Amp wiring kits. The goods and bads from personal experience
No the top radio doesn't do anything anymore. Thankfully it allows it to still look functionable. It just kills the radio function but eberything else still works. Thankfully I don't have many options that it disabled up besides my radio.
I remember back in the day when MB Quart was real good stuff especially in the speaker area. I just did a lot of research and for the $160 I paid for this amp it has amazing power and doesn't get hot. The reviews from everywhere have all been good. I am very happy with it.
I am happy in general with the whole thing. All together everything was only $500. HU was $160, wiring was $100, box and sub were $170, and door speakers were $60.
I remember back in the day when MB Quart was real good stuff especially in the speaker area. I just did a lot of research and for the $160 I paid for this amp it has amazing power and doesn't get hot. The reviews from everywhere have all been good. I am very happy with it.
I am happy in general with the whole thing. All together everything was only $500. HU was $160, wiring was $100, box and sub were $170, and door speakers were $60.
I think you did well with the costs of everything. 
Also, how does everyone handle the "last foot" of the amp install, specifically what tips do you have to a clean install, keeping the power away from RCA's as much as possible, etc? Any special products designed for this?
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A good set of shielded RCA wires (meaning they're braided, oxygen-free and well insulated) will minimize your problems with noise. I got some good deals on RCA cables from JL Audio on their clearance website and couldn't be happier.
On my setup, the 4-gauge power cable runs down the passenger side of the car, under the glovebox and to a fused power block in the factory subwoofer location. The RCA cables run down the center of the car, under the trim and the front speaker wires run down the driver's side of the car. It took forever to do it this way, but the results were great.
And back on the OP's original topic, I totally agree, you get what you pay for. I bought an 8-gauge made in China piece of crap "wire kit" from Fry's and it contained 16-gauge worth of wire and 8-gauge worth of insullation. It was useless, so I returned it.
After some searching, I found a car audio specialty shop here in Seattle that has bulk power cable for sale by the foot and got some GREAT Rockford Fosgate 4-gauge cable for what turned out to be less money. Rockford Fosgate really does make some great power cable. If you want to go through Crutchfield, I've also found that StreetWires has a good product. They're pretty close in terms of quality, but the insullation on the Fosgate wire is more forgiving and frankly looks better.
Last edited by zakmartin; May 26, 2010 at 03:45 PM.
I got the my Alpine PDX-5 amp wired in yesterday. No audible interference that I can tell from having my RCA's within about a foot of the Kicker power cable. I didn't understand at first that the fuse block has some conversion parts already installed to accept 8ga, then realized you just remove a couple parts for it to accept the 4ga and the install was easy from there. I'd recommend this Kicker kit to anyone.
On a side note, my PDX-5 ended up being a ringer, I've heard they are underrated, but damn mine came in at 119Wx4 + 414W, they are rated at 75Wx4 + 300W.
On a side note, my PDX-5 ended up being a ringer, I've heard they are underrated, but damn mine came in at 119Wx4 + 414W, they are rated at 75Wx4 + 300W.
Last edited by Done Deal DR; May 27, 2010 at 11:43 AM.
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I got the my Alpine PDX-5 amp wired in yesterday. No audible interference that I can tell from having my RCA's within about a foot of the Kicker power cable. I didn't understand at first that the fuse block has some conversion parts already installed to accept 8ga, then realized you just remove a couple parts for it to accept the 4ga and the install was easy from there. I'd recommend this Kicker kit to anyone.
On a side note, my PDX-5 ended up being a. ringer, I've heard they are underrated, but damn mine came in at 119Wx4 + 414W, they are rated at 75Wx4 + 300W.
On a side note, my PDX-5 ended up being a. ringer, I've heard they are underrated, but damn mine came in at 119Wx4 + 414W, they are rated at 75Wx4 + 300W.
This isn't a great picture, but I think this is the same fuse block that I have. On each side that the cable connects you'll see rubber grommets that are quite a bit smaller than 4ga (looking back, obviously 8ga). You remove that grommet, and then a piece falls out that holds 8ga wire. At first I was hacking away at my 4ga wire thinking "what a poorly engineered "kit" this is", but then found this out while playing with it and made some new cuts for a fresh start.
I stripped the exterior black shroud back to strip the blue insulation jacket off, then put electrical tape around it up to the edge of the blue insulation to make sure the outer shroud in the engine compartment didn't start to de-thread or anything, and the electrical tape goes just to the block, very tight fit and definitely engineered to be this way IMO.
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This isn't a great picture, but I think this is the same fuse block that I have. On each side that the cable connects you'll see rubber grommets that are quite a bit smaller than 4ga (looking back, obviously 8ga). You remove that grommet, and then a piece falls out that holds 8ga wire. At first I was hacking away at my 4ga wire thinking "what a poorly engineered "kit" this is", but then found this out while playing with it and made some new cuts for a fresh start.
I stripped the exterior black shroud back to strip the blue insulation jacket off, then put electrical tape around it up to the edge of the blue insulation to make sure the outer shroud in the engine compartment didn't start to de-thread or anything, and the electrical tape goes just to the block, very tight fit and definitely engineered to be this way IMO.
My rig is too tall to fit into the garage, so all my work is dictated by what mother nature will provide me. I don't hate my neighbors enough to fire up my contractor light in the driveway. Its starting to stay lighter, but since AZ doesn't adhere to DST I've only had about an hour or two each day to work on it, plus the weekends.
Were you able to look at your fuse block already?
Its starting to stay lighter, but since AZ doesn't adhere to DST I've only had about an hour or two each day to work on it, plus the weekends. Were you able to look at your fuse block already?
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My rig is too tall to fit into the garage, so all my work is dictated by what mother nature will provide me. I don't hate my neighbors enough to fire up my contractor light in the driveway. Its starting to stay lighter, but since AZ doesn't adhere to DST I've only had about an hour or two each day to work on it, plus the weekends.
Were you able to look at your fuse block already?
Its starting to stay lighter, but since AZ doesn't adhere to DST I've only had about an hour or two each day to work on it, plus the weekends. Were you able to look at your fuse block already?
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Last edited by dave079; May 27, 2010 at 02:28 PM.
After you took it out though I'm sure it made complete sense. There was no instructions with my kit, not sure if it's like that on all of them, but the only reason I found out is because I took the grommet out to see if that would help and then set it down (due to frustration I'm sure) and realized something had fallen out. 'a ha, brilliant!
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