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So what do I need to install my amp and speakers. I mean the little things. I didn't do the install for my components, so I don't know how everything is connected yet. I will open up my door panels probably January to install my new amp and subwoofer. But I wanted to buy stuff in advance.

I have 4 gauge power wire.
12 gauge speaker wire
a positive and negative battery terminal from Knu
Knu RCA and remote wire


Below are what I am not sure if I need or if I can use them.

Is it okay to use Streetwire Power Rings or Set screw terminals instead of normal 4 ga crimp rings? How about those Inter-locking ring terminals?

Do I need anything for my speaker wire to connect my sub, crossovers, components? for example, butt connectors, spades, male or female disconnects, bullet crimp terminals.

Any special kind of subwoofer box terminal I should look for?

One last thing is that my battery terminals have the option of putting in raw wire or using a ring terminal. Is it okay to be stripping and inserting raw wire into the set-screw like connection under the hood? I was also thinking of connecting my circuit breaker like this. Was thinking it would save a couple bucks since I wouldn't need as many terminal connectors.

 
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from what i gather yer better off soldering the wires than using connectors..

sorry but beyond that i have no idea

 
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Well, I don't think I would have to solder my connections.

I'm just wondering what do I use to connect my speaker wire to my amp, crossovers, speakers, and subwoofer terminal.
Can I just use raw stripped wire or do I need to buy a few crimping accessories?

 
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I've always used raw wire connections for speaker to amp and for power/ground wire connections to distro blocks, etc. I do have a ring terminal on my battery, but couldn't find one big enough to fit around the bolt holding down my ground (seat belt bolt under the back seat). Some of this is purely cosmetic - it won't make a difference with the connection, but will look nice.

 
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You can use raw wire on the amp side (in most amps anyway). On the speaker side, you have some options. Inside the box, genreally terminal cups are used to give a connection point from outside the box. Here (inside the box connections) most people use crimp on connectors for both connecting to the speaker and terminal cup. You can use raw wire, but I'd give them a heavy dose of solder if you did so (and they are the blade type connectors of course). If you just have a hole drilled, and are running the speaker wire direct from the amp to the sub (making sure you silicone the hole around the wire) you can also use crimp on connectors (and some subs, depending on which you have) have a push button type connector where you can push it open and insert raw wire. Really depends on the connection type the sub has. That's a sort of vague description, after reading through it, I also think there's a DIY on here somewhere, if not, several manufacturer's websites have them.

 
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Wrong, it will make a difference. Solder your wire to your miscellaneous connectors. If you measure the resistance with a soldered connection and then a unsoldered connection, the one with the unsoldered connection will be higher..
Wires for your crossovers and for your amp, I've always stripped the wire, crimped a spade terminal on, soldered it, and heat shrinked it for protection.. although the heat shrink IS mostly for cosmetic reasons because it's better than looking at the base of a terminal with a big hole in it from crimping.

Connections for your subs, I've always soldered the speaker wire directly on the terminals on the sub.. UNLESS it already has the screw type where you just stick the wire in and screw the gold bolt down onto the wire.. For your box, I use banana plugs. They look nice, they're secure and provide a very minimal amount of resistance, and they're easy to disconnect if you need to.

Battery and Ground, JL Audio, Stinger, Street Wires, Schoche, and I'm sure there are others but those are the only brands I've ever had experience with, make specific ring terminals for your battery. If you also own a GM vehicle, they make side battery posts.. for your ground, they make a ground terminal with two screws in it. It's kind of hard to explain but it's like this big piece of metal shaped like

| |
/__\

^That.
your wire connects in the top, and the bottom gets screwed/bolted to your chassis ground. Their theory is that it covers more surface area, therefore giving you a better connection.

I don't remember what else you were asking so I'm just going to post this. Good luck.

 
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Thanks guys, that was alot of help.

So for the crossover, is the thing I need called a barrier spade? I have Kicker RS6 components, and read throught the manual. It did come with female disconnects for the connection of wire to the midrange. It also came with butt connectors for the tweeters, since wire already hung out of the tweeter. But I'll probably need to buy new terminals since I'll be upgrading my speaker wire to 12 gauge.

The IDQ subwoofer came to my house today. After looking at it, I need female disconnects to wire it. I probably will buy a dual banana plug for my box terminal. But on the other side of the box terminal inside, is it typically a blade type?

So I need 6 pairs of barrier spades for my crossovers.
1 dual banana plug for the outside of the sub box.
2 pair of butt connectors for my tweeters.
5 pair of female disconnects for the sub, inside of the box terminal. and my midranges.
And a couple of 4 gauge ring, set screw, or inter-lok terminals.

Hope that's it. Thanks again fellas.

 
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one more tip - buy more than you need. Trust me.