Terran

iTrader: (6)

This is going to be pretty long, so please bear with me. You could probably skip some of the "intended setup" background info if you are so inclined.

My intended setup

HU: Pioneer DEH-2300. I have this already. It says 50 watts*4 all over it, but it is 22 watts RMS. This will be powering the rears.

Speakers: CDT ef-61cv components and CDT CL-6x's. I'll be getting these from djdilliodon on here. He doesn't have too many posts here, but he actually owns an audio shop, has a fairly large feedback thread on soundomain (all positive) and a review of some CDT components on CDT's website (a right aparently reserved for dealers). I feel quite confident he's not a scammer. The speakers will also carry a full CDT warrenty. I'll be getting them for $195 shipped which is less than I'd pay for the same rears and CL-61's on the zeb.

Subwoofer: A baby 8" Image dynamics ID8 V.3 that I ordered from cardomain. It came to about $75 shipped

Amps: Hifonics falcon 2ch ($100) for the ef's, and either a second of those or more likely a Hifonics merlin mono ($150) for the sub.

I'm pretty set on this system, but if you would like to suggest any changes feel free to do so (excepting the sub which I've already ordered, and the HU which I won't be replacing at this time).

Installation hardware: here's where I need help now

Since thezeb seems like a it's got fairly decent prices and I'll be ordering the amps from there please only suggest hardware that I can order there if possible. The sub box stuff of course I'll be getting from Home depot.

Speaker wire: There aren't too many options here and it's not too expensive, so I figured I'd just go with the most expensive must be the best philosophy.

RCAs: I was browsing CAF and somebody said lightning audio made decent RCAs at a decent price so I thought maybe one of their $20 15ft ones like this, but that's pretty random. I plan to mount the amps on opposite sides of the trunk and since I only have 1 RCA output on my HU I will need a shorter (5ft or so would probably do) RCA to go from one amp to the other.

Multi amp wiring kit: I would rather only run one wire from the battery to the amps, so I'll go with a 4ga into the trunk then two 8ga off a dist. block, but which one? The falcon says it has a 30amp fuse so that means the distribution block should have a 30amp fuse for the wire going to it correct? The merlin has 2 25amp fuses. I have no idea what I should have going to that. One 50amp maybe? Another thing, the wiring kits seem to always have two of the same fuse, can a fuse in a distribution block be replaced with a different size one? Would this one work?

Sub box: I'll be using 1/2" MDF (since the sub is so small I won't need 3/4" right?). Liquid nails is the sealant to use right? I'm not sure if there are different kinds, but if so what kind should I use? I saw (browsing CAF again) that you can also seal the interior surface (one person used watered down woodglue). Is this adviseable? Also, you of course need something you can use to get the power from outside the box to inside that can be sealed, but I don't see anything on the zeb, what would this be called and where would I find it?

Attaching the wires: I'm not sure how comfortable I feel soldering the wires to the speakers...what options do I have? Under speaker terminals I see these "banana plugs." What are they and how do they work?

Anything I'm forgetting?

Thanks for reading all that...I know it was long .

As always thanks in advance for your help. I am so clueless about this audio stuff (although already much less than I was) and I'd be so fukced without you guys.

Maxima Dan

Check out www.knukonceptz.com They have quality installation hardware for pretty reasonable prices. Also you would be looking for female spade connectors to hook up your speakers. Something like these: http://www.knukonceptz.com/productMa...20Accessories#

Terran

iTrader: (6)

Looking at dan's site it might make more sense to get a 4 gauge wiring kit for $30, and a 8 gauge wiring kit for $18. Then I'd end up with 2 RCA's (maybe still get a shorter one so I don't have an extra 15ft coiled up in the trunk), 40ft of 12ga speaker wire and enough 8 gauge to go from a dist block to the amps. Could I use the 4 gauge ground wire for one of the amps even though it would have an 8 gauge power wire? Then get a fuse distribution block for $10. That would end up costing $58 which is less than just a multi amp wiring kit on the zeb. Are those brand alright? Would that be all I would need?

Terran

iTrader: (6)

Should I be getting a battery terminal too? Does this plug onto where all the power comes off normally or where there's a place for another stud on the side?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

the 4 gauge kit from knukonceptz is solid for the price. id buy my speaker wire at walmart along with my rcas. or id pm frito on CAF and buy some speaker wire, terminals, rcas, and 4 gauge from him cheap. the wire he has is my favorite so far for 4 gauge. btw the gentlemen you are buying the cdts from will not rip you off. id also buy a fused distro just for extra safety.

Terran

iTrader: (6)

How about the 8 gauge? Does what I said there make sense? Use the 4 gauge kit to get power from the batt. to the dist. block then the 8 gauge kit to get power from the block to the amps. Are the RCAs and speaker wire in those kits any good or should I not even bother?

Could this frito guy get me all that stuff or just the wires?

Thanks for your help (again)...don't know what I'd do without you .

Also what fuse would that merlin need? The two fuse thing confuses me.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

wait now that i think about it... that knukonceptz kit has like 20 feet of 12 gauge in it along with a set of rcas. i went out and got a 1/0-4 gauge input and 4 gauge output fused distro block because i like 4 gauge. you dont need 4 gauge but in case you ever upgrade to a serious system you dont need it. so yeah go with the 4 gauge from the bat to distro, then get some 8 gauge and run it to the amps. heres his "store" on ca.com hes got the same thing on caf but as usual.. server is busy.

http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/showth...t=71751&page=4

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

hey what about getting a nice multi channel amp to power the speakers and sub? if you think about it... might be a little more $ but you'd save on not buying a distro block, extra set of rca, and power wire and it would simplify the install.

Terran

iTrader: (6)

Yeah, that's why I was thinking that would be a better solution than the multi amp off the zeb. How are the knukonceptz speaker and RCA wires...they said what brand they are, but I never heard of them.

You have any idea how the two fuse thing works...what it translates to in one fuse?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

its fine. i have some of the wire sitting here. (kpr10is) used the rca it came with it with no problems. i found a nice jbl amp that would be sweet for your setup...

Terran

iTrader: (6)

But I think it would cost more (even after the extra stuff) and I wouldn't have a remote bass controller. Also the hifonics 4ch I compared it to in the other thread had a bit less power...maybe another brand would be better. Doesn't a 4ch amp require two RCAs? I saw that the 4ch wiring kit on knukonceptz had two RCAs.

I think I can handle the install. It seems pretty straight forward. 4ga->dist. block. 8ga from dist. to each amp. Couple of grounds, a turn on lead to each amp, RCA from HU to falcon and from falcon to merlin. speaker wire from falcon to ef's and merlin to sub.

Would there be any way to run one turn on lead to the trunk then tap into it or something for the other amp?

Terran

iTrader: (6)

So you've used the wiring kits from knukonceptz (I hate spelling that...look at all those k's and z's)?

Got a link to that JBL?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

yeah i did my bros system with it... works well.
http://www.spindocelectronics.com/in...ROD&ProdID=470

go to sounddomain and price match ^^^ that and they should match the price. this way its fully authorized. there are some nice kicker amps but they are more expensive.

Terran

iTrader: (6)

Hmmm, interesting. So that would be 104RMS into the efs and 208 into the ID? Would I be able to set the gain seperately so I wouldn't blow up the sub?

How useful do you think the remote bass control on the hifonics would be? I listen to talk radio sometimes (and probably will even more now that I have sirius...raw dog looks like it could be pretty funny) and I wouldn't want bass for that.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

hmm. wel on my tv setup and most mid to high end radios they have a sub level control but i doubt your h/u has that. if you had a better radio id say its completely useless but even so i still dont think its a big deal anyway. is that sub dvc2 or dvc4?

Terran

iTrader: (6)

You me 2 or 4 ohm? It's 4. My HU has this "EQ curve" thing, but no bass control.

Another thing...if I did decide to get a bigger sub at some point I'd have to replace the 4ch, but if I had the two amps I could just replace one of them. I don't know what I'll do...these are just things I need to think about.

Terran

iTrader: (6)

Ok, I've already asked about most of this, but just to get it all together: how's this?

4 awg amp wiring kit, 8 awg amp wiring kit, short (6ft) RCA cable, fuse distribution block, red and black speaker connections, and some fuses when I figure out what I need.

Of course get rid of the 8awg wiring kit, the distribution block and the extra RCA if I got the JBL.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

well you could bridge the 4 channel into 1 channel i believe and drive a sub with it... then get a new amp 4 components. however, i know you'llwant a bigger sub setup so go with the 2 amps... that way you can sell the sub amp your getting now. with the 2 amps you can wire 1 remote wire from the 1 amp to the other amp.. very easy. id just get the 4 gauge kit from them but then you'd have to buy 4 gauge to match the 4 gauge ground for the one amp. you could just use 8 gauge i guess for 1 amps ground.

Terran

iTrader: (6)

Well both amps would be powered with 8awg so normally they would both have an 8awg ground, but I just figured I'd have some 4awg ground wire from the 4awg kit. The wire comes just as wire right? No connections already on or anything? If so then I could just use some of the 8awg power wire for a ground as I very much doubt I'll use all 20ft included in the kit just going from the dist. block to the amps.

Should I be getting a battery terminal too. My car had a power wire in there before from the last owner. We just cut it when doing the clutch (I wouldn't have wanted to use it anyway as I have no idea what kind of condition it was in) so there is a way to attach a wire to the batt, but it's just on the stud that everything else is attached to. Should this do the job alright? Also, is 40ft of speaker wire enough?

What is the thing called that goes in the sub box to attach the wires to?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

im me: mjsptk

generation3

iTrader: (33)

It seems like you've got all your wiring picked out but I thought I'd throw this out there anyway. This guy sells pretty much everything you need and it's all reliable I've bought from him and everything works great. Heres his cardomain site with pics and http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/217862/10
his e-mail lasley1@hotmail.com

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

i already mentioned Frito.