sqsux Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Hey everyone, figured I would throw together a little out of the box review of a cheap amplifier kit I bought today. I will include a summary at the end if you don't feel like reading through everything. I picked this kit up for about the same price as an 8 gauge kit at wal-mart, just to give a little comparison. The wal-mart kits advertise around 800 watts, and my kit advertises 1600 watts. Let's start off with packaging. It came in a very cheap feeling basic plastic package, something you would find at a flea market is the best way I can think to describe it. No where on the package does it contain the letters "AWG", something that may steer people away from this product right away. Also not mentioned on the package, the gauge of all the other wires included. They do however seem to be very proud of how much wire is included. Another thing they seem to advertise as much as they can is flexibility. I have to give it to them there, this stuff is very flexible. Most of the other wires I have owned have very hard/stiff jackets, something I like to have on my longer front to back runs of wire. The jacket on this stuff is rather soft, I cut through it with no effort what so ever. I don't mind this however as it will remain in my trunk with my rear batteries, and will be fused correctly. The jacket does seem rather large, I don't have anything to compare it to unfortunately(I assume it would be worthless to compare it to 1/0, however I can if anyone would like). In this photo the ground wire is stripped and inserted into the ring terminal included. over half of the terminal is left unfilled, I guess I have no choice but to crimp unless I buy new hardware. This next photo is the amp that I will be using the kit for, a Soundstream reference 200. The amplifier's manual says the terminals accept up to 8GA wire. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO TRIMMING DONE TO THE WIRE. Hmmmmm. On to the fuseblock included. No where at all does it tell you what the fuse is rated for. It feels very solid, and looks nice. Everything in it is very snug, but I will have to replace the fuse inside. Overview on the power/ground wire side: Big jacket, cuts very easily, very flexible, fits into 8GA terminals with no trimming done, very nice colors. Now for the included speaker wire. Right off the bat I notice its pretty stiff for what it is, and when flexed it makes a crunchy noise. This wire isn't advertised as being extremely flexible though, so I can't complain there. I split and stripped the wire and right away notice there's hardly any wire at all. 12 strands(give or take a few in case I cut them off while stripping), I'm not sure what that translates to in terms of AWG. Now for the RCA's, very hard jacket, standard cheap looking RCA's, like something you would get in a wal-mart kit. As I said before, I don't mind that harder jacket when I'm running a wire to the front of my car, some people may think differently though. Something I found very different as I've never seen it before, they've included a ground wire in the RCA. I'm not sure if this is something normal with some companies that I've just never seen before, or what. That's about all I've got for now, hopefully I remember to add some more once I get everything installed and tested. If I feel like using this product effects my overall front stage performance then I'll add side by side with the new product. Summary: Cheap packaging, clean looking wires, 4GA wire fits into 8GA terminal, 4GA doesn't fit into included ring terminals properly, larger jacket, jacket is very easy to cut, power wire very flexible, no other wire gauges listed or fuse rating, included a nice bag of zipties and other various hardware. Edit: I picked up some 8GA db link wire for speaker wire, took the left over 4GA surge and did a side by side, results: They're the same size, just a bigger jacket. Start out boxy, shape as you move along. Dc Audio Team Fur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch0sen Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 i know some pioneer radios and such sometimes need to have the rcas grounding to cut back on engine noise, it would be nice if it was a remote line though, that could be usefull My current 95 Jetta Build w/ pioneer h/u 2 RD Sonance 10's with flatwind coils 2 Audiopipe apsm 1500.1s 1 Hifonics Brutus Elite 60x4 1 XS d925 1 Stinger spv35 1 1000 amp lead acid 50 ft of 0/1 ofc from Audiotechnix all powerbass components, and coaxils, 4 sets buildlog = http://www.stevemead...2-rd-10s-build/ My build for my wife. http://www.stevemead...01-f-150-build/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sqsux Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 i know some pioneer radios and such sometimes need to have the rcas grounding to cut back on engine noise, it would be nice if it was a remote line though, that could be usefull that's a pretty cool idea with the remote wire. as for the ground on the RCA, I'll only try to make something out of it if I end up with engine noise although I shouldn't have any as I didn't before. Start out boxy, shape as you move along. Dc Audio Team Fur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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