Pioneer amps good?

[Scoobydoo]

Yes I'm sure some cars would be easier than others. My only experience is with Subies, and the boot isn't straight through, so the coathanger trick won't work. There's a good 15cm (if not more) of rubber boot that it has to travel through, including 2 x right angles. It's definitely not my favourite part of wire installation

[ToomTom]

I have a Pioneer kit I bought a few days ago and the amp provides a LOT of power. I picked up one from hyper drive (see here) and its more than enough to run my sub-woofer if that's what you're planning to do. When looking for a 2 channel amp i found it quite hard to come across one that'd have around the same power the sub could actually handle. I managed to push out around 400 watts to the sub itself which it can handle... not that i ran it that high... but on about 1/4 gain and the bass boost on half of its capability it worked like a dream and I was able to adjust it nicely on the head-unit itself.

If anyone plans on doing a basic sub install id highly recommend the amp listed above.

[Andy_Mac]

I've only ever done subies too. Thats why I lube the hell out of the draw wire then with it about 3/4 of the way through I give it a bit of a bend from the outside of the boot and it slips through like a dream.

Type of wire used as the draw wire will completely change how much of a bastard it is to manouvre through

[Kol12]

 Andy_Mac said:

I've only ever done subies too. Thats why I lube the hell out of the draw wire then with it about 3/4 of the way through I give it a bit of a bend from the outside of the boot and it slips through like a dream.

Type of wire used as the draw wire will completely change how much of a bastard it is to manouvre through

What's the ideal draw wire? A coat hanger? Don't suppose you have any pictures that explain it do you?

[Andy_Mac]

I used the wire suspended ceiling guys use for hanging ceiling grids. Think a coat hanger may be a bit too stiff to work all that well. Na didn't really take any pictures of that stuff. Just follow your nose for what trim to remove under the dash. Then with the speakers out you can get your arm up in there and feel where it comes through. Alternatively, you could always just pull the rubber boot out from the door side to make feeding it through easier since it makes it a fair bit straighter. Tried it once. Worked well for feeding it through but was a bit difficult getting it back in correctly as that part of the door has double layered steel.

[Kol12]

Well these are the amps and speakers I'm considering. What do you think would work well or should I be looking into something else within their price range?

Amps: Soundstream TX2.350, STL2.350, Picasso PX2.420 or the Harman/Kardon CA280

Speakers: JBL GTO 609C, JBL GTO 608C (older?) or the Infinity REF-6500CX

[Kol12]

Does anyone know of any amp kits that have the power and ground terminals pre attached and the inline fuse? Are any of the kits on Trademe any good?

[Scoobydoo]

When looking for an amp kit, don't use any smaller then 4ga. That will suit 95% of standard installs. If there's no name brand, then you have no guarantee of how big the cable is compared to others, so at least a a 4ga will 'generally'be bigger than your standard 8ga, but that's not 100% the case. But also, name brands can differ in quality as well. Better brands to find would be Soundstream, Fusion, Stinger, Tsunami etc. Boss, at a pinch.

[Kol12]

Those brands for wiring kits? Boss seems to be not so recommended for amps so their wiring kits are ok though?

How about this http://www.jonvy.co.nz/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=3456

No mention of being 100% oxygen free copper which is what to look for.

Any opinions on my amp + speaker considerations?

[Kol12]

Is a 4ga kit really necessary? Does it put more strain on the battery?

Any opinions on the amps and speakers I'm considering?

Also came across JBL GX-600c