QuestionQUESTION: 1. To Kicker ZX350.4 Amp [Infinity components and 6x9s]
2. To Kicker Zx2500.1 Amp [12" Fi BTL]
3. "Big 3" wiring
If you could suggest a brand or two, or are kits about the same.
Thanx again
ANSWER: Hi Shea,
The owner's manuals for your amplifiers include minimum power wire recommendations. For the ZX350.4, the minimum required power wire is 8-gauge, using a 40-amp fuse at the battery. For the ZX2500.1, Kicker recommends a minimum 1/0 wire gauge, with a 300-watt fuse. In this case, I'd also suggest at least 1/0 wire for your Big 3 upgrade. Try to keep your wire runs as short as possible, especially for the sub amp wiring.
I don't think there's any one brand of wire that outperforms others, as long as the wire gauge is the same; but you have to watch out for wire kits that are misrepresented. It's not unusual to buy a kit that's marketed as a 4-gauge wire, but upon inspection it's a 10-gauge or 8-gauge conductor with an extra-thick jacket to make the wire look bigger. To avoid this, I'd stick with well-known brand names:
Kicker
Stinger
Tsunami
Monster Cable
Rockford Fosgate
Streetwires
There are some others, but if you're buying an unfamiliar brand, I'd definitely look at the cross-section of the wire to confirm that it's really as large as the package claims. It's the thickness of the center conductor that matters, not the overall size of the wire and jacket.
You might take a look at an online vendor, www.knukonceptz.com. This company sells wire and installation accessories under their own brand name. The wire is excellent quality, and often much less expensive than the leading brands. I'd suggest using their "Kolossus Fleks" wire line. Don't forget to buy the required ring terminals and fuse holders.
Hope this helps!
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: So I decided to keep the 350.4 but scale down to a single 15" L7 on a 1000.1 to save space. I want to know how I would wire both amps to the same battery. Someone said something about a distribution block and making sure I get fuses to match the amps recommendation. They said 1/0 from battery to D.B. 4G from D.B. to 350.4 and 1/0 to 1000.1. Just need a little carity before I spend $100+ at a pro shop and do it myself.
AnswerHi Shea,
You actually have a few different options for your amplifier power wiring.
Kicker does recommend a 1/0 wire for their ZX1000.1 amplifier, together with a 100-amp fuse. Personally, I think 1/0 is probably bigger than is needed for this amp, but using a larger-than-required wire certainly doesn't hurt anything. Similarly, a 4-gauge wire is bigger than you really need for the ZX350.4. I don't think there'd be any problem using a single 1/0 wire from the battery to a distribution block, then splitting it into separate wires for the amplifiers. The tricky part will be finding a distribution block that will allow you to connect a 1/0 input and a fused 1/0 output. Most distribution blocks are designed to turn a large input into two or more smaller output wires.
If you can find a distribution block that fits your needs, you could run a 1/0 wire from the battery to the block. There should be a fuse holder at the battery, and it should have a 150-amp fuse. The distribution block should be a fused type (so there's an independent fuse for each output). The output to the ZX350.4 should be fused at 40 amps, and use either 8 or 4-gauge wire. The output to the ZX1000.1 should be fused at 100 amps. Ideally, it should use a 1/0 output; but as I said, a distribution block like this may be hard to find. An alternative would be to use a block that allows 1/0 input, and 3 or more 4-gauge outputs. You could use one of the outputs for the ZX350.4, and combine the other two outputs to run two 4-gauge wires to the ZX1000.1. (When you combine two 4-gauge wires, you get the equivalent of 1-gauge: not quite as big as 1/0, but ample for this amplifier--especially when it's just a short run from the d-block to the amp). If you used two 4-gauge wires from the distribution block to the mono amp, each wire should be fused at 50 amps.
Another alternative is to do away with the distribution block altogether, and just run separate power wires from each amp to the battery. In this case you'd just wire each amp as if it were the only amp in the system: 1/0 gauge with a 100-amp fuse at the battery for the ZX1000.1, and 8 or 4-gauge with a 40-amp fuse for the ZX350.4.
Hope this helps!
Brian
