Nice work, man! Ben definitely does awesome work and I don't think your install time of 7 hours is too terrible, at all. Most of us don't do this stuff professionally, so for it to take a few more hours to wire this stuff up isn't bad!
Also, regarding your JL G1300, I think this is a good amp to compliment your sub. As you stated, a few of us are using the 500/1 and yes, it is expensive; however, you should keep in mind that I picked mine up
used (for $175 on Craigslist). I'm sure only a select few on this board are close to what I'd consider "rich," so to set budgets on projects is completely understandable.
Great work and nice review!
