Installing a 2nd amp. Help please!

[jaylah]

Hey all,
Planning to buy a 4 channel amp to power my splits by bridging them. Right now i'm running a monoblock for my sub. Amp i'm getting is Kenwood KAC-M645.
Question is:
What do I need for this 2nd amp to work?
What guage wiring kit do i have to buy?
How do i attach 2 power (red) cables to my positive terminal? Does it even fit?
Do i also have to attach a signal wire to the headunit?
If anything else, please let me know. Thanks

[honda_zivic]

Hey all,
Planning to buy a 4 channel amp to power my splits by bridging them. Right now i'm running a monoblock for my sub. Amp i'm getting is Kenwood KAC-M645.
Question is:
What do I need for this 2nd amp to work? below
What guage wiring kit do i have to buy? get 4guage kit or 8gauge but get 4 gauge in case future upgrade.
How do i attach 2 power (red) cables to my positive terminal? just bolt it on Does it even fit? yes
Do i also have to attach a signal wire to the headunit? yes u need rca cables and remote wire.
If anything else, please let me know. Thanks

and ground the wire to bare metal not painted spots.

[GaDgeT-CRX]

Best off grabbing yourself a fused distribution block to power the 2 amps.. http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SZ2076&keywords=DIstribution+block&form=KEYWORD

Would suggest 4GA from battery to disti block, then 2 x 8GA to the amps

[arverson]

What do I need for this 2nd amp to work?
power wiring(power & ground), a good ground spot, remote wire, distribution block (fused if you'll be stepping down in size from the main power wire), fuses.

What guage wiring kit do i have to buy?
depends on what youre running.. need a little more info on your gear but ill skip the long questions & answers and tell ya 4gauge. make sure you get the right fuses.

How do i attach 2 power (red) cables to my positive terminal? Does it even fit?
thats one way of doing it. the easier way is to use a fused distributor block up the back. so 1 adequate power wire from the battery to the back (or wherever your amps are located), that goes into 1 end of the distro block which then splits it to each amps individual power wire.
like so: |battery|---|fuse|---------------------->|fused distro block|=============>amps
dunno if that pic makes sense to you...

Do i also have to attach a signal wire to the headunit?
remote wire doesnt warrant much current. you can simply piggyback/daisychain it off the other amp.


if its all over your head then go see a pro.

[jaylah]

Thanks :)
Okay so i'm getting most of it so far. After the fused distribution block, i put 2 power cables to the amps without a fuse in between right? The fuse is only between battery and dist. block.
The monoblock has to be run on 4ga power cable, uses alot of watts. The 4ch amp i guess could use 8ga wiring, only uses around 260w.
Someone suggested i just split the signal cable on my monoblock now, and use speaker wire to hook it to my new amp. That alright?

[GaDgeT-CRX]

your earthing and power cables have to match, so if you use 4GA into your monoblock, use the same into your new amp and upgrade to a 2GA input from the battery to the disti.

The disti block will split the power into 2 power runs to your amps, and should have 2 x 80AMP fuses protecting each wire.

Not sure what you mean by splitting the signal cable on your mono, do you mean control 'on' signal? Yes, you can jump this control wire to power the new amp.

As mentioned, if you are not sure, take it to the pro's.. can do a lot of damage to yourself, your ride and your gear if not done correctly. Just make sure you have disconnected the main inline fuse to the disti block before you start playing with the wires.

[1996_EK_Civic]

What do I need for this 2nd amp to work? Power/Earth/RCA cables.
What guage wiring kit do i have to buy? As GaDgeT-CRX said ONE 4AWG to the boot then get a distribution block/power spliter and use TWO 4/8AWG cables to the amps
How do i attach 2 power (red) cables to my positive terminal? Does it even fit? you don't lol
Do i also have to attach a signal wire to the headunit? Only for the mono-block running the sub
If anything else, please let me know. Thanks. does your headunit have 2 or 3 RCA pre-outs? if only 2 get a 4 Channel amp which has a RCA output then a short RCA cable to the mono-block

just my input only read the first two posts hope i didnt repeat anything
Goodluck! :D

[jaylah]

Thanks so much for the input guys. I know what i'm doing now, i'll be alright. =)

[arverson]

Thanks :)
Okay so i'm getting most of it so far. After the fused distribution block, i put 2 power cables to the amps without a fuse in between right? The fuse is only between battery and dist. block.

Someone suggested i just split the signal cable on my monoblock now, and use speaker wire to hook it to my new amp. That alright?


theres the fuse between the batt and distro. and there will be 2 more fuses, in your FUSED distro block..


can you be more clear on what you mean by 'split the signal/remote/control/turn-on cable? do you mean physically slice it open somewhere then connect the second wire? dont do that. make it easier on yourself by simply connecting 1 end of another remote wire into 1 amps remote point, and the other end to the other amps remote point. a lot safer too.