KBUSH1

planning on upgrading the stereo in the 342. nothing wild, just a little bit bigger. thinking of running 4 340w(max) 80 w normal pioneer 4-way 6x9 speakers, and 2 12" 800 w(max) pioneer subs. question, what type and what size amps should i run. was thinking of running a 60 watt 4 channel sony for the speakers, and a mono sony for the subs. what power/brand/features are you guys running? any help would be appreciated...

97BossHammer

I currently don't have it in the boat....but it will be soon. Buying a Punch amp.....always have liked and used punch amps. I'll be either running a set of JBL 12's or Bazooka 10's. Heck the prices of amps are pretty hard to beat now too.

jlsnyder26_Sonic

I am Building my system now...

I'm running a Alpine 9807 CD/MP3 head unit, with a JL Audio 450/4 on (2) sets of K65.2 Kicker components in the cockpit, (1) set of K6.2 components in the cabin, and a JL 500/1 on (3) CVR10-2 Kicker 10s

fund razor

I use that Alpine 9807 too, but with a 4 channel Mtx amp and a two channel Mtx amp. Big enough, but not huge like you might go with a car and a bunch of caps.

I have had great luck with the bazooka tubes on two of my boats. Fairly easy to hide, and very efficient. One 8" dual voice coil bazooka with an outboard amp that has good crossover controls kicks a** and saves me the space and weight of two cabinets. Plus, it's totally hidden. I'm glad that I didn't have to shoehorn in some big woofer and a box.

I put in an infra red repeater at the helm so I can control the Alpine down below from the helm position. Plus, I used extra switches on the helm to switch the remote turn on lead for my amps. This way I can kill everything in the cockpit instantly if needed, and I can run my head unit alone (without the amp draw) on the speakers down below late at night. (Only the cockpit of the boat has speakers on amps). Works out great.

paulr

Alpine makes the best decks
PPI (Precision power) and JL make the best amps, and JL makes the best subs ( W3 / W7 Series). You may be able to find something just as loud or louder, but it won't sound as good as a JL.
MTX / Kicker / fosgate are all decent
Pioneer decks are decent, but their subs are medicore
Sony makes medicore amps and subs as well, decks are fair. I suggest you mount the amps in the cabin, and put the deck there as well, or get a water-resistant unit and/or get a housing with a closing lid.

If you're going to be mounting them in a high-humidity or wet location, I would go with a marine series speaker. Bose has the best I've heard, but Infinity's are supposed to be pretty good.
I've never ran JBL, but a friend explained to me that JL meant Just Loud, whereas JBL meant Junk But Loud.

Even a small PPI or JL amp will take care of your needs, their RMS values are severely underrated. I run a PPI 1500 (1X500 Watts RMS, 4 Ohms. Stable to 1 OHM. that means 2000 watts), and a PPI 4125 (4X125 watts RMS, 4 Ohms). have yet to make them clip / overheat. I can run a 250 watt 4 ohm infinity 10" on one of the channels of the 4 channel, and the speaker is well beyond maxiumum power and the amp isn't even warm. I plan to run two 12W7's off the 1500, but I don't have $1000 for speakers right now.

make sure your power system can handle the draw. Amps are real sensetive to low voltage (makes them overheat). Pro-rate your wire gauges, and use a capacator. A 500 watt soundsystem will be 50 amps draw, give or take. To be safe, you'd want a 1 Farad capacator (.1F / 100 watts minimum, .2F / 100 watts reccomended)

I plan on building the subs in under my rear seat. But that's still a ways off... (If you do this, make sure you have the area you mount the sub or component sealed, so you get louder sound). A pre-made enclosure may sound decent, but it won't be capable of handling really high-power drivers, and you have to hide it somewhere.

Whatever you get, check Ebay for the prices. Best deals there by FAR.

Good luck,
~Paulr