Stereo & Electronics - Wiring Questions in a 4th gen TA

1. Has anyone ran their wiring behind the sail panels and over the rear wheel wells? Did it create any problems with rattles or buzzes?

2. I want to hear from someone who has actually done the big 3 upgrade in a 4th gen. How did you tap into the alternator for the batt+/alt+ wire? Is the uninsulated strip of braided wire coming out of the alt. the chassis/alt- wire? Also, from what I found it looks like the wire was 4 ga. already, does anyone know if this sounds right, because if it's already 4 that should be large enough, right?

-Joe

Noise is picked up from preamp/patchcord wires when they are run of a +12 wire with high amperage. As long as you stay away from your main +12 wire you should be ok.

If your going to upgrade to the 'big 3' then you should replace the entire wire, not cut and tap into them.
Stock comes with 8ga wire from the altenator to the battery.

Yeah, I figured that I needed to isolate the power wire from the speaker and RCAs, but what I was really concerned about was running the power wire in the space between the outerbody panels and the frame that the sail panel speakers are mounted in. Also, this brings me to another question. I was planning to run the RCAs down the driver's side, but the length is over 20', has anyone run the RCAs straight down the center of the car? Any problems? Still visible underneath the carpet?

Actually, I was planning on running a new set in parallel for the big 3. The problem I was having is that the batt+/alt+ wire seems to connect to the the alt with a rubber boot covered male plug (haven't pulled it yet, just looking at it from the outside until I can get it up on the rack.) and I was wondering if I'm missing something and I can actually just pull the boot up and screw another wire in under the connection.

over 20 feet???? i have 3 sets of 5m (which is like 18 ft) run from the deck, down the driver side, and to the back wall of my car to the amp rack

The extra 2+ ft. comes in with my amp. It's a memphis 5 channel so it's long and the RCAs plug into the passenger side so I have to cross behind the amp along the back wall of the hatch well to get from a driver's side starting point. I've measured it twice. That's why I'm thinking about going down the center. And yes I've thought about flipping the amp, but I don't want to turn the "M" into a "W".

Bump, because I want to do the big 3 this weekend. Anyone?

As far as running the rca's down the center, the wires wont show, but you have to pull up the carpeting and remove the entire center console and work the cables through the back seat. Personally I would just go down the passenger side. It's easier to get to in the event the rca's go bad or you want to take your system out for some reason.

Interior's gone anyway, so not a problem. Thanks.