Single bigger run or 2 smaller runs of wire

[07BronzeFuz 10+ year member]

Guys, I am currently running a single 4 gauge to a distrubution block and 8 gauge to my nine.4 and nine.2x. It seems like my system when first turn on is loud and it mellow's out after a min or so. I was thinking about running each amp on a single 4 gauge because its much cheaper than gettting 1 or 0 gauge plus the connectors, block etc. Will I be able to tell a difference if each amp is getting a 4 gauge power and ground? My lights dont even dim, I have a 150 amp alternator from the factory.

Click to read more...

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

I would personally go with the 0/1 gauge from the jump...saves you the time and effort if you decided to upgrade your system.

 

[07BronzeFuz 10+ year member]

i was told 4 gauge was enought for both amps to start with.

 

[slab 10+ year member]

i was told 4 gauge was enought for both amps to start with.

If you know you are going to get bigger stuff later, then why buy the extra 4ga right now?

a different way to do it would be to run your current 4ga wire to a rear battery and then go to the amps from there. this should be cheaper than the wire, and give you some more stable voltage at the same time.

 

[07BronzeFuz 10+ year member]

If you know you are going to get bigger stuff later, then why buy the extra 4ga right now?a different way to do it would be to run your current 4ga wire to a rear battery and then go to the amps from there. this should be cheaper than the wire, and give you some more stable voltage at the same time.

i doubt I will ever upgrade. Def dont want a battery in the trunk its already small enought. Its a idea. If anything I will go to a 5 channel amp. I used to have a big belle and it was fine off a single 4 gauge, but then again it was a class d sub channel

 

[slab 10+ year member]

the thing the think about is that is you can get the power back the more efficiently, the amps will work less to put out the same or more power.

run the extra 4ga or maybe upgrade the underhood battery

 

[cshaw 10+ year member]

have you metered the voltage at the amps yet? what kind of voltage drops are you getting if any and whats your average voltage during music? if your not dropping below 13v's i dont see any need to upgrade.

 

[cshaw 10+ year member]

if anything just do the big 3, your see a bigger difference doing that alone. i can attest to that because i run 2 4ga wires to the back like your suggesting and only gained a little bit of voltage but didnt see any usable gain until i did the big 3.

 

[k_schutte 10+ year member]

didn't read all of it but I would say a single run of 1/0 to a block with 4awg to each amp should be fine....

1. Big3

2. KnuKonceptz

3. Your Done

 

[07BronzeFuz 10+ year member]

have you metered the voltage at the amps yet? what kind of voltage drops are you getting if any and whats your average voltage during music? if your not dropping below 13v's i dont see any need to upgrade.

i guess you are talking about using a digital volt meter. While the music is blaring where do I check it. At the amp or fuse block. I have a fuse under the hood and then it goes to a 2 way fused distro block and then to a single 8 gauge to each amp.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[cshaw 10+ year member]

yes a dmm (digital multi meter) is your best friend. measure your voltage at the amp terminals.

 

[BassAddictJ 5,000+ posts]

i went from dual 4awg to 1/0 and noticed an improvement. i'd definitly get the 1/0. i'd even find a reducer or just carefully trim the 1/0 to fit the amps inputs...and big 3...

 

[350zspl 10+ year member]

if money is an issue

do 2 each 4 awg runs

1 for each amp

no blocks

no 8 awg

no 10 awg

2 each 4 awg runs,one for each amp