Insatalling 2nd Amp., needs help Options

[stranger]

[/B]can anyone help me out with this? im not really sure what i have to do to install my second Amp. so any help will be koo since i didnt install my first one i really dont kno what i need to do. it looks pretty easy though. thanks

Anthony

[AudioFreak]

Too many possible answers to this one... we need some more info. What kind of amps do you have and how many watts are they? Also what gauge of wire was used for the first amp.

More than likely you will either need to run a second power wire or pull out the one you have and run a thicker guage of wire for both amps to share. But like I said it depends on what you have already. Let me know I'll be glad to help.

[freestyler121]

this is hwo your gonna need to do it, reply back if any help, run a spliter from your power wire, rockford fosgate makes these, one big cable into to smaller ones, then they have rca outs that do the same thing, then you jsut need to connect to new ground dont do ti in the same place, and your gonna need to split your remote wire , all this isnt that hard, so tell em if this helped

[AudioFreak]

Freestyler121

your advice is too general. If he only has let's say an 8 or 10 guage power wire then it's highly unlikely he will be able to add another amp to that wire. Unless both amps are very very low rms power. That's why i asked him for more info. If his power wire is too small and the fuse is only big enough for the single amp then he's gonna blow the fuse. Considering it sounds like he dosen't know what he's doing he might go and put a bigger fuse in there. Now the fuse won't blow but the wire may overheat causing a fire. There is a lot more to this than just splitting wire.

Also grounding both amps in the same place is the best way to do it. It reduces the chance of ground loop noise.

[freestyler121]

yea, you need bigger wire, i ahve 4 gauge and you do need a bigger fuse, but i had 2 caps hooked up to the same ground they wasnt getting a good enough ground. thats why i suggest using 2 grounds

[AudioFreak]

your ground should always be the same guage or larger than your power wire. But like I said always ground to the same spot even if you run multiple ground wires.

[stranger]

the amp in my car is 650 watts pushing two 6x9's and two 12's. then other Amp i want to put in is 420 watts. im thinking i need a capacitor too? right? and about the wiring stuff i have no idea what ihave. sorry.

[AudioFreak]

If those power ratings are peak power you will be fine with 4ga wire. If those are rms ratings you might want to go with 2 ga to be on the safe side. If you can give me the brand and model numbers of the amps it will be a little eaiser. If you look at the power wire going into your amp now it should have the wire size printed on it.

Personally I buy my wire from these guys. www.knukonceptz.com The prices are really good and the wire is top quality.

Let's say you have to rewire. Because the wire you have is too small for both amps. You will need the following items unless you already have them.

Positive battery terminal. BT104P $12 (Not absolutely nessacary but it makes for a much cleaner look and all the connections to the batter will be eaiser.)

4ga power wire. Pick your color $.99 a foot. (16 feet should be more than enough I'd get 20 to have extra slack in routing the wire. Also get 3 feet of a different color for the ground.)

Inline fuse holder. FH24 $6 (there is another fuse holder it uses anl fuses. The other holder is $20 and the fuses are $6 a piece. The choice is yours. With the $6 fuse holder you can't get bigger than a 80 amp fuse which i don't think you'll need and the agu fuses it uses are only$.89.)

Power Distribution Block PB1448 $6 you'll need 2 of these 1 for power and 1 for the ground(splits the 4ga wire to 8ga right at the amp allowing you to power both amps off the same cable.)

RCA cable adapter KLA1F2M $2.50 (2 of these too split your signal from the radio to the 2 amps. If your radio has another set of outputs on the back you can also run RCA cables from the second set of outputs to the second amp. Again this depends on what you got.)

8ga wire $.40 a foot (get 4 feet each in 2 different colors. Power and ground.)

4ga crimp on ring terminal RT4516BK $.99 (You will use this to attach the ground cable to the frame of the car)

The remote turn on lead can just be split to the second amp.

I know it seems like a lot of stuff but it will look a lot neater than running a second power wire and also the costs will be pretty close.

The install will go something like this.
Disconnect the negative terminal on your battery. (Don't skip this step.)
Disconnect the current power wire from the battery and figure out where the last installer ran it through the car. Install the new power cable in the same location. It will probably pass throught the firewall through a rubber grommet. If it does tape the new wire to the old wire tightly and carefully snake the wire through. You will probably find the wire running along the floor under the door trim. Carefully pry up the trim and tuck the wire down under the carpet. Continue untill the wire is at the amps. Pull a few extra feet to give yourself some slack to work with but also leaving enough up front. Under the hood zip-tie the power cable where it won't get pinched or touch anything hot. And under the dash make sure the wire is secure and not interfearing with anything.

The inline fuse holder needs to be mounted within 18" of the battery the closer the better. To do this just cut the wire and strip off the insulation. The wire fits into the ends of the fuse holder and a setscrew tightens to hold the wire in place. The wire will also attach to the positive battery terminal with a setscrew. The other wires from the cars electrical system should have ring terminals on them. These will attach to a screw on top of the battery terminal. Once all the wires are attached the new positive terminal can be attached to the battery.

Now to the trunk. Locate the amps where you want them to be. Cut the 8ga power wire into 2 equal lenghts and attach 1 to each amps (+) terminal. Run the 8ga wires neatly to a place where you can mount the distribution block. You can cut down the length of the 8ga to what ever you need. The 8ga attaches to the block after you mount it. Then run the 4ga power wire to the distribution block and attach it.

The 4ga ground wire needs the ring terminal attached to it and the ring then gets bolted to the cars frame. Make sure you grind/scrape the paint off of the frame. I try to find a place where I can pass a bolt through to attach the ground but in a pinch a self tapping sheetmetal screw can work. Just like the power cable run the ground to the other distribution block and use your other color of 8ga wire to go from the ground block to the (-) terminals on the amps.

The amp you already have installed should have a remote turn on lead it is usuall blue. Either cut and splice another piece of wire so both amps are connected or attach another wire to the first amps remote terminal and run it to amp #2.

The signal source will either be the first set of rca cables that will be split with the Y adapters so both amps share the signal. Or if your radio supports it run a second set of rca cables from the radio to the new amp.

Home stretch now. Connect the speaker wire to the amps. Double check all of your connections make sure no stray strands of wire are touch the terminals next to them. Turn the level adjustment on the amps all the way down. Back up front install an 80 amp fuse into the fuse holder. And reconnect the negative battery cable. There will be a spark. Don't worry this is normal.

Start the car and turn on the radio. Check both amps to make sure they are powered up.

My personal method of setting the level of the amps is to turn the radio volume to max. Then slowly increase the level on the amp untill you hear distortion and back the level down just a hair. This will allow you to get max output from the amps without distortion.

As far as capacitors. I don't really see the need for them in a system unless it is multiple thousands of watts. Just get a good alternator and the biggest battery you can squeeze in and you should be fine.

Sorry for writing a novel but it sounded like you needed as much info as possible. Like I said get back to me with the amp make and models it may change a few parts needed but other that that you now have the info to wire up your amps. If you have anymore question just ask. Just outta curiosity stranger what part of the country you from.