andy1canada

Howdy from Vancouver Island!

I'm wrestling with the install of my Alpine-CDA 9825 and a JL Audio e2150 amp. in my old 77' Chevy
'C-class' motorhome.

It's my first car CD player and my first amp.
(there's still a few campgrounds here on Vancouver Island that I haven't been kicked out of yet; this should fix that problem...)

For someone who's never done such an install, I find the instructions somewhat ambiguous; these things should come with 'two' sets of instructions, one set-like it came with-for the electrical guru's out there- and another for idiots like me...

I'm a good ways through the work already but I'm concerned about doing it 'right'...I don't have a big budget here but I don't want to sacrifice sound quality to save a penny...

My musical preferences fall into the 'rocker' catagory: Zepplin, Stones, Satriani etc...

I'll outline what I've managed to do and the overall plan; maybe someone out there double check to see if there are any holes in it.

I've added a new 'auxillary-battery' compartment to the RV. All power to the CD player/Amp will come from there and not the 'cranking battery'. I've also just completed a 'tin-off' refit of the old motorhome during which I ran some extra outside speaker wires (into an all-weather box) for those killer 'sing-around-the-campfire' gigs.

CD player: It's in the dash. I'm running the fused yellow/power wire (spliced to some 10/GA I had kicking around) about 8-ft. to the battery/box. I've run the (blue/wht.stripe) amp power-up wire from the CD to the amp input. I've connected the antenna coupling and grounded the Alpine to the chassis. There's 'six' RCA inputs/outputs? on the CD. My wire/kit A&B Sound sold me with the amp included a long RCA (dual) cord. Best I can figure, it goes from the top two (L&R) jacks on the CD to the input/jacks on the amp (am I on track?)
Also, while we're on the topic of speaker connections, there's also a provision on the amp to connect your (two) speakers into a 'clamp/crimp' screw-hole setup. I plan to run the pairs speaker wires from there to a nearby speaker selector switch where the outdoor speaker circut will also go. I'll simply unplug the 'Energy' bookshelf spearkers from the inside of the motorhome then take-em' outside and plug-em' into the outside jacks when needed.

Question: I'm assuming the long RCA cord (from my amp wiring kit) carries the two-channel signal to the amp where it is amplified then sent on to the speakers. Can I run the other two-channels from the CD player (rear/speakers) and bypass the amp directly to a couple of lower power (old-Jensen's) in the rear of the motorhome? I'm hoping the light/guage wire will still carry the signal from the Alpine without blowing up the old Jensen's. I'm assuming I can do this if I leave the Alpine's built-in amp activated...apparently you have the option to do this or not.

Amplifier: My main concern with the amp is the wire-kit the guy's at A&B sold me. Granted, they gave me a good deal...maybe.

The instructions with the JL amp specify a minimum of '8-guage' for the power wire and ground. They sold me a '10-guage' kit. A young guy that works in a stereo shop (auto) told me it should be fine as long as I keep the run to the battery under
8/ft. Is that cool or what?

Any and all help appreciated!

Cheers,

Andy

pinhead

yes wire size is relatative to lenght
you can use smaller sizes for shorter lenghts