on my last system, i used 4 gauge wire on a system that should have had 0 gauge wire.. that ended up with a fried amp....for my new system, i want everything right and i was wondering if it is possible for it to be the other way around and have to large of a wire for an application.. lets say the manual for the amp says to use 4 gauge wiring, if i use 0 gauge to be on the safe side could that be negative or is the bigger wire always better???? and for the speaker wire, what size do you recommend.. the amp is going to be putting out 1000 watts out of 1 channel wired with a 1 ohm load on the amp.. there are 2 12 inch dvc sub woofers that are 4 ohms
i personaly dont think the size of your wire fryed your amp....
and a 4ga. for a 1000 watts should be fine, all depends on how much amperage you need to the amp. if you need like 200+amps to the amp use 0ga. and i always use 12ga. for speaker wire. dont get smaller than 16ga.
when i got my amp it had a chart of how much amperage would go through a wire at what gauge and how long it was
when it comes to wiring bigger is better. one benifit of buying bigger power wire is you never have to upgrade. if you use a wire just big enough to power your amp if you ever upgrade or get a second amp your wires pretty much useless and your running new wire, so i always spend a couple extra bucks when i first do a system to put bigger wire in then is needed som im covered in the future. 12 gauge is plenty big for your speaker wire,
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Johnathan, you and Anton need to go into business together.
oh ok..and why do we need to go into business together hahah
and one more thing, i have a 91 chevy 454ss which is what my system is going in...i had to have a separate panel put in the dash for a head unit because the original radio in the car is a tiny little square thing so i took that out completely and put a head unit in between the driver and passenger seat right in the middle of the truck...so if i get a wiring harness with the new head unit i get, how do i tell the company what kind of harness to send if they are vehicle specific?
Running too small of a power wire did not fry your amp. The worst it will do is pop the fuse on it, or if the fuse is rated higher than the amperage that the wire can handle, burn the wire/car.
Now, I would personally run a 1/0 wire for your main power. Now 2 DVC 4ohm subs can be wired down to 1ohm, so you are seemingly correct on that. You seem like you have a very very very small and very very very general grasp on this stuff, but have a lot to learn.
Specifically what amp and what subs are you running? Also, any upgraded speakers and an amp for those?
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
well i know that i seem like i know nothing but i have learned quite a bit i study car audio and have been obsessed with it there are just some things that confuse me. the amp is the memphis pr 1000 watt and the subs are the memphis s class shallow mount 12s.. i am wiring it down to 1 ohm and i made sure the amp was 1 ohm stable. i am going to use a 0 gauge wire based on what ive heard... i never actually figured out what fried my amp but it doesnt have fuses on it it was a kicker zx 1500.1 and the light flickers off and on and makes a clicking noise when the bass hits so im selling my 2 12 inch cvx's and trashing the amp and starting over...i have a piece of crap head unit so i bought the kenwood eXcelon kdc-x991....that along with the amp is being shipped and i am buying the subs when i get my paycheck next friday. but about the wiring harness, how do i know what one to ask for with the head unit? i had a place built in the center to put a new head unit cuz the stock HU in a 91 454ss is some tiny square piece of crap
Instead of trashing the amp, give it to someone who would like to open it up and see what the issue is..... like me. Seriously.
Just keep it simple. The wiring, especially stereo wiring is probably the same between all the full size trucks. Go to an audio shop or Best Buy or something and ask for a stereo wiring harness for a 1991 Chevy K1500. If you have an after-market head unit in there already, you should be able to reuse the harness though.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
well ill sell the amp to whoever wants it for cheap i bought it brand new.....but i guess im going to wire the subs to 1 ohm and hope the amp doesnt fry this time... if the amp puts out 1000 watts at 1 ohm through one channel i just take the square root of 1000 and use that number to set the gain right? the ppl set it wrong that hooked up my system last time.
How much is cheap to sell the blown amp? Depending on price, I am interested.
Also, setting gain by ear is going to work out well IF you know what to listen for and how... Setting with a multimeter can be flawed if done wrong. Best bet would be to set your gains with a 50hz tone at a reasonably high volume for your listening, set at the right level on the meter, then back off a tiny bit. get some different tones like 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 hz and play them and listen close for clipping, if you hear any clipping in the frequency range that your amp is set to play, turn down the gain some.
For 1000 Watts at 1 ohm, you take the square root of 1000 (31.62).
So you set the Multimeter to read DC voltage. Hook the leads up to the speaker outputs on the amp(no speakers hooked up), set your volume to the highest volume you plan to listen to, play the 50hz tone and turn the gain until you reach about 31.6ish volts. Turn it down slightly, I would say 30-31 volts. Then hook everything up normally, with the gain knob still accessible and listen close for clipping. If you hear any clipping while listening to your music, turn the gain down until the clipping is gone.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
JLAudioCavalier wrote:How much is cheap to sell the blown amp? Depending on price, I am interested.
Also, setting gain by ear is going to work out well IF you know what to listen for and how... Setting with a multimeter can be flawed if done wrong. Best bet would be to set your gains with a 50hz tone at a reasonably high volume for your listening, set at the right level on the meter, then back off a tiny bit. get some different tones like 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 hz and play them and listen close for clipping, if you hear any clipping in the frequency range that your amp is set to play, turn down the gain some.
For 1000 Watts at 1 ohm, you take the square root of 1000 (31.62).
So you set the Multimeter to read DC voltage. Hook the leads up to the speaker outputs on the amp(no speakers hooked up), set your volume to the highest volume you plan to listen to, play the 50hz tone and turn the gain until you reach about 31.6ish volts. Turn it down slightly, I would say 30-31 volts. Then hook everything up normally, with the gain knob still accessible and listen close for clipping. If you hear any clipping while listening to your music, turn the gain down until the clipping is gone.
i thought it was AC voltage?
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ok sounds good..and yea i thought it was AC voltage too???
and also when i took my old cvx's out and sold them there was a plastic layer of film over the magnet. is that supposed to come off during installation???
yes sorry. If I was premium, i would edit that. the voltage reading from the speaker outputs is AC. Sorry about that mess up.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
ok.. ppl have told me various tones to play...is 50hz what i should use or does it matter?
for subs? Yes. As a generic starting point set your low pass crossover at 80hz, use a 50hz 0db tone for your gain setting, and if you have a sub sonic filter set it at about 20hz.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
ok....and for ground wire can i ground it anywhere in the car as long as it is short...like for instance could i wire it to one of the bolts that holds either my driver or passenger seat down or is there a better place
I'd play a -3 db 60 hertz tone.
I wouldn't use your seat bolts, they're a real dirty ground.
It isn't hard to drill a small hole and use a bolt somewhere. Make sure you know what is under the car where you drill and use a short bolt. But don't use a seat bolt. Make sure you take all the paint off down to BARE metal.
Lanman why a -3db tone? You and I are going to disagree here finally!
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
Probably at -3 because most music isnt recorded at 0 db I think I read somewhere.
ok well i think that when the installers put my last system in they drilled a bolt and grounded it but there is fiber glass around where it is bolted in and the glass right around the bolt has some cracks in it so im thinkin maybe i shouldn't use that same spot....grounding the wire right is one of the most important parts to me and i wanna make sure it is grounded perfectly so if i do drill a hole and put a bolt does it need to be touching anything or as long as it is going through the floor its ok?
since it's a unibody car, a good solid ground to a bare metal spot in the floor should suffice.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
In my family we teach that boys have a God-stick and girls have a Shame Cave. -John Stewart
