word of advice. CHARGE THE AMPLIFIER BEFORE HOOKING UP THE POWER WIRE!

charging the amplifier prevents the spark. if you blew the amp by just that then you probably touched the ground wire or remote wire and fried it...
to charge the amplifier use a 12V light tester. very simple common tool, has a spike to test power and a clamp wire for ground. simply clamp the wire onto your power wire, then touch the spike end to the amplifiers power terminal. the light in the test light will power on showing power. KEEP IT ON THE AMPLIFIERS TERMINAL until the light goes out!
when the light goes out it means the capacitors are fully charged internaly, so now you can instal the power to the amplifier without arching a spark and leaving black marks on the terminals!
tho i will say its best to charge the system from the front fuse block, just pull the fuse out near the battery, then hook all your wires up like it should. MAKE SURE THERE IS NO SMALL WIRE SPLINTERS TOUCHING ANY OTHER TERMINAL! and then charge the power, same way really. your just using the 12v light tester as a fuse to slowly charge the system, once the light goes out simply slide the fuse in and test it out.
IF THE LIGHT DOES NOT GO OUT...... YOU GOT A PROBLEM SOMEWHERE! check for splintered wires touching another terminal on the amplifier or a short in the power wire r unning to the amplifier. and make sure you have it hooked up right!

 

So to charge it, I just connect the tester to the power wire, then touch the power terminal on the amp til the power light turns off? And I have to do it close to the battery? (before the inline fuse?)

 

if you unhook the powers main fuse right off the battery, then connect the amplifier wires all to the amplifier. and then use the light tester to charge the amplifier at the fuse location. depending on what type of inline fuse is on your main.... if a AGU clip the clamp around the one side of the wire, or if a large regular fuse then clamp the tester off the batteries power wire and use the spike to reach down inside it fuse holder.
or if ANL fuse clamp off the 2 screw terminals.

you only wait till the light inside the test light goes off. if it has a LED inside it then it will take longer to charge up, if it has a bulb inside it it should only take afew seconds to fully charge

 

So you actually should charge those rail caps on the amp before you hook it up by using a test light or the included resistor?

I always thought that was a must for capacitors, but never for amps, even though some amp instruction manuals call for it. Oh well, at least test lights are cheap!

 

its not needed just a good precaution and keeping your amplifier, fuse looking clean. because if you just hook up the power wire the spark will leave a black mark on the terminals where it sparks. just looks bad...
plus if you wired something up wrong the light wont go out so you know you got a problem somewhere...

 

Well I figured out the problem (ground needed to be bolted better, hooked it up to a bolt under the seat) and it's working! Thanks to everyone for all the help, I'll try and get some pics up tomorrow. Now I just have to stop the spoiler and license plater rattles :@ Thanks again for all the help guys!

 

Ahh, that ground should always be connected to shiny sheet metal that you personally sanded/wire brushed yourself! I even went the extra mile and purchased a 1.5 ounce container of Kopr-Shield to keep the shiny metal from corroding, yet still maintain conductivity.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can do two of my Big 3 upgrade this weekend. Sadly, I have worked in my yard just about every day since Hurricane Gustav, then Hurricane Ike decided to set me back even further!

 

The only arc I get is when I reconnect the negative terminal to the battery. I usually wire up the system with the battery disconnected, then connect the battery as the last step.

On a totally unrelated topic, I can't remember if I put a diode on my alarm's battery backup power lead to keep it from back feeding the electrical accessories when I am working on the car.

 

for the car battery... powering the vehicle... well theres not much you can do to prevent spark, but they always spark on the battery terminal and the bottom of the battery clamp so you never see it BUT on amplifiers, fuse blocks they can spark and leave little black marks on the terminals. just not pretty!!!!!

 

There is one other thing that I wanted to recommend to the OP. If you are going the removable subwoofer option, I would suggest putting a toggle switch on your remote turn on lead at a point very close to your subwoofer amp. That way, when you pull the subwoofer, you can break the connection to your amp turning on, thereby reducing the risk that the speaker leads will short out and cause you problems. Trust me, it will be worth the $2 that you pay for the switch at Radio Shack!

Either that, or you can drive without turning your radio on when you pull your subwoofer (lol).