In rough estimates the gear is about $1900 with a couple of inexpensive amp kits leaving $600 for power .
if you used a pair of Skar amps for about $350 1 mono marine amp 550w $170. 1 4chl marine amp 150w x 4 $185 plenty of power , marine amp , reasonable price , class d , remote bass knob, ability to fade,. Negatives: take up double the space , enough power to overwhelm speakers , big current draw so playing time at volume will be limited.
There is no right or wrong answer

Or an Alpine PDX-V9
You don't need a "marine" amp. Just install the amp where it won't get wet.

I just did the same thing to my Velocity 280, replaced everything with JL Audio. I had JL Audio car speakers when I bought it. I put 2 10" subs and 2 7.7" in the rear seat to fill 2-6x9" and 2-6.5" holes I had. I added 2-6.5" up front on either side. I had a JLA 500W amp for the subs and a JLA 350/4 amp for the 6.5 and 7.7. My 6.5" cabin speakers run off the pioneer head unit. I can hit 106db in the cockpit so plenty loud and stereo separation is perfect no matter where you stand and volume level is even everywhere. I had to turn the subs down they were overpowering the smaller speakers. It's not very loud at all outside the boat. When I'm anchored at the beach you can barely hear it onshore.

Lets pretend I can get all the speaker and head-unit for around 1500. So I have a $1000 budget for both amps. What two amps would you recommended?

That's the problem with a big open space. When i had my old Scarab the stereo was loud enough that when the bass hit you couldn't see straight.......but step outside the boat (like in the driveway) and it sounded like there was a kid rolling up the street in his low-rider...you know there's something there but cant quite tell where its at :D

Im using this one for the 4 cockpit speakers and a mono 600 for the sub

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18465460315...Condition=1000

High frequencies are directional, the higher the more directional, that's why you don't hear much outside of the boat unless the speakers are pointed outside or mounted high like on a wakeboard tower . Bass is much less directional and has the energy to reflect off of hard surfaces.

If I had $1000 to spend on amps i would buy $250 in fuel and look at the Rockford pm1000x5
if space wasn't an issue I would buy $500 in fuel and the 2 skar amps
or buy $750 worth of fuel and a 4 chl amp wire the 6 and 7" speakers to 2 channels and the subs to 1 bridged chl.
marine amps are usually marine because they are white,, have coated boards and expensive. But for less money buy the car version for less money, keep it dry and throw it away in 5 or 6 years . Years ago when my tournament boat sat outside all winter I would just pull the electronics.

Back in the day if a customer came in and was an azz I would spend every last dime they had, could borrow or steal. If you were cool I would make some real world suggestions that maybe weren't as flashy or played your music so loud that everyone on the sand bar hated you but 95% of the time the volume was low enough so you could hear and enjoy the people you went boating with.

Looks like you're looking at the budget end of the spectrum. (nothing wrong with that at all)

JL M3 6.5 speakers RMS at 60W

JL M3 7.7 speakers RMS at 75W

JL M3 10IB 10" subs RMS at 175W

My recommendation would be the JL M 800/8 amplifier then

It will supply 75W RMS to both the 6.5 and the 7.7 speakers.

You then bridge the other 4 channels into 2 that RMS at 180W. So that's 180W to each of the 2 subs

Be sure to adjust the gain on the amplifier properly, and you will have sufficient, clean power for all 6 speakers in that system.

If you were to go to a pair of subs that require more power than 175W, I would have recommended 2 amps, but in this scenario it works out perfect for what you have laid out and should come in your amp price range..

Find someone with a West Marine port account, the discount they get is insane. You will be able to afford what you want. I paid less than $1000 for all my speakers. I had the amps and good head unit so I got away cheap.

I like your take on this. Well the amps I plan to go in the cabin of the boat so I would hope they see very little moisture. So maybe a non marine amp might make sense for me? Boat is also stored high and dry in the winter.



Thanks for your feedback, I just realized that JL has an M3 series and M6 which has a definite price hike!

Thanks again for the help!