wiring stereo questions

1. What's everyone's opinion on wire type, monster? marine grade a requirment? (live on the coast in florida so boat sees some brackish water use if this changes ppl's opinion) obviously places like west marine swear marine grade wire is a must, but other's have said seal off connections and dont sweat it.
2. Using a wetsounds amp, whats everyone's strategy on wiring power and ground with two batteries? I really want to be able to use both batteries to the system.

sorry for basic questions, first crack at doing this and first boat system too.

any advice will be greatly appreciated!

thanks,

jeff

I like Stinger for wiring. They also have a marine grade line for the brakish environment you are going to be in. They are based out of Clearwater, FL so you should have a dealer near you. Check their website out at http://stingerelectronics.com/.

Look at the Marine line and use the dealer locator. Good luck.

thanks alot Ben! found a dealer near me, ill stop there tomorrow!

i know there's a ton of audio brains on here! lil advice please

If your anywhere near brackish, use a "tinned wire" search on the net , you'll find a bunch, and it's cheap. Just not as pretty. Don't waste your money on expensive marine RCA's. Buy some mid grade stuff, you'll be fine. I started using welding cable for my large power/ground runs, it's cheap and very weather resistant and runs true to size. Alot of wire companies heavly insualte wire making a 2 ga wire close to 4ga when you pull back all the insulation. Near the coast , definately wrap connections in electrical tape.

thanks Sam, i appreciate it

what exactly are you needing? i run all stinger and it works awesome, i have seen a lot of others with corrosion but i have never had anything from stinger fail or corrode, if you go with their stuff you won't go wrong

Ryan, are you using normal stinger stuff or the marine grade? I am rewiring the tower speakers and adding amp and new ground and power cables there also and RCA's from HU to Wet sounds EQ then to amp., also those having 2 batteries how are you wiring your power and ground?

Jeff,

If you are using a perko, connect the grounding posts of each battery together. Then, connect all the positive cables that were existing to the common terminal on the back of the perko. (for my boat, I had a starter cable, the cable that goes over to the dash and switches and my stereo system)

Then connect the positive terminal from battery #1 to the #1 terminal and the #2 battery to the #2 terminal.

This is the way I ran mine and it works great.

Everything in the boat will be powered by which ever bank you select on the perko...


If you DO NOT have a perko, just connect the positive of one battery to the positive of the other and negative of one battery to the negative of the other.... Then connect all the power and grounds to the appropriate terminal on either battery...

As far as the type of wire you use, I have no good advice for you... If you really want to do some research on the topic, look on this site: http://www.bcae1.com/

This site has a REDICULOUS amount of info. Look through the menu on the right and find what you are looking for.

Good luck.

ok i do have a perko, so your saying run a new positive power from each battery to the perko.
then connect the two negative battery terminals with new ground wire, then run new negative cable to the perko also or no?
Then i assume new power and ground from the perko to the amp. Is this correct? thanks alot.

Jeff

i know this might be a question specifically for wetsounds, but I have a Syn 6 amp powering a 3 some, what size fuse do i need for this? they recommend 2 fuses- one from each power wire per battery, but doesnt say type or size. Other than the head unit's power this is the only amp im using.

i used a 200 amp breaker less than 12 inches from the house bank to the stinger disti blocks, which are inches away from a syn6 and syn4. all very close. a ww member recommended them to me and you don't have to worry about fuses. if you want an inline for the Syn6 Tim i believe recommends a 150A for just the syn6. total fuse on Syn6 is 120A and he says to round up.

i bought the 200A version similar to this one from these guys:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CIRCUIT-BREAKER-150-AMP-INLINE-RESET-SELF-TEST-83150_W0QQitemZ110354272374QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_D efaultDomain_0?hash=item110354272374&_trksid=p3286 .c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C3 9%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

i really wanted to try and find the old streetwires all in one multi-0 gauge in to multi-4 gauge out combo disti block, but they're long gone. you can still get the one's with the smaller fuses, but useless for these amps. hope that helps.

oh and imo, don't waste your money on expensive cables.

check out darvex.com, knukonceptz.com, monoprice.com, etc.

i was going to use knukonceptz stuff off of a recommendation, but they were backordered on the lengths and disti blocks i needed so i went with darvex and stinger.

Dang bruce with those fuse requirements it makes me feel good about my not so "efficient" JL setup...

hush you! what color did you get?

Bruce thanks for all the info! the wiring begins tomorrow afternoon, so i'm sure ill be back tomorrow night with many more questions!

glad to help jeff. good luck with the install and have fun.

Bruce got the Black and Moonbeam LSV at Bakes.

lucky bugger - congrats!

www.genuinedealz.com

I won't use the car stuff in a boat, it turns green by the third or fourth year. Get the pre-tinned stuff and you are set for life. As a side note, I have heard that insurance companies can deny a burned boat if they find you used non-marine rated cable (might be just a rumor).

noted thanks alot Mikeski i went with tinned power, ground, and speaker wire, and some normal monster gold RCA's. I started today and got the new head unit installed and mounted the new amp, wiring continues in the next few days. Thanks everyone for the help.

Jeff

ok so question... I was going to use the perko as my connection to the power sources with the new power wire for the amp, however, if i do this i need to fuse the power wire after the perko and it's not within 18 inches of the batteries. Why does that matter or does it? why do wetsounds say to have fuses w/ in 18 inches?

anyone have opinion on this fuse location dilemma? thanks