http://www.knukonceptz.com/

Anybody ever used any of this stuff? Looks like quality stuff from the pics.

:)
Luke

 

I haven't seen it before. I've used http://www.stingerelectronics.com stuff. Its relatively inexpensive.

 

:iagree:

Go with this place. It looks way more professional. And make sure you get twisted pair RCA cables, not coax. Twisted pair is a little more expensive, but has much better noise rejection at audio frequencies. Your RCAs can actually pick up a lot of noise because of the high impedance input at the amp. You probably spent a lot of money getting a good amp, don't screw up your sound quality trying to save $20 on some wiring.

BTW, what happened to the "I'm with stupid" smiley?

Ok, just went and checked prices on the Stinger stuff. Did I say $20? Well, its more like $60. Those stinger cables had better be made from 24K gold. Go with KnuConcepts. Its not worth that much extra and their stuff is probably nearly as good.


[Modified by GTLocke13, 9:49 AM 12/3/2002]

 

That stuff looks pretty high quality...power wire is power wire. I'd go for it, it is a lot cheaper than the "normal" stuff that people say to use.

I've never seen twisted pair speaker wires before. You can make your own twisted pair interconnects by splitting the normal wires then braiding in a single 16 gauge speaker wire. It takes up a lot of time, but it looks good if you do it well and works well too.

 

It looks like most of the stuff out there. Functionally, it all does the same.

I bought Lightning Audio wiring and power distribution from SoundDomain for very similar prices, if not slightly cheaper. I have also used Fosgate Twisted Pair RCA's with no noise problems, and they were only $20 for 16ft at BestBuy.

 

Unless you want visible parts of the wiring to be "showy," there are very easy ways to save quite a bit of cash with NO performance difference on wiring.

For power wire, I use 4ga welding cable from a local welding supply shop. It costs me .45 a foot (cheaper than "car audio" 8ga!), less if I buy in quantity, and works just as well as "car audio" cable, it's just a little less flexible.

RCAs, I buy ends from a variety of sources depending on cost and showiness I want - Radio Shack, SoundDomain, PartsExpress, etc. Then, I use 16 or 18 ga stranded wire from wherever it's on bulk sale, double it, clamp it in a vise, chuck the other ends into my power drill, and make my own twisted pair wiring. Run it in the car (easier to do since there are no large RCA ends to get in the way yet), then cut to EXACT length and solder on the RCA plugs in the car. There's true CUSTOM wiring.

BTW, with true twisted pair wiring, there is no need for shielding (shielding is useless in any case!), there cannot be noise issues from inductance, meaning you can run it alongside power cable as long as you want. I don't recommend it, but I've had to do it and proved it.

Battery terminals, if non-showy, then I use crimp ring terminals (to properly use them though, you NEED a good crimper, I use a hammer-crimper from Mac tools), and attach to battery posts with brass marine terminals from any auto parts store ($4 a pair).

If I need showy, I shop the local electronics warehouse store and SoundDomain, and choose based on price. Same with distribution blocks, fuseblocks, etc.

Good luck, I hope I save someone some money!

Sam

 

Not exactly true. Even with twisted pair wiring, there is still noise induced in the system. At audio frequencies, its much less noise than any other configuration, but there is still noise (at higher frequencies, coax becomes the best configuration for noise rejection). If I remember correctly, twisted pair has somewhere between 30 - 60dB better noise rejection than side-by-side wiring. I may be wrong, its been a while since I had my audio electronics class. Also, a twisted pair is excellent at reducing noise from MAGNETIC fields. It has very little effect on noise induced from ELECTRIC fields. This is where shielding comes in. A thin shield is excellent at absorbing electric fields, but has almost no effect on magnetic fields. The reason is that electric fields are reflected at the dielectric-metal junction (the "top" surface of the shield) while magnetic fields are reflected at the metal-dielectric junction (the "bottom" surface of the shield). So with thin shields, electric fields just "bounce off" the shield. Magnetic fields, however, pass into the shield, are reflected by the dielectric (but a little leaks through), pass back through the shield, are reflected again (again, a little leaks through), are reflected again... etc. In a thin shield, essentially half the magnetic field is passed through the shield. This is why magnetically shielded speakers (like center channels) are so heavy. The shield has to be thick enough that the magnetic field dies off before too many reflections happen.

Now, none of this really applies to car audio. Car audio wiring is all high-current, low-voltage. This means that the magnetic fields are strong, but the electric fields are weak (current creates magnetic fields, voltage creates electric fields). For the best noise protection, a shielded twisted pair is the best you can get, but since electric fields aren't an issue, the shielding isn't really needed.

 

Ok, in flat contradiction of my first post in this thread, I went an bought all the stuff I need to wire up my new amp from KnuKonceptz.com. I got the stuff fairly quickly, but one of the lengths of wire I got was the wrong type. Couldn't find an e-mail address on their website. Finally found one on ebay, and sent an e-mail. The good news is they responded right away and offered to pay for return shipping. The other good news is their stuff is high quality.

Customer satisfaction: 3 stars
Customer service: 5 stars

They shouldn't have screwed up in the first place, but at least they fixed it quickly.

 

thanks, That the response I was mainly looking for with this thread.

I was just curious if anyone had actually bought stuff from them. I know sometimes the the double whopper with cheese doesn't quite look as good as the advertisement when you get it. I just wasn't sure if anyone had actually ordered any of this stuff.

Luke

 

I've used alot of Monstercable stuff in the past, and picked up some install stuff from parts express. Alot of the guys pick up 4 to 8 guage cable from Lowes and Home Depot too.