Keith believes wires are the weakest links in any stereo system. "If the stereo sounds bad, the problem is more than likely due to using cheap wires in the system. On several occasions, all I've done is rewire a stereo system with higher-quality wire, and it sounded a lot better."
With assistance from his wife, Holly, Keith begins our installation by routing all the power and speaker wires of our coupe's audio system from the trunk to the back of the dash. They then go through the radio opening for safe-keeping until it's time to make final connections.
Scosche's eFX 14- and 18-gauge speaker wires and three two-channel, twisted RCA cables (wiring that connects the radio to the amplifiers) are used for this area of the installation, as well as 4-gauge wire for the amplifiers and ridiculously thick One-Ott cable for the system's main power.
 Keith labels each group of...  Keith labels each group of wires and routes all the speaker-related cables forward from the trunk along the driver side of the 'Stang. Our system's amp-to-stereo wires travel forward on the passenger side. |  Keeping wires separated is...  Keeping wires separated is done as method of maintaining organization, and it reduces chances of interference (engine noise, for example) affecting our audio quality. Braiding the RCA wires also reduces interference. |  As is the norm for any projects...  As is the norm for any projects that deal with electrical accessories powered by the battery's 12 volts, it's imperative that a solid ground is established for each component. Here, Keith secures a common ground for our amps (always make sure your grounds' surfaces are clean/bare metal), stiffening capacitor, and the power inverter that we use for our tuning/data-logging laptop. |
 This tree trunk of a cable...  This tree trunk of a cable is commonly referred to as a "One-Ott" (1/0-gauge) power wire. It's the mainline for power from the battery into the audio system's distribution block. Keith says high-quality, heavy-gauge wire such as this is a must for a high-grade stereo's main power line. |  This Scosche distribution...  This Scosche distribution block is the main junction for power leading to the amps, LEDs, crossovers, stiffening capacitor, Sony Giga Panel, and everything else associated with our stereo installation. Keith uses four-gauge wire and wafer fuses for the amplifiers' power. |  Here's a closer look at Scosche's...  Here's a closer look at Scosche's space age battery terminals. The fully enclosed caps secure solidly to each post on the Optima cell using Allen screws. |