Getting wired - need help.

[traindriver]

Got a new pioneer HU for my birthday and have some newbie questions.

It is going into my VK that is "audio challanged" and thus I have to run new speaker wires fore and aft.

Q1 - Fat is good??
I understand that fat speaker cables are good as they reduce power restrictions banging signal down the line.
How come then that the HU standard output wires are so skinny?
Should I use fat wires from the skinny wires on the plug?

Q2 - ACC on the igniton?
There is a wire that needs to be hooked up to the ACC position on the ignition switch - how do I do that.
Is it needed?
Can I just hook that wire to the "live" power wire and thus the stereo can run anytime independant of the igniton?

Q3 - future proofing
I want to run 6in speakers with split tweeters at the front, a set of 6in speakers at the back and a sub.
Will the head unit run the front speakers / tweeters ok?
Is there an amp that takes inputs from the HU via the rear speaker circuit thus saving the RCA output for another amp to run the sub?

Q4 - Amps
Is a 150w amp sufficient to run the rear 6 inch speakers?
Can the "amp signal" wire from the HU be daisy chained to other amps?
Where do amps get their power? Direct power feed from the battery or is it better to be able to turn the amps off / on with a switch?

Lots of questions I know, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

AndrewOfNZ

[davey g-force]

Ok, I'm not as knowledgable as some of the other guru's on this forum, but I think I can answer most of your questions...

A1. Yes fat is good but this generally applies to speakers that are hooked up off an amp. If you're hooking up speakers straight off the back of the deck, you wouldn't need to go too fat (but not too thin either). Is it a high-powered h/u? If not, the same size wires (or slightly bigger) as the wires on the back of the deck will be ok. If it's high-powered, medium size wires will be ok.

A2. You can run the ACC wire to the red wire coming from the ACC position on your ignition barrel, or to the power wire of any other accessory which only comes on with the key turned to ACC e.g. the cigarette lighter (? I think?). You can just hook the wire up to live power if that's what you want, but then you'll have to remember to turn the stereo off every time you get out of the car.

A3.
(a)Again, this depends on how much power your h/u puts out and the power rating of the speakers you want to use and what you're happy with. Tough one to answer, but personally, I'd run the front speakers/tweeters off an amp.

(b)Yes, there are amps that will do that, but it's not reccomended, as it affects sound quality. You want all inputs into an amp to be low-level or RCA signals. When you want to hook up a second amp for a sub, you can just split each RCA into 2 using an adaptor (sorta like a double adaptor). Or if your first amp has an output, you can just plug an RCA lead from the output of the first amp to the input of the second amp.

A4.
(a)Again, this depends on the speakers, and what you're after, but generally, I would say yes.
(b) Yes
(c) Amps get wired directly to the + of your battery. It's the amp signal (or remote) from your head unit that switches them on & off.

Hope that helps!