Amp Wiring Kit questions

2 part question here. What kinda of amp wiring kit do you recommend for a Alpine Mono Power Amp MRPM500.


I'm going to use it to power my 2 - Alpine SWE-1243 12' 4-ohm component subwoofer (I order my foxbox sub so it would probly take a couple weeks to deliver)

Also any ideas on where I can run the power\turn on wire to power up the amp, or do I just wire it to the radio fuse directly?

The owners manual should recommend the right wire and you can easily run it under the carpet


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A single 8 gauge should be plenty, as a matter of fact, it's what the owners manual calls for.

with my amp...do you think i need a capacitor or should i just run the power right to it?

You'll be fine without a Cap.

arod412 said:

with my amp...do you think i need a capacitor or should i just run the power right to it?

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Capacitors are the car audio industry's smoke and mirror. They do almost NOTHING. Don't be fooled. Once they discharge they need to be recharged by the very alternator that is working so hard that you installed the cap to help it in the first place.
With your amp, you won't pull enough current to make your alt work very hard at all. If, somehow, you managed to get a real good load going and needed to beef up your electrical you'd be miles ahead to add a second battery instead of a cap. A 2nd battery (w/o isolator) gives you additional starting capacity, extra key-off playing time and helps smooth out high-current demands.

Consider this for you wiring; are you ever going to add a second amp, or move to a bigger amp? Installing a 4 gauge kit would save you a TON of time and only be a few more bucks.

audio1der said:

Capacitors are the car audio industry's smoke and mirror. They do almost NOTHING. Don't be fooled. Once they discharge they need to be recharged by the very alternator that is working so hard that you installed the cap to help it in the first place.

Click to expand...

You misunderstand the purpose of a capacitor. The amplifier sinks a different amount of current depending on volume and the frequency of audio. A capacitor is useful during heavy transient events that occur periodically or for a short period of time; which is very frequent for audio. Therefore, the amplifier can actually sink more current than the alternator can source!

instead of a cap do the big three but this is mostly for bigger systems.

I would just go ahead and do the big three anyways big system or not your electrical will thank you in the long run.