. What's a good affordable battery to get? This one is about 5 years old I think and can barely hold a charge over a few days.

 

Sorry, one more question. For the antenna wire, can I just splice it to both amps or do I need two antenna cables? Thanks.

 

good battery i am aware of is a optima imo but it is up to you on what you want to get i have one about 8 years old the other pushing 12 i am sold on them but it is what you find you like

 

There is no antenna wire that goes to the amp, im assuming you meant remote wire and ive already answered that question. As for the battery, the failure rate with Optimas is very high so Id go with either SVR (made by Deka), XS Power (best car audio batt hands down) or a Kinetic.

 

You said the following

"No, never power an amp from another amp. Get a distribution block and run the existing power wire to the distro, then run separate wires from the distro to each amp. Same for the remote wire, although a distribution block won't be needed for that."


But what I'm trying to understand if I can run just one remote wire and split it at the trunk.

As for batteries I have heard of kinetic before. I'll look into those to see if they for the 87 SS battery tray.