I have a Apline head unit with 4 sony xplod interiors on a alpine amp 4ch at 50w per channel, and a jl audio w3 12in with jl audio amp. The amp wire i have in my car now is 8 gauge wire, should i upgrade to a bigger wire? After i get sub and amp installed ?

 

You could run 4 gauge back to a fused distribution block and out from there run 8ga to each amp.

 

200w amp will pull a max of 20 amps. I dont think a 4 guage is needed. The 8 quage you have is good enough.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxxtreme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">200w amp will pull a max of 20 amps. I dont think a 4 guage is needed. The 8 quage you have is good enough.</TD></TR></TABLE>

He has two amps

 

So I understand, you have an Alpine HU and a 4x50W amp driving 4 Sony Xplod speakers and you are adding a sub and an amp to drive the sub, is that correct?

If so, what JL Audio amp, and which 12W3,the 12W3v2-D2, D4 or D6 or is it the 12W3v3-2, -4 or -8? 94

 

jl audio 300w 2 channel, and jl audio w3v2 d4

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WalkerGSR1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jl audio 300w 2 channel, and jl audio w3v2 d4</TD></TR></TABLE>

All the JL slash series amps (300/4, 300/2, 500/1, 1000/1) require 4 gauge wire. If it's an e series amp (JL e2300) you can get away with 8 gauge, but if you have the slash series you will need 4 gauge on the amp.

The Alpine amp will be fine with the 8 gauge you already have.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WalkerGSR1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jl audio 300w 2 channel, and jl audio w3v2 d4</TD></TR></TABLE> I assume it's the 300/2, if so wire the subs VCs in series to an 8 ohm final load. [Re=7.35 ohms] connect to bridged amp and although the amp will except a 4ga, power and ground, it can't hurt to use 4ga, and IMO you should use 4ga, it is not needed for a 1x300W amp, unless the cable is going to be longer then about 10'.

With that said, and as I said, I would run a 4ga power, [and ground] for the 300/2 leave the 8ga on the 4ch, running a separate power cable for high-pass and low-pass is a better way to do it anyway.

It will also be cheaper to run a new power cable just for the sub amp, as you will not need the splitter, [fused distribution box] you would have to run a 4ga, a splitter, and a new main fuse anyway if you wanted to just use one power lead for both amps. as the 8ga you have now is not big enough for both amps 94

 

should i just get a new 4ga amp wiring kit? or just get 4ga power cable from a audio shop.

 

If you can find a 4ga amp kit with just the 4ga power and ground cables and an ANL fuse and holder then yes, buy the RCA leads separately, you do not need a 4ga two amp kit with the splitter block or 17-20 foot RCA leads. 94

 

ight i will probably buy the wires and anl fuse seperately, instead of a kit.

 

Do i need a capacitor also?

 

Bump for answers

 

it could not hurt to get one. If it was hooked up right I doubt you would hear the diffrence.

 

ight thanks

 

i would run 4awg then use a distro block to split it into 8awg. the power will be fed to whatever used the most (sub amp probably) just make sure you grounds are always good. i have ran 2 amps off 8awg but i would not recommend it as you don't want to strain your amps.
also, caps are garbage, don't bother with one unless it;s purely for SQ - it won't help the electrical system and it won't make it louder...maybe cleaner sounding as it acts like a filter

 

I wanted to get it because it stops dimming the lights one of my friends said

 

common misconception, some say it does but really all it is, is a band-aid for a weak electrical system and actually puts MORE strain on it. if you do the math you will find out that 1 farad in is barely enough watts/amps to power half of one solid bass hit. as mentioned a lot of SQ guys use them because they clean up the signal as they act like a filter

 

Ight i'll see how it does without the cap.

 

what kind of box do you suggest for the sub?

 

i usually like ported. depends on what you listen to. i listen to a lot of rap so i have a ported box tuned to around 34-36htz and it hits SO hard on deep bass but not too much on the higher stuff. if you want good sound quaility and you listen to all sorts of music go sealed......if you listen to one type of muisc mostly go ported i would say. lower the tune for hip hop/rap, and a little higher for tehcno and stuff liek that (around 40-42htz). ported will get louder through certain range and sealed will be loud but more even throughout every frequency, a more flatter response. hope that makes sense.

 

actually caps are quite effective, but stopping lights from dimming is using it as a band-aid. A cap's purpose is to limit the power(voltage) fluctations in the electrical system, and light dimming can be a result of this. However, the bigger result of Voltage fluctuation is amp output fluctuation. less input means less output. Some amps are rated at 12.5v and then at 14.4v and there is always a output difference.
I.E. a 500WRMS(at 14.4v) amp might only produce 350WRMS at 12volts.

Caps are effective for short bursts to minimize voltage fluxuation.