Brad Zastrow

I have decided real music in the boat is needed. A little new to matching up sytems so I am asking for help. I have not picked out a head unit (stereo) yet.

The speakers are (4) Pioneer 6.5" 150watt max 35W RMS 4ohm in the cockpit and 2 Kicker 10" subs 300watt max 150W RMS 4 ohm, each in their own marine enclosure box.

Should I get two amps and then do I need a crossover?? Or should i get a 5 channel, 6 channel amp? How about a Pyle 6 channel, 4 x 100w + 2 x 250w RMS at 4 ohms, 4 x 250w + 2 x 500w max at 4 ohms. It is a marine unit. I am also trying to avoid having alternator and battery issues. Is one larger amp going to use less power than two smaller amps?

Confused

Big Cliff

JL audio makes a few different high quality marine amps. It would be best to have a dedicated amp for the subs and a dedicated amp for the mids and highs. You can use the cross over built into the amp. Does your head unit have sub pre amp outs? If it does not I would recomend one that does. Put a cap in line to store energy when the bass hits.

Brad Zastrow

Thank you, I will look for head unit with a sub out line. What does a crossover do? Would I need one if I used a 4 ch amp for the speakers and a mono amp for the subs? What size amps should I get?

"Put a cap in line to store energy when the bass hits."
Not really sure what you saying?

BDiggity

Most good amps & headunits have crossovers built in. For example on the sub amp, you can set it to block highs & where to cut off 100 hz, 120, etc. Then on your amp for mid's & highs, you would set the low cut off so the amp wont send those frequencys to your coaxs.

I would buy more power than you need. Cranking your volume & sending distorted power to your speakers is more harmful than good clean power. Plus if you ever decide to upgrade your speakers, you will have some watts to spare.
Maybe 50-75W x 4 for your Pioneers. I would take the 2 kickers, run them in parallel to drop the ohms down to 2 & then look for an amp that can put out about 500-600w x 1 @ 2ohm. but thats me.

Have fun!

klaw

Brad he is refering to putting a in high value capacitor which stores energy for when the amp is being played real loud and a big base note hits the amp then uses the store energy in the cap

Big Cliff

A crossover will seperate the freq. you need. Example: it will pull out the low notes if needed or high notes...etc....

No, you would not need a crossover if you use a 4 ch for the mids and highs and a mono for the sub if you have sub outs on the head unit and a low pass filter on the 4 ch amp.

A cap just stores energy so there is no high amp draw when the bass hits. This is needed in a boat, better for the batteries.

RunninHotRacing163.1

Brad if you need it done i have a local guy who moonlites on the weekends .He did my dually,Excursion,lambo,chrysler 300,Eliminator,the kidz party barge and did the SKATER .He will look at what you have and tell you what you need to buy from Crutchfield .com or buy the equipt on ebay and he'll put it in for ya .he just put a TV in my kidz mustang this weekend unit was supposed to be 1200.00 he charged him 350.00 for the unit and 150.00 to put it in
ROCK ON

Griff

I'm going with Alpine PDX series amps when I do my stereo this winter. Very compact size, don't get hot, all of the amps are the same physical size and are stackable. Available in a variety of power and channel configurations.

BZ

Hi Brad, I also have a local guy that is good, he also has a direct connection to get you the gear you need. He did my boat in the spring and could not be happier. OH yeah JL audio is the ONLY way to go.....BZ

Brad Zastrow

WOW! Which is louder the engines or the stereo?