Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

I am using 4 gage wire with an 80 amp fuse to connect to a 500 watt RMS 2 channel amp with 2x 30 amp fuses. each channel is running 1 sub (250 rms each).

I want to run a second amp to power my rear speakers. the above amp has an RCA output to run a second amp.

My second amp is KAC-7205 which also uses 2x 30 amp fuses.

Is it safe or practical to just run the power wire from amp 1 to amp 2, or is this a fire and/or safety hazard?

Also, do i need to ground both amps if doing this, or just amp 2?

And if it is safe and reliable to do this, is there a suggested length of power wire to use from amp 1 to amp 2?

I've never hooked up a multiple amp system before so this is why I'm asking. And I searched but couldn't find anything on the above method. The guys at best buy said that's how they wire all their showroom amplifiers, but that's best buy and a lot of the people there don't know what the expletive they're doing. H-T ftw.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

Terrible idea. Get a distribution block and run separate wire.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

That's what I thought. Thanks.

I can still run the remote wire from amp to amp though, correct?

Also, I do not want to run more than 80 amps between the two amplifiers. So, when I get a dblock, I will need to use 2x 40 amp fuses (1 for each amp) and a 6 or 8 gauge wire? Thing is, my amplifiers both use 2x 30 amp fuses. Should I downgrade those to 2x 20 amp fuses so everything matches up correctly?

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

I've never done it but i believe you can. I'd run separate wiring just to be on the safe side, though.

Uh, get the proper fusing. What amps are you running? Also, use 4 gauge @ the minimum. In an ideal setup, i'd run 0 from batt to distro, then 4 to each amp.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

Amp 1 (powering 2 subwoofers): KAC-7201 (It's actually rated at 150 RMS on each channel, has output for RCA's)
Amp 2 (intended to power rear speakers): KAC-7205 (170 RMS x 2, does not have output for RCA's) Yes, my rear 6x9's have a higher RMS rating than my 10's.

They are almost the same amplifier, the first one is just the older model.

Right now I'm using 4awg wire (80 amp fuse) from battery to amp1, which uses 2x 30 amp fuses. 4awg wire (3') for ground.

My gain level is way down but with bass boost on for better sound quality. I'm not trying to shake the neighbors house with this setup or anything, just trying to get some extra bump and fill up as many sound frequencies as possible here.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

Take bass boost off and set the gain right.

read this
http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/...howtopic=35875

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

Edzy is right, bass boost kills quality, if you make the fuses smaller in your amps you will just blow them, and with your dist. you say about a 40 amp fuse per amp, but the amps have 60 total, you will just keep blowing the smaller ones. both amps need their own grounds and their own powers, but you can jump the remote from one to the other. you are going to have to up that 80 amp fuse, your amps have 120 amp worth of fuse, why don't you want a bigger fuse?

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

what ohm are your subs?

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

i see you old amp needs 4g and the new one takes 8g, i suggest one of these.
http://www.darvex.com/store/pc/viewP...&idcategory=27
but you would need to buy 2 60 amp fuses, due to your amps being 60 amp each. also darvex is a great company that i have used before, they ship super fast and have great prices.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

subs are 4 ohms each, they are running on separate channels. I could bridge them if I wanted but I don't really want to, they run fine on separate channels. I have the bass turned down on my HU anyway.

I will probably need to upgrade to 1 awg from battery to dblock to run 120amp fuse. Don't want to do that but, if it needs to be done then it will. That's why I was asking about the option to downgrade the amp's fuses.

Then I'd obviously need to get a fused dblock at 60 amps per.

Thanks

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

i just read that 4 g is ok up to 150 amps, i'd try the bigger fuse first, it will be rare that your amps are pulling the max that they can at the same time. actually, try the 80 amp fuse you have before you spend more money, if it doesn't blow then you don't have to replace it. I personally don't run any fuses, i know it can be unsafe, but i've done stereo comps since '97 and never had a problem.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

Where did you read that? cause everywhere I've read says 80 amps is max for 4g.

Reason I suggested downgrading to lower amperage fuses on the amplifiers themselves is because even at 500 watts RMS (as opposed to the 2 amps' RMS output of 300 and 340 RMS respectively, running all 4 channels (2 on each amp)), they would only be pulling 39.7 amps, each, from the wire. But, like I said, that's assuming each amp is running at 500 RMS and 12.6 volts. In my case it's less RMS so I assumed less amperage is needed/required.

Thoughts?

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

I used http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...wer_Plant.aspx
. Ran with 0 guage wire to Dist. block and 1 guage to the ampsl Ran an Infinity 475 a and Alpine mrp650. You can use one remote wire to the distribution block to turn on both amps.

That was 650x1 and 75x4 rms watts, and it worked fine for ever, absolutely 0 problems, good luck to ya.

Re: Hooking up 2 amps with 1 power wire? (searched)
 

Skip the splitter block, run two(2) power leads, one for each amp, the fuse that you use on power cables is for the power cable gauge, not the amp.

Current capasity of 4ga cable is 150A, what size power cable you use for an amp depends on amps total RMS output and the lenght of the power cable.

A ref... http://www.the12volt.com/info/recwirsz.asp

Use ANL fuses. 94