upgrading from 4-0 guage

[cbuts 10+ year member]

well, my amp recently went on me(******) and my systems not great to begin with, so im wanting to go with 0 guage wire because its better?

what id like to do is leave my 4 guage wire for an amp for my speakers (later on)

and run 0 guage for my new amp + subs.

so would the best way be to buy a new 0 guage kit, and leave the 4 guage kit how it is unplugged for now and run 0 guage for new amp once i get it?

does that mean i have to hook another remote up behind the deck

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[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

lol No, just splice that same remote wire into both amps at the amps, don't run 2 remotes. You will however need 2 sets of RCAs if your headunit has preouts for both amps, if not one of the amps may have preouts and you can then just run the RCAs from the HU to one amp then from that amp to the other one, problem there being you aren't able to keep their channels seperate. Other than that I'd just buy a whole new 1/0 kit or a bunch of 1/0 from a spool and cut the length you need also buy some connectors.

Keep in mind if you have a system that has demands for 1/0 sub power and 4 gauge speaker power, then you may be looking at needing to upgrade your vehicles electrical system.

Big3 1/0

Good Battery or 2

HO alternator (if needed, these are pricey but never a bad investment)

 

[cbuts 10+ year member]

okay so just buy a whole new 0 guage kit, and ill have to hook the rcs up behind the deck then? i was just wondering if i had to take apart my deck to add a wire if i was adding 0 guage

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

well to add an amp you will need another set of rca's providing a signal for them. If you have multiple preouts on your head unit for example if you have sub/rea/front preouts I would Highly recomment using the sub preouts for your sub amp and the rear or front preouts for your speaker amp. That way all your head unit's individual settings for subwoofer and speakers will work properly. If you only have front/rear preouts then hook the sub amp up to the rear preouts and the settings for your rear speakers on your head unit will now control your subwoofer.

Just out of curiosity what kind of head unit do you have and what amps/speakers?

Also what subs will you be running?

 

[cbuts 10+ year member]

well to add an amp you will need another set of rca's providing a signal for them. If you have multiple preouts on your head unit for example if you have sub/rea/front preouts I would Highly recomment using the sub preouts for your sub amp and the rear or front preouts for your speaker amp. That way all your head unit's individual settings for subwoofer and speakers will work properly. If you only have front/rear preouts then hook the sub amp up to the rear preouts and the settings for your rear speakers on your head unit will now control your subwoofer.
Just out of curiosity what kind of head unit do you have and what amps/speakers?

Also what subs will you be running?

wow that was confusing , i dont even know what a preout is so that whole thing confuses me haha.

my HU... im guessing thats my deck right? its a jvc kd-r620

JVC KD-R620 CD receiver at Crutchfield.com

i havnt got any subs or amp yet, but i want something thats 600rms-1000rms sub rating,i am trying to find something in canada, cause thats wherei live. i still have to do the big 3 aswell

im going to mexico next week so ill be investing once i get back

and i forget the speakers i have in there lols, i got them from futureshop for like $160 for pair or so for back ones, i still have to re-upgrade my front ones cause one is slightly blown, but this is in the future, after i get my subs,amp,big 3,0 guage

anywho, since i have 4 guage running now, and you show me a diagram or something of my 4 guage running my speakers, and my 0 guage running my subs?

or is it best to use 0 guage for both?

thanks

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Alright well you got plenty ahead for you as far as future planning. So I understand you have aftermarket speakers and that headunit (deck) installed, no amps right now but a 4gauge wiring kit installed, and one front speaker that is blown. I do always suggest to improve sub stage first so I think you're doing things in about the right order.

As for your head unit yours does not have a sub preamp output, that is ok but just an FYI you only have Front/Rear Preouts, in other words in order to connect a subwoofer you will have to use your rear speaker channel outputs. I'm assuming your previous amp was connected with RCA cords and not high-level speaker inputs. If that is the case what you need to do is buy a new amp and sub.

As far as amps go I would suggest buying a Mono block amplifier that produces approx 650 watts RMS. And like you wanted a sub that handles similar power likely a 12 or 15 inch.

I would make some suggestions but I don't know what your budget is or the type of enclosure you might be thinking about.

I currently run my car off 1/0 and 4 gauge, 1/0 for my sub amp and 4 gauge for my speaker amp. I do not have the Ideal setup as you would perfer to have a seperate power wire run of each size. For me it was cheaper, but more importanly for me easier to use one dual amp wiring kit that had 1/0 and 4 gauge. I run 1/0 from my battery to a fused distro block in the trunk. The distroblock takes the 1/0 input and has 2 4gauge outputs. Since splitting the 1/0 into 4gauge outputs completely defeats the idea of using 1/0 because in the end you are just using 4gauge to the sub amp and will lose power, my solution was go buy a reducer. A reducer is a metal slug that goes onto the 1/0 cable and has a 4gauge connection, so it saves the current flow of 1/0 cable but allows you to attach it to a 4gauge connection. So I have 1/0 from the batt to the distro block and on the other side of the distro block I have my 4gauge for my speaker amp, and have 1/0 for my sub amp hooked up to a reducer, not ideal but it is easy and works pretty well.

 

[cbuts 10+ year member]

so are you saying i cant use 0 guage?

can u show me a diagram of how my wiring should look afterwards

thanks

 

[cbuts 10+ year member]

all in all your saying i can add another whole guage kit, or i can use a dist block? u say ur running 0 guage for ur sub and 4 for ur speakers???? i thought the dist turns into 2 4 guages??how thats that work

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

You know what I'll post a pic of my setup I think it will help you understand how you can wire it.

This is the fused distro block so the bottem is 1/0 in, the top left is 4gauge out and the top right is 1/0 out through the 1/0 to 4gauge reducer (gold metal part)

This is my old wiring job pretty messy but you can see where everything runs. If you look closely you can see the remote wire spliced into both amplifiers

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

So that is a way to do it all with just 1 wiring kit.

Like I said though It would be best to have 2 separate kits a 1/0 kit and a 4gauge kit. You would run them the exact same way.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Honestly for one sub though on 650 watts rms 4gauge is just fine, you could just keep the kit you have now and use it for your sub.

 

[cbuts 10+ year member]

Honestly for one sub though on 650 watts rms 4gauge is just fine, you could just keep the kit you have now and use it for your sub.

ill be buying 2 12's

i didnt know you could run a 0 and a 4 off a dist block.

but yeah, i will just buy a new seperate 0 guage kit and run that and leave the 4 there for now ,like you said.

the problem now is finding a place with good subs in canada

thanks

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

Just make sure you pull the fuse out of that 4gauge if it is just lying free in your trunk/back to avoid a fire or hard short you want to take the power off the wire.

 

[cbuts 10+ year member]

Just make sure you pull the fuse out of that 4gauge if it is just lying free in your trunk/back to avoid a fire or hard short you want to take the power off the wire.

true.

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

This is my old wiring job pretty messy but you can see where everything runs. If you look closely you can see the remote wire spliced into both amplifiers

C'mon man, clean that mess up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif