I've got a box with subs, an amp, and a capacitor. does anyone know what i feed? the amp or the capacitor? I also need suggestions about where to run the power wire im going to need as well. Thanks for the help.

Run power directly to battery.

Capacitor is pointless.

1) ground the -12vdc cable to chassic but remeber to remove the body paint before you connected. the other end cable connect to the capacitor - po n from this -po connect cable to the input of the amp -po
2) run a direct cable from the battery +po to the cpacitor +po n from this +po connect cable to the input of the amp +po. Remeber to add a safety fuse add your battery. total amp wattage / 13.8DCV = fuse no
3) Link a remote wire from the behide radio head unit to amp remote input. usually this wire is blue color. you can see this wire at the connector behide the head unit either in blue color or blue color with white line.
4) plug the RCA cable from the head unit to the amp RCA input. but remember to avoid radiation interference, don't lay RCA cable close to any high current cable.
5) connect your speaker wire from amp, bridge 2 channal into 1 channal to your sub box. usually you need to add a inductor in between the amp and subwoofer.
6) remember to switch your amp mode to sub.

thanks for the help! cap may not be nessicary but it cant hurt, and it was free so i cant argue with that

if you need consistency stable power, if can add a cap in between the amp and battery are idea.

and remember that its .1 farad for every 500 watts your using. so for like mine i have a 1000 watt amp and i over killed it i have a 3 farad. and that brings up a sort story i was in best buy with some friends looking at head units and amps and this sales guy was like yea i have 6 caps in my car and i start up called me a dumb*** and he got mad because you don't need 6 caps in a car unless your running lots of power which he said he is only running 2000 watts. and he said well you just don't know what your talking about and i said yes i do man im a electronic engineer i know about electricity!
:grin:

A cap will only help with the amp draw. It will not strengthen the entire electrical system.

You need 1 farad for every 1000 watts. so if you have a 500w amp, you need a .5 farad cap.

And you never need 6 caps. Alot of companies make 10+ farad caps now.

yup bob is right is is .5 farad for every 500 watts sorry miss type thanks for the correction bob.

How many watts your amp is determines the gauge of wire you need. Go to www.sonicelectronix.com and find a wiring kit that is necessary for the wattage your system is going to be running at it will have all you need. I only have a 350 watt system and I have 6 gauge wire. And it has really thick shielding so I don't get any interference but that's even more than I need, I just got thicker gauge wire cause I'm eventually going to upgrade my system and I don't want to have to spend more money on another wiring kit when getting a bigger than necessary cable wont hurt it at all. Secondly there is a really easy way to run the wiring so that it is completely hidden. I'll take pictures of mine tomorrow so that you can see, cause it's much easier than trying to describe what you do. And for the ground wire, all you do is pull up the carpet in the back of your hatch and take off one of the plastic pieces that holds the carpet in place and ground it there. And the rest is self explanatory. But like I said, I'll take pictures of mine tomorrow cause you can't see any of my wires in my car unless you know where and how I ran them. And it only takes about 30 minutes to an hour to make it look as good as mine.

^
Power wire sucks no matter where you run it, but where I showed you is the best way and easiest.

Ok for the first pic you just pull up the carpet in the hatch and you'll see the place where I grounded that wire. There is a little plastic covering just take that off and ground it there. The second picture is the thick blue wire(power wire) running underneath the backrest of the backseat. Also for that take out your backseat cushions and it will make this job much easier. Third picture to get to that point and keep everything hidden, just tuck all the wires including power wire underneath your plastic interior paneling. Then just pull up that plastic running board and tuck the wires underneath that. That's all the easy stuff, next comes the fun stuff. The fourth picture is the little rubber hose that contains alot of wires, for power mirrors and such, cut a small slit in that, and take a straightened out metal coat hanger and poke it through til you see it on the other side inside your car. Tape the power wire to the coat hanger, and pull it through slowly as to not damage any of the wires inside that hose. Once you do that you get to the fifth picture. Fish the coat hanger through the hole that the wire will pop out at in the sixth picture and then reattach the power wire to the hanger and pull through slowly as to not have the power wire fall off on you and you have to redo this step. Once it pops out like it looks in the sixth picture, just make sure you have enough to reach your battery and connect it. The fuse is that round cylinder in the seventh picture, but yours might look different depending on the brand of wiring kit you get. and then you're done with the power wire. Follow the first 3 steps for your remote wire & RCA cable as well. Any other questions ask me or Bobthecow since he helped me wire and run my system.

i dont remember what the subs are, mabey 400 Watts. ive got an 800 Watt amp and a 1 farad cap. So I should be good there. You guys are awesome!

Anyone have suggestions on what brand of wiring to use?

Rockford or Monster but it's expensive, so if you're looking for good for a decent price I'd go Scosche or Tsunami. Those are what I would recommend for wiring.

yea but what about stinger wires silver i have the 4 gauge custom series and they seem to work pretty good what is your take on them?

My rule of thumb is that if you buy them and they sound good in your car and you haven't experienced any problems with them, hey that's awesome. I just try to recommend "recognized" brands that people feel more comfortable buying. Cause they are more established in reliability and so forth. Cause even I have a brand that I never heard of in my car, I simply got it cause it was cheap at the time and they are amazing.

So buy and use what you're comfortable using, but when someone asks my opinion I usually try to stay away from less recognized names.