Ri'can Luder

I have 2 amps in my car, a 800watt 4 channel amp and an 1000 watt 2 channel and I wanted to know what gauge wiring I should use to run them both at the same time. I'm going to run the 800 watt on my speakers and the 1000 watt on my bass 12" twin coil MTX. Also what amperage fuse I should use.

Thx before hand for all the help.

Green2000CivicEx

I would assume you are actually running 400 rms and 500 rms for a total of 900 rms. You should technically run 0 gauge, but you will be ok with a run of good quality 4 gauge wire. Don't buy a crappy amp kit that uses Japanese spec wire, buy a reputable brand. You should be fine with a 100 amp ANL or mini anl fuse.

Ri'can Luder

thx bro im gonna go check out the prices for the wiring in a local shop close to my house and i checked out some prices on ebay and 20 feet of 4 gauge with shipping is around $40

The two amps im running are Crunch Powerzone PZI 2250 and a Performance Teknique ICBM-891 just so u know exactly what im running


Modified by Ri'can Luder at 3:51 PM 8/13/2008

It Wasn't Me

I decided to try some 4g Kolossus Kable by KnuKonceptz, in my EM2. Very nice power wire, especially for the price.
Just don't get any of the "KLM" wire. It's 90% aluminum and only 10% copper.

Other brands I've used: Stinger, StreetWires, Monster Cable. All good brands, as well.

Scosche is okay, too. I'm currently using some of it in my '71 VW Beetle project.

Green2000CivicEx

Scosche is ok to a degree, just make sure you are using the higher lines of wire and amp kits. The 25 dollar 4 gauge kit at Wal-Mart? Yeah, that's Japanese spec wire (6 gauge wire, thick jacket). I have also seen several of the Scosche Maxi fuseblocks melt.

It Wasn't Me

That's why I said Scosche wire is "okay" and not "good" I wouldn't recommend the use of Maxi fuses. I'm using one in my VW, because I don't drive it regularly, and am not terribly concerned about it. I have had no problems with the fuseblock.
However, the OP was asking about power wire and fuse amperage recommendations, not fuseblocks. You suggested ANL or Mini ANL, which is good stuff, and I didn't feel the need to add anything to that.
My top wire recommendation still stands. It's just as good (if not better) than the leading brands, and it's less expensive.

fcm

OK, your Crunch amp is 2x150W RMS into 4 ohms, [2x225 into 2 ohms and 1x450 into 4 ohms] it is not stable below 4 ohms when bridged.

Your P/T amp is 4x50W RMS into 4 ohms, [4x65 into 2 ohms a 2x130 into 4 ohms] also not stable below 4 ohms when bridged.

So assuming you use the 4ch on 4 high-pass speakers that's 100W RMS and you bridge the Crunch that's 1x450W RMS, [although I am not sure how they get 450W from an amp that is 2x150W RMS into 4 ohms] but give them that and you have a total of 550W RMS.

You can easily get away with a 4ga cable, but for best results run a 4ga with a 150A ANL fuse to the Crunch amp for the sub and an 8ga with a 100A ANL fuse for the P/T amp, you eliminate a whole bunch of connections, [resistance] and both amps will perform better. 94

Green2000CivicEx

Eh, to a degree I agree with you, but the difference of wiring two amps independently in this application will be negligible. Use quality 4 gauge wire and a decent distro block at the back. 100 amps of fusing should be fine.

fcm

The problem is electricity takes the course of least resistance and the "sub" amp at 4 times the wattage of the high-pass amp and will consume/need a lot more current and it will get it from wherever it can and with the power supply section, [capacitors] of the high-pass amp closer to the sub amp then the power supply, batt./alt.] when the sub amp hits hard it will "draw down" the current in the high-pass amps power supply, leading to distortion, [most noticeable in vocals] on the high-pas amp.

The other issue is resistance, as you must know every connection you make and connection point has resistance, count the number of connections between the input to the fused distributor block and the amp. 94

Green2000CivicEx

I don't think he will hear an audible difference unless his charging system has already crapped out.

Ri'can Luder

thx for the replies, i think im gonna go with fcm since i already have an 8 gauge running to one of the amps with a 60A fuse, had another 800watt hyphonics amp hooked up before and it hit real hard and never blew a fuse so i was thinking of just keeping the 60A and for the crunch amp getting the 100A fuse with 4 gauge wiring.

fcm

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ri’can Luder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thx for the replies, i think im gonna go with fcm since i already have an 8 gauge running to one of the amps with a 60A fuse, had another 800watt hyphonics amp hooked up before and it hit real hard and never blew a fuse so i was thinking of just keeping the 60A and for the crunch amp getting the 100A fuse with 4 gauge wiring.</TD></TR></TABLE> 94