B_Schutz

I am going to completely redo my stereo system in my 27' advantage mid cabin. It now has 6 speakers, a kenwood head unit(in cabin), and a wired remote,. I want a system that sounds good while we are tied up parting. Either a couple subs or a bass tube. Whats your best idea for a system setup?

Griff

Get 2 Alpine PDX amps, (6) DC Gold 7" speakers and (2) Alpine Marine Subs. That will run you about $1500 plus wire and install.

endeavour32

iTrader: (4)

First your going to need a good battery bank! Go buy 2 6V golf cart batteries and mount them in series! This will make one giant 12v battery with lots of reserve!

Next don't waste 1 minute buying new amps there all china made junk. Go on ebay and find some nice "old school" Orion SX amps or SoundStream Reference amps. These old amps will blow the doors off any new amp in both power and sound quality. Both brands "were" hand made in the USA. Mint condition versions can be had cheap compared to what these sold for new!

As to your sub(s) I'd go with a 10" or 12" JL Audio or Boston Acoustic. I have Boston Acoustic G5's in my boats. However Boston has replaced it with the SPC555. Either way a BA G3 would be a nice sub. Don't buy a tube sub, output is sub par!

Next you will need to upgrade the rest of the outdoor speakers. Do 4 speakers outside, the old amps will double there power when you add an extra set of speakers to them (drops the ohm load) . So a 100 watt amp will now be 200 watts add 4 more and you will get 400 watts. Don't do this with a normal amp, or you will end up with a cloud of smoke!

I'd be happy to help to spec out your equipment if you like. Let me know, or if your in either the Chicago to Northern Michigan area I can do the install. Let me know

Griff

BTW, there are about a 1000 different ways to build a good sounding system.

I would not want to add the weight of 2 golf cart batteries and the old style amps. The old amps draw way more power and take up way more space than the PDX's. The PDX's also don't make nearly as much heat. I can run my stereo 4+ hours at moderately high volume on one group 29M deep cycle.

B_Schutz

I do not need to go too extream I just need a regular head unit, an amp or two, some marine speakers, and some marine subs. can you tell me what or who make a good product?

endeavour32

iTrader: (4)

Giff,
New amps are rated with completely bogus numbers! Alpine has never been known for great amps. If all your doing is running a 4 ohm load then great use the Alpine. But at 2 ohm, 1 ohm that alpine is going to put out the exact same power and at 1 ohm it will fry itself to death. Anyone that has any experience with old school amps, will choose one any day over a new amp. When an amp is still running strong after 20+ years, something is to be said. Watts take power, the fact that you can run your set up for 4+ hours is proof that your amp really isn't making much power. I've run a 25 watt X2 soundstream reference against a 175 watt X 2 Alpine and the soundstream is clearly louder. The PDX for example is rated at 14.4 volts, soundstream, orion are rated at 12 volts. Amps radically loose power when the voltage drops below the 14.4 level. Alpine in their ad for the PDX brag that the amp makes the same power in 4 ohm or 2 ohm mode? Cheap amps do that, high quality amps double their power and then double it again and if its really good double it again such as the Orion HCCA amps. I'd be willing to bet the PDX puts out about half of it rated RMS power at 12 volts. Plus the PDX is a class D design the Soundstream and Orions are class A/B which have superior sound quality. Plus everyone knows that these amps are seriously underrated. If your happy with your set-up great, I'm really not trying to knock your amp, but I've been dealing with mobile audio for 20+ years, and I'm afraid to say the PDX is not in the same league as the Old Schoolers. I'm just trying to give first hand knowledge. Old school is better than new school.

As to the batteries, two golf cart batterys will only add 1 extra battery, add about 60 lbs and give you far more amp hours of reserve and will outlast any 12v deep cycle. I've had my battery bank (6 6 volt batteries) in my sailboat for 5 years and its still strong. 12v batteries would last 2-3 years at best.

Theres no free lunch with anything especially when it comes to electronics.

endeavour32

iTrader: (4)

Find yourself an Orion SX 50 for your mids and a Orion SX 75 for your subs. the SX 75 will mono out at 300 real watts at a 4 ohm load. You should be able to find mint condition versions of both for under $225.00 or so for both. Then get your self 2 sets of 6 1/2" MB Quart coax speakers and maybe a 4 ohm JL audio W3 12" sub and then an audio control 2xs crossover. All of this you can get for under $650.00 on ebay. Amp kit will run you about $80 or less and speaker wire maybe another $80 depending on how long the speaker runs are. 14 Ga wire should be fine for your speakers. All in all you'll have 500 real watts at 12 volts, in reality your closer to 650 watts. You will need well over 1000 watts of new amp power to equal this system. Plus it will cost you much more. If you have any questions let me know. I do have an Orion SX 50 that is like new that I'm thinking of selling that I don't need if your interested.

Griff

The PDX's are not designed to run 1 ohm anyway.

The PDX is digital amp similar to a class D. It does not take as much power to run as an older class A/B amp.

NEVERSATISFIED

Check out Memphis Marine great quality and sound for the money some of there amp's are stable down to 1 ohm. I'm running 2- 10", 4-8", 6-6.5" and 1 Memphis Belle amp. This system is crisp and loud!!!

DCB F32

Have 3 of these amps in my boat. They are great