I just purchased a new boat and it comes stock with 1 Alpine CD player/MP3 etc and 4 alpine 6x9 speakers. I am adding 4 more speakers and 2 subwoofers.
Please let me know your thoughts on what I should use as far as amplifiers, subs and sub amps....
Thanks!
How loud do you want it, how much space do you have, what's the budget, what size speakers are we looking at. What are the model #'s of the Alpine 6x9's and where are they in the boat? What size and type of boat are we working with?
The 6x9's should really be on a 4-channel amp, but you could run them off a two-channel amp if you choose carefully.
If you did that - you could use a single 4-channel amp and run the existing speakers off the front channels and the 4 new speakers off the rear channels.
The subs and their amps are pretty much stand-alone, so just up to what you have room and budget for, except that bigger amps suck more battery power which is a bigger issue on a boat than in a car (not many tow boats on the lakes).
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
Thanks so much for the reply.... I probably should have been a bit more specific!
It is a 23 foot Essex Custom Boat, open bow etc. It has the alpine S series 6x9 45 w speaker (4 of them). 2 in the rear bench seat and 1 at the driver, 1 at the passenger seat. I would like to add 2 speakers in the open bow area and 2 add'l speakers the cockpit. The question on this is, do I add 4 more 6x9s or should I mix it up a bit for better sound quality?
There is plenty of room to put amps, subs etc.
I am trying to be budget conscious but planning to spend about 750 to 1000 bucks.....
Depending on the amp, should I pull 2 channels off the HU and run it to a 4 channel amp for each 4 speakers?
Should I get 2 subs or just 1?
I want the stereo to be pretty darn loud when I want it to be and able to sustain clear sound without distorting so easily......
I'll work a bit on this and then let someone else offer suggestions.
We can do a lot better than that ....
Bohica:It is a 23 foot Essex Custom Boat, open bow etc. It has the alpine S series 6x9 45 w speaker (4 of them). 2 in the rear bench seat and 1 at the driver, 1 at the passenger seat. I would like to add 2 speakers in the open bow area and 2 add'l speakers the cockpit. The question on this is, do I add 4 more 6x9s or should I mix it up a bit for better sound quality?
Okay, these speakers. Recommend you get another four of them. There are two reasons for that,
Now heres the cool trick, recommend you keep all the speakers where they are, but add 4 more.
Run the rear 4 off the rear channels of this AP740 amp. Run the front four off the front channels. Run the speakers in parallel, two on each amp channel - this puts a 2-ohm load on each amp channel. It puts out 90W which splits between the speakers giving each one 45W. This also lets you fade the sound between the front and the back of the boat.
I tired to find an Alpine solution for you - but couldn't find one in the right wattage. The MRP-M300 is 75W per channel at 2-ohms, so it would be 38W to the speakers, which is also pretty good now, you might go with it instead.
The good thing with this is it makes your wiring simpler, keeps cost down and keeps electrical load down, while not requiring you to relocate any existing speakers.
You can, but it would cost more. The only thing that I would consider this for was if you knew for example that the front of the boat was quiet so 45Wx4 was fine here, but the back of the boat was really loud, so you wanted 100Wx4, which would also require different speakers and moving the existing ones to the front, which actually wouldn't be too bad. (Come to think of it, you could also use the idea above and use a 90Wx2@2-ohms for the front and a 200Wx2@2-ohms for the rear in that case).
Another thing to consider with this setup is it might be a good idea to get a separate battery and hook the stereo directly to it on an isolator so you don't drain the starting battery with the system when you are anchored out.
That's the part I am going to let someone else help you with. You are looking at 90Wx4, essentially, and in a car you would want roughly 900W subs with that, and boats tend to need more because everything is open. I'm going to guess at least 2, but I'm not sure of the battery drain and such. (I can match amps to subs and subs to amps, but I don't really know what people need to sound good).
HTH!!!
Thanks so much for your guidance with this! Truly appreciate your input and I will give this some thought and let you know what direction I go with.... I think I like your original idea with adding the 4 spkrs and running them in parrallel.
Thanks again! I will keep you posted!