Jumping Power Cables

harmlessv8 wrote:

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is it good to run two amp's with one power wire to the amp's because the install shop did this one power wire to one amp then jump the power wire to the 2 amp and did the same with the ground wire to and thay cut the rca wire's to make them longer with speaker wire then ran those wire's beside the power wire that is jumping the to amps. so can someone put me on the right track .    i guess to do right you have to do it yourself

        thanks harmlessv8

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I know that sounds bad, but after thinking about the jumping power wire, is that such a bad thing? Seems like it would save money. Now I could be wrong, but distribution blocks aren't exactly doing anything jumping the wire wouldn't be doing, granted it might be a little cleaner.   So would it be a bad practice of jumping the cables. And if it is acceptable, when is it unacceptable; i.e. 4 gauge, high amp 8 gauge?

That sounds like a ghetto install if I've ever heard one.  Making the RCA cables longer by splicing in some speaker wire??  Running signal wires alongside power wires?  Eww, shoot them.  But "jumping" a power wire from one amp to the next would be, well, okay except for the fact that the amp input accepts only a certain gauge wire and it's usually a tight fit...you would have to have the room to accept two wires to jump one out.  And a fuse is necessary on the second wire out, as well. 

Anything like what is described above that deviates from accepted install practices is "a bad thing".  I vote "unacceptable" in all cases.

...and let me guess:  the remote wires are probably jumped from the power wires as well, right?  ;)

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

Haha of course you would jump the remote too. I don't know about ya'll, but I think jumping the wire, if the terminals allow it, is a damn good idea. As long as it's fused. The rca's and all that is bad obviously. You can buy low quality rca's at the dollar store. As long as they are semi away from the power wire you get great sound for a dollar.

mini14 wrote:

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Haha of course you would jump the remote too. I don't know about ya'll, but I think jumping the wire, if the terminals allow it, is a damn good idea. As long as it's fused. The rca's and all that is bad obviously. You can buy low quality rca's at the dollar store. As long as they are semi away from the power wire you get great sound for a dollar.

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don't use shhhy rca's!!!  when the  ''HACK SHOP'' did this i got alt wine and humming sound  now the set up that i redone each amp have's it's own power wire and ground new rca wire's '' monster cable '' now it sounds great thanks from the help of this site

p.s you get what you pay 4 do the job right the first time you will be happy that you did !!!!!!!!!                            

                            harmlessv8

if you buy the super expensive RCA cables, power cables, speaker cables, etc. you don't get what you pay for. For the most part, RCA's are RCA's, they are all good as long as they are shielded. The reason you got hum and whine was probally because the RCA was right beside a power cable, or your grounds were shhhty.

Monster cable is the biggest ripoff (RF is a close second).

Example of expensive cable that does absolutley nothing:
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-u5o6sZgarPl/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=183450&I=575CPRG11

show me a speaker that needs 11 gauge cable....please....
And the stuff about the inductor cable is a bunch of shhh...

-Drew

Ha, I wasn't intending for this topic to go on to RCA quality and such. As far as RCA's go I don't care. I've been using the cheap ones so long with great results. I'm gonna be using some Esoteric RCA's in my next setup, so I know quality. I also have 100+ ft of 4 gauge, so amount of wire is not an issue. I'm just curious to know if that wouldn't overload somme circuit or what not on the first amp that you are jumping the power from.

Ha, I wasn't intending for this topic to go on to RCA quality and such. As far as RCA's go I don't care. I've been using the cheap ones so long with great results. I'm gonna be using some Esoteric RCA's in my next setup, so I know quality. I also have 100+ ft of 4 gauge, so amount of wire is not an issue. I'm just curious to know if that wouldn't overload some circuit or what not on the first amp that you are jumping the power from.

Yes, this actually can harm the first amp.  This is not because of a voltage feedback, or something like that, but because of the inability to fuse it seperately from the second amp.

The downside to jumpering is also the upside to using a fused distrobution block.  You can fuse the main power wire appropriately to protect the wire, then where it splits off, you can fuse each amp seperately (important on some amps without their own fuse) to protect the amps themselves.  If you were to simply jumper them, you could fuse the second amp inline, but since the main power wire would feed directly into the first amp, it would need to carry the current for both amps, so you'd have to fuse accordingly.  If the first amp didn't have it's own built in fuse, you could easily damage this amp by driving it beyond it's intended limits.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

Good feedback, that's along the lines of what I wanted to know.