Couple Questions, speaker wire help?

[Sparky73]

I am doing a complete audio upgrade on my girlfriends 98' S10 and need a little input please. First off, it's a stock everything.. single cab. I already purchased the speakers and a 4 channel amp for it. This will be my very first full install like this, but I have done quite a few head units, and have replaced speakers 3 times in all my different vehicles. My subs were installed by Best Buy (//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif), but I have taken them out of the truck and reconnected everything on my own, so I got the idea.

I have been reading and decided on 16g speaker wire. There will be about 75 RMS per channel. One thing I don't know is.. do you replace all the wiring from the head unit to the speakers, or just use stock speaker wires to the amp, and use your 16g just from the amp to the speakers?

I purchased Infinity Kappa's for all 4 speaker locations, and the door speakers are component. How do you go about hooking up the crossovers or even component speakers all together? Is it just + to + and - to -?

The only thing I still have to purchase is the head unit. I stick with Alpine for head units, and I'm just waiting for a nice used one to come along. I've got a 9883 in my truck, and I love it. I would like to find another one of them, or any of the upgraded/newer versions. I do like the 9887 but the price is still a little too high on most.

Any comments, helpful tips or suggestions would be great.

Thanks.

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[93dakota 10+ year member]

for wiring the speakers you should have RCA's coming from your HU to your amp and speaker wire running from the amp to your crossovers. for wiring the crossover it should be labled +- in which comes from the amp +- WF which goes to your woofer and +- TW which goes to your tweeter.

 

[Sparky73]

Ah, so the RCA's are basically your speaker wire to your amp. What about the wires in the harness for your head unit? There is a wire for every speaker. Leave them disconnected?

 

[DukeNut 10+ year member]

The rcas only carry the sound signal from the hu to the amp to be amplified. Yes just cap/tape off the speaker wires in the head unit harness.

 

[Sparky73]

In an S10, regular cab.. about how much speaker wire should I get? I just need to go from the amp under the seats to the doors and from the amp to the dash speakers. Would 30 ft be good?

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

DO NOT WIRE ALL THE SPEAKER WIRES TOGETHER!

You should cut the bare ends off and tape them individually first, then you can tape them together in a group. If you simply tape them together, you will short out the HU.

 

[Sparky73]

DO NOT WIRE ALL THE SPEAKER WIRES TOGETHER!
You should cut the bare ends off and tape them individually first, then you can tape them together in a group. If you simply tape them together, you will short out the HU.

Thanks for the tip! I would have never thought that it would short out the HU. I never tape my wires together anyway. I usually put a wire nut on the end, or just cut and tape like you suggested.