I searched high and low for an affordable 4 gauge amp install kit for an install I was about to do on my personal vehicle. The major name brand kits are near or well over $100 for 4 gauge and even though there are a plethora of "4 gauge" kits on ebay cheap, they are not true 4 gauge stranded wire (I even inquired about one and they replied it was 4 gauge insulation and not true 4 gauge wire inside). Whether or not you buy this kit, do the research and make sure you know what you are getting. I feel for the money, this kit is a great value.
This kit has true 4 gauge stranded wire for the power and ground cables (4 gauge wire measures almost 1/4" in diameter). The cables have good insulation and are flexible. The kit also includes corrugated split loom to protect the power cable inside the engine compartment. It also comes with nice 16 gauge speaker wire which has small "+" symbols marked on the entire length of one of the pairs so that it is easy to know which is positive and negative on both ends when making connections from amp to speaker. The price has recently went up about ten bucks since I purchased it a month ago, but it is still a great value for the price. I can not comment on the RCA cable included because I am using a 5 channel amp and will be using a monster brand 6 channel rca cable instead of the included rca cable. It also comes with gold plated connectors and a nice o-ring sealed fuse holder and 60 amp fuse. There are also small black cable ties included. Overall, I am very pleased with the components and felt it was a great deal for what is included. DB Link PK4Z 4 Gauge Power Series Amplifier Installation Kit
I was skeptical at first as if this kit was truly 4ga wire because it was only [...] bucks! well it definitely 4ga. this is a great kit for a non comp install. the RCA and remote wire are kind of thin but not bad. this is a great kit for anyone wanting to push 1k plus watts.
This kit is exactly what it claims to be. At first I didn't realise that the fuse holder had an 8 Ga. sleve in it allowing it to be used for smaller ga. cable and I thought they sent me the worng one. Then I realized you remove the sleeve when using 4Ga. for a perfect fit.
No complaints at all. This is the best value I saw when I shopped it and I wasn't disappointed.
After reading the reviews on this and similar products here I picked this because people said it was actually 4 gauge wire. I measured it and I'd say it is. The diameter for 4 AWG is 0.20 inches and this measured out at about 0.24, but since it's stranded I assume the measured diameter should be larger than the solid spec.
However one thing for sure, it is not pure copper wire. This wire is copper clad aluminum (CCA) which is aluminum wire with a thin copper plate on each strand. There is nothing wrong with CCA as long as you understand that aluminum has higher resistance than copper. 4 AWG copper is 0.253 ohms/1000 feet, 4 AWG aluminum is 0.408 ohms/1000 foot, which is about the same as 6 AWG copper. An aluminum wire needs to be about two gauges larger to carry the same current. So think of this kit as being a really good 8 AWG kit!
I expect all the low cost amp kits use the same kind of wire. This is how you can get such a "deal" on the wire. If you are curious, a web search for these terms will turn up plenty of information.
FYI: the power cables are CCA- AKA Copper clad aluminum which is about 3-4% copper and 96-97% aluminum. why is this important? CCA wires have the capacity of 65% of pure O2 free wires. that being said these wires arent terrible, and will work with many systems (def would not use it anywhere near 1600 watts). fuse is 60 amps so about 720watts max for this kit at 12v i believe. The problem is that DB does not have this info on their packaging. this is the reason why I will give this product 2 stars. for all the 5 star reviews, I respect their opinions but I feel their rating will be misleading to new or inexperienced consumers. im using a mix of DB and rockford/sEFX wiring components and I like the RF and EFX way better than DB. unless you are very desperate and have limited funds or just don't feel like paying more, this amp kit will probably work for you if you a low powered amp.
Pros:
* Cheap
* visually appears true to AWG specs (compared to my Rockford 4g and 8 gcable)
* complete kit for a single amp
Cons
* build quality is barely adequate
* CCA will create more resistance+ heat and has a lower conductivity compared to higher end kits with pure copper
* Misleading packaging and product info
* Kit appears to contain other components in many other of the low cost kits from china. check amazon.com for their picks, all the wires and RCA cables are most likely made by the same company and repackaged.
This is CCA wiring. It's very cheap and the individual strands break apart easily. I highly recommend soldering all the connections (don't rely on just crimping) due to the nature of how easy this wire breaks. I also doubt I would use this on a 1600W application. About 1200W max is all I would trust this kit with it being CCA. The speaker wire that comes with this sucks, especially for a "1600W" kit, it's only 16AWG, so I went to my local audio shop and picked up about 6ft of 12AWG speaker wire for 5bucks. The RCA's look pretty cheap but seem to work just fine. The nicest piece in this kit is the fuse holder, and the 60A fuse they supplied was just perfect for my amplifier. The only reason I gave this a 4star is because of the price - Otherwise, it's about 2star quality.
Pros:
Value
True 4awg size
Plenty of length (installed on a full-size sedan)
Thick wire insulation
Excellent fuse holder
Comes with almost everything you need (minus speaker wire)
Cons:
CCA wiring
Aesthetically displeasing RCA's
Too small of speaker wire for the size of the kit (though they give you plenty) - Do It Yourself - Amp - Amp Kit - Car Audio'
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