first time installing an amp. i have a monster 200 amplifier power kit (200-watts). my question is what is the right way to connect the cable with the fuse to the longer power cable?

 

you cut that red wire in the middle and that gives you one end to connect to the battery and the other end connects to the power wire that goes back to the amp.

 

thank you for the help, I understand which connector i use for the battery side, but what do i use to connect the 2 bare ends of the power cables

 

That photo's pretty bad, the one on monster's page is a bit clearer:


You connect the short red wire with the inline fuse to the long red wire via the large red butt connector.

Also, don't ever try and use any amp over 200w on that wire/fuse. First, you'll blow that tiny 30amp fuse if your amp ever draws more than 350w, second, if you put a larger capacity fuse because the 30amp keeps blowing, you could end up overheating the wire, and fire ain't good. 8 gauge wire like that is pretty much a waste of the labor put into the install. I wouldn't recommend using anything less than 4 gauge if you're going all the way to the trunk, and 1/0 gauge if you want to put more than one amp in the trunk.

If you haven't ordered the amp wiring kit, I'd recommend going with one like this: 4 gauge kit rather than overpriced monster wire.

 

OK,makes sense now. i do have the 8 gauge kit,but based on your recommendation I think i'll be getting a 4 gauge. i'm running one jl 250/1, but I just don't want issues down the road