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Well, I recently went out shopping and bought some stuff for my Subwoofer set-up i plan on doing and since my car is in the shop i cant set it up so i thought i'd get some advice on the stuff i got and tips i should know for this job (Saving $80 doing it myself...)

What i bought,

1) Sony Xplod 800W 2-Channel Amplifier
2) iConnects Car Audio Kit (I4600K)
Still looking for a subwoofer tho... (Suggestions are welcome for sub)

Anyways i have the wire kit and the amp so i'm gonna hook that up when i get my car back any tips i should know before i do this?
Thanks. Comments welcome.

i have a Kicker sub for sale that would do the job

i am partial to Audiobahn - they are out of business but you can find awesome deals on eBay - 2 flame series 10s for less than 100 including shipping - these are the kind i have for my setup and they really rock for the money. but if you are into paying high prices for big names - go with JL audio - they are extremely powerful subs that are made to work in small enclosures and spaces.

if you've never run a stereo before - dont run your power wires and speaker wires together - always run them on opposite sides of the car or as far away from each other as possible - this eliminates any noise the speaker wires will pick up from the power wires.

I don't really see the point of running them down opposite sides of the car, the magnetic field produced by the power wire would be moderately constant, and not very strong... Using Amperes Law, one will see that if you're anything more than 5cm away (like, 2 inches) from a 15 amp wire, then the magnetic field is already less than the one the earth puts out (on average). side by side though, yeah I can imagine some audible noise coming though. Even the chassis of the car will have some field. Its impossible to mathmatically escape any magnetic field...

Just my 2 cents.

i've been doing car audio for 20 years and its been the 'law' since day one - ask any decent pro installer and they will tell you the same...
some run the power wires down the middle and the speaker wires on the side - but i always do opposite sides of the car - it was what i was taught and i just stuck with it.

Yeah I get the idea, but its just the feild is so weak at any decent distance, it doesn't really matter.... They have to come close at the amp anyway. Its just not a big deal if you can't keep them a meter apart. You don't want to run them down the same side, so I guess the other side is the only good option.

the idea is that the signal is being carried for such a long distance there's a lot of room for signal noise to 'escape' - once they reach the amp - you will never see power inputs right next to speaker inputs - on a decent amp anway - they are always some distance apart or on opposite ends of the amp

You're right, as the wires run parallel, the induced current rises, its an direct relationship. I suppose my point is its not something to cry about if you have to run them close for awhile, but yes, I agree, the best thing is to run them as far away as possible as much as you can.

Subs? The names I like are Rockford and Alpine.

Sweet, Alot of good advice here. And i will prob just for kicks run the wires on opposite sides of the car anyways.

MX3-Life wrote:Sweet, Alot of good advice here. And i will prob just for kicks run the wires on opposite sides of the car anyways.

you'll be sorry if you dont

There are alot of good brands out there.

In my old mx I ran a full Infinity system with components in the front and coax's in the rear and 2 10" subs and a kenwood 600w amp, never had an issue

In my newer mx I am running a full MTX system with coax's front and rear with 1 10" high powered sub in the back with a 1200w mtx amp. Also no complaints. both are great products in my book

i'm a firm believer in having a complete system using components from one brand - i've had rockford, coustic, and now i'm going with audiobahn. the coustic system was my favorite and its unfortunate they dont make it anymore, i got a perfect RTA with that system and it was crystal clear - the fosgate was harder to tune, but loud and heavy. i hope to get a perfect RTA with the audiobahn, from what i know of them and what i've heard - its going to be a great system...

I agree, i dont like to mixmatch systems at all. I really wanna get some MTX components, but I hate large tweeters! They are so ugly

The old white infinit reference tweeters were small and didnt protrude at all. The higher end MTX ones look good as well, but I need to find a set on the net.

OK, I got Ryan ahead on points but at times you have to go with experience so. What about twisted wires? We use them to carry network signals are they used in a higher gage in audio?

I've got a 15" rockford 500W RMS, 1000 max. I wouldn't mind something just a tad louder, but this thing gets plenty loud to start hurting your ears after like 10 seconds. And its massive.

wiring 101:

the bigger the wire the better the signal, especially over long distances, the biggest gauge will be for your subs or woofers (yes, there is a difference between a subwoofer and a woofer) however your woofer wire shouldnt really be any longer than 3-4 feet IF that and depending on the wattage coming out of the amp, 10-8 gauge is a good wire. if you have like 2000 watts - go with 4-6 gauge and some earplugs.

speakers like mid-bass and full-range dont really need anything larger than 10 - i usually use 12-10 depending on the wattage and the distance from the amps. tweeters are good with 14-16, since they are usually spliced from the mid-bass speaker and only have a few inches to go

power wires from your battery are VERY important to be gauged correctly - you can starve a system if you use too little of a wire - i usually go with the biggest i can fit - which is a 4-6, depending on how many amps i have, you can always throw another battery in the back with the amps - but you still have to use a pretty heavy gauge wire.

twisted wires are commonplace and basic construction for good speaker wire...

as far as speaker sizes - its been my experience (20 years worth) that anything bigger than a 12 is just compensation for a lacking in other areas. i've heard and seen 3 JBL 10s break windows in OTHER cars that 2 15's couldnt. i always stick with 10s - they can handle the low frequencies just as well as a 12 or 15, if tuned and powered properly. they take up less trunk space and dont require a lot of airspace to work.