haha.. i copied kpazzo for my title b/c it seemed to work. hehehe


ANYhow, i'm finally going to put in my system (after what, 1yr?!). Here's the rundown:


Eclipse CD5423

Arc Audio 4050CXL powering:

-Rainbow CS 265 Contour (in front)

-Rainbow KX 165.02 Coaxials (rear, door)


Arc Audio 2500CXL powering:
-Arc Audio 2 12D4 subs

now i need wiring. i was looking at the Streetwires interconnects on Sounddomain. Looking at the Zero Noise 6 series... I NEED SUGGESTIONS on which one. I'm a bit confused when it was saying 4-channel or something.

oh my goodness.. and then there's speaker wires... what brand, how long, what gauge to get?! (arex passes out)

okok.. help?

 

First off, the cable is very important. You should use Monster Cable if possible. You should use a 4 channel RCA cable forone amp and a 2 channel RCA for the sub. The XLN series should be fine for the amps that you have. You probably should be using at least 4 guage with a capacitor for power, or just go ahead and do it right with 0 guage. As for speaker wire, I have used the XLN 16 guage for my internal speakers, and maybe some 12 guage for the subs. You need about 60 feet of speaker wire for the front and rear, and about 18 feet of power wire. Remember to put a new ground wire on the battery as big as the power wire you use for the amps. New Monster Cable battery terminals kick butt. They are tapered to make better contact with your battery. Good Luck

 

hmm.. thanksthanks. i'll keep that in mind. The reason i'm thinking Streetwires is because they're made by Esoteric and I've heard a lot of good things about them.

 

Definietly 0 gauge for that ARC 2500 monster amp. And guessing from how my wife's lights flicker the ARC does not have enough onboard capacitance. So you will likely need one. Of course my wifes alt is about half as powerful as the average Max alt too.

 

ok you are looking at using 184 amps maximum from both amps at full power. that will definately warrant 1/0 guage from your battery to a distribution block. then run 4 ga to both amps from the distro block. you will probably want to get a magnetic circuit breaker or a large fuse. a capacitor is a good idea like jmax said. monster cable is IMHO the best to get. you can run 16 ga to your component speakers and coaxial speakers. 10 ga to the subs. if you havent installed car stereo equipment before best bet is to have a professional installer do it or if you have a friend that knows how to help you.

 

thanks guys for the suggestions! do you guys have suggestions for brand of wires? how're the Streetwires for the interconnects and the speaker wires?

I forgot to mention also, i'll have a 1F Cap on the setup.

I'm probably going to have Autosoundspecialists do my install for me. I've got a nice hookup with them through ArcAudio.

thanks again, guys, for the heads up. Anything else i should know?

 

go with monstercable for everything.

http://www.monstercable.com/caraudio1/default.asp

 

other than the name, why monster? is it really that much better? if so... mmm.... why? (as you can tell i'm trying to make the best investment possible)

 

well the construction and wiring is better than the others. i have several friends who are professionals and they only run monster/and or stinger in thier vehicles. another good company is stinger.

http://stingerelectronics.com/

 

I would get the cheapest wire of the required gauge. A name is merely a name in this case. Most car audio power wire is one size larger than labeled. If you go to a welding shop the 2/0 will be the same size as your name brand car audio 1/0. But it will be less than $2 / ft at the welding shop.

 

The reason to use Monster Cable is that of the 230 U.S. patents for cable, Monster has 157 of them. There are close to 300 Wire manufacturers in the U.S. This simply means that no other companies con build their wires correctly without infringing on a patent. This is the same for both car and home cables. Also all MC car wires have a lifetime warranty. I'm proud to say that I'm a MONSTER!

 

listen to tapout he knows it.

 

heheh.. alright, you got me pretty much convinced. now, where to buy cheap? anyone got a hookup?

 

Tell you what, do a test. Go buy 20 feet of welding cable between $1 and $2 per foot. Then go to a monster retailer and buy the largest monster cable you can get for 2 to 3 times the price of the welding cable. Then see which cable is better. See if you can measure any difference between the two that would make you choose the monster cable over the UL listed welding cable.

 

I could hook you up if you lived in Virginia...Cali is a bit of a trip just for wires though. But remember do it once, and do it right. How can you get all the performance you paid for if you use crap wires? Life is too short to listen through bad cables.
Oh, and that welding wire...just try to bend it, and count how many individual strands are in there.

 

heheh.. hmmm.... could i give ya moola and get them shipped out to me in Cali?

hmmm... if not i'm gonna have to call up the Arc guys again...


re: welding cable. isn't it just one solid cable in there? (i know this b/c we sell inverters here.) but is that so bad?

 

yeah that welding cable isnt very flexible. it may be cheap but it isnt designed to run under carpet or be bent like it will be in a car.

 

Well, I live in VA but doubt that your cost on the monster is less than the retail on equivalent welding cable. And the local welding cable is plenty flexible - made of fine conductors. Also more strands than I care to count. I mean, who really has the time to prove if cable has 3200 strands or merely 2200. Easier to measure voltage drop along a certain length of wire. If my voltage at the cap or amps drops below 14.3 I'll let you know. Think of it this way, you can get cable twice the size for less money. I mean twice the physical size, not marked gauge. You can prove this with a micrometer or a scale.

The system I have now is using Stinger and PG wire. But the one I am working on will definitely use welding cable. The money I save can be used for things that will affect the sound or performance.

That being said there is one Monster I can use. It's one of the things that the money I saved on wiring can go towards. I need some ICB's. But I haven't decided which will be the most beneficial.