New sound system for my Top Gun. Advice ?
 

Want to upgrade the sound system in my Top Gun. Had a local company come out and give me this estimate to replace my current set-up which is a newer Kenwood headunit, (1) 400 watt Pioneer amp and the standard 6 Babb speakers. This is what they recommended, what do you think ?

SPEAKERS
(2) M770CCSW - JL Car Spkr 7.7" Marine 399.00 798.00 total
(1) M650CCXW - JL Car Spkr Marine 6.5" Coaxial 329.00 total

AMPLIFIERS
(1) PDX11000 - ALPINE Car Amplifier PDX 1000w X 1 649.00 total
(1) PDX4150 - ALPINE Car Amplifier PDX 4x150w 599.00 total

SUBWOOFERS
(4) M10IB5CGWH - JLC Car Subwoofer 10" Marine 299.00 1196.00 total

HEADUNIT
(1) DEHP600UB - PIONEER Car Rec Ipod direct Usb Dot Mat 229.00 total
(1) CDMR80D - PIONEER Marine Remote 129.00 total

LABOR
(10) CIP 686358 SHOP LABOR Car Installation Parts 9.95 99.50 total
(120) INCAR LABOR Inst Car 15mn Labor 15.00 1800.00 total

Part of the labor cost is because they say they have to remove the front seats. What about a 3rd battery ? Probably needed I would think. Where should I mount it ?

It will sound very good. Sounds very pricey!!!

I could do it for 1/2 that. Maybe use some differnt stuff but...

If you got the $$$$ it will be nice.

BTW are you a do it yourselfer at all?

Sounds expensive.

Be sure to mount the mids and highs as high as possible; near the gunwall.

I would talk with Scott Shogren, because he used to own a stereo shop and still has a ton of components for cheap.

Thanks.
I've read on here and in general that the JL stuff is good stuff. The shop stated that the Pioneer amps are as good, are more powerful, and are less expensive then the comparable JL's which is why they recommend them. I did stress to them I wanted to thump.

I'm not really a DIY guy on electrical stuff.

The prices for all the equipment are high. You can get most of it on line at 25% less than that.

The PDX amps are around $400 on ebay.
JL subs $225 each.

Jamie, what do ya want???? The stereo to drown out the sound of your engines??? LMFAO :evilb: You ARE gonna need some good amps to do that.
Call Scott Shogren in the morning, like Mark said, he's got what you need, and he'll give you the super deal on whatever you decide on.

I always say support your local business and don't buy from ebay or online non-authorized dealers. On the other hand, those prices are at retail.

The JL speakers are great, but you can buy the standard non-marine's for half the price. MB Quart speakers are great too.

That's a good choice on the amps, and you can also look into JL Audio amps, such as a 300/4 and 500/1.

Not sure about the Pioneer head unit. I know Alpine just started putting out a wired remote for their head units, so you could look into those. I think Alpine's head units have the best sound quality.

The subs they're using are free-air, and I'm assuming they're not building boxes for them. In that case, look into the wetsounds woofers. I've heard some of these in wakeboats and they sounded awesome.

http://www.wetsounds.com/home.html#

Clarion and Kicker both have marine free-air woofers that work really well. The Clarion's sounded better than the Kickers in a few of my installs, but their could've been other factors for that.

Wetsounds also makes tower speakers for wakeboats and also sell the 6.5" drivers separately. I installed 2 sets of those 6.5's in my boat and they're extremely loud compared to the standard car speaker.

For batteries, if you're boat will start on one, then you don't need 3. For my stereo installs I use 1 of either the Stinger SP1700 or SP1750. These are dry cell batteries and can be mounted sideways if needed. They're kind of pricey, but well worth the money. http://www.stingerelectronics.com/

In my boat this year I went from 2 OEM Deka marine batteries to 2 of the SP1500D's. In my last boat I had 1 SP1700 and could play the stereo for 3 days without needing a charge.

Labor: Remove the seats? Is that not a few bolts? I've removed bolsters from boats on all my installs and that never justified an inflated cost. Maybe there's more to it.... The price is gonna be higher than a normal car install, but not $1,800.

I bought all my marine stereo stuff here:

http://www.hookedontronics.com/index.jsp

Their prices are unbeatable and they gave me good service. If you use them just make sure the item is in stock, their back order can take a while.
I bought a top end Sony Marine head unit, 4 Kicker Marine speakers, a 10" Kicker Marine sub, and a Marine 400 watt amp for $550. Typhoon Service did the install and I got a very good system for around a grand. It is not quite what you are looking to put together but should do the job for me nicely.

Been in the audio business for years. Got out of car audio 10 years ago, but:

Sounds like my system in my TG. Where are they planning on putting the woofer? Side panels? If so the JL (Good choice) is too deep. Under the bench? That panel is kinda flimsy and would require reinforcement. The TG is kinda challenging for audio and hiding amps.

Where will they install the amps? I installed mine behind the dash(s). (The new JL amps [that may be out now] are small and would fit better) In my boat the cockpit speaker amp is accessed thru the radio hole and the sub amp is accessed thru the AC panel hole. On Rogman's TG, I installed both amps behind the helm. How will they properly secure the amp wire runs from the battery to the amp? You don't want those just hanging loose behind the cockpit side panels.

What you don't see in my component speaker pic, I installed a set of JL M650CCXW right under the tweeters. Made a big difference. Why Cig put speakers under the seat. . . . ??! Those 6" Co-ax were not in the pic because they were not released when I took the pic. I would recommend that you upgrade from the 6" co-ax to the new 7.7" Co-ax. Should sound more uniform. I wouldn't upgrade the cabin speakers to anything much better - why?

Pioneer makes a good sounding radio and the remote is nice. Not too sure about the amps though. Most -non American amps- wern't highly thought of. Plus most of your listening is going to be while the motors are off, thus battery voltage will be 11.5 to 12.8. Most amps cheat on specs - the mfg will rate them @ 13.8 - 14.4 volts cause thats what the alternator put out when a car amp is running. Drop voltage down 10- 20% and your output drops too. What you want is are amps with a regulated power supply. That way the amp will deliver rated output at any voltage and will be more stable too.

I would recommend adding 2 batteries if you do not have a generator. I know how you like to hang in the playpen and jam out. That will kill batteries in no time. I have a similar system to what you are looking at and I run 4 batteries.

I also would check this website out. It is where I buy all my gear.

www.onlinecarstereo.com

Smitty