OldSchool

A disco ball would go well with the "rich corinthian leather"

Audiofn

You DO NOT want to run that amp that you have in a 2 ohm load. It will not last long if you do. If you want to go that way then replace the amp, get a 2 ohm stable one. I actually prefer to keep the ohm load above the amps min. In other words if I was to go with a 2 ohm load the way you are talking about I would look for an amp that was 1 ohm stable in stereo. This way you will know you are not working the amp within a inch of its life.

NEXT

Jon

Andy Buzz

Great answer Jon,

One last thing to consider is that amps that are stable to low impedances are considered high current amplifiers. Bear in mind that efficiency must be taken into consideration if you are planning on being able to run the sound system without the engine running. Bear in mind many boat alternators are only 65 amps and that most boaters dont use their boats often enough to leave the dock fully charged. If you have a hungry amp, you may not be able to satisfy its appetite to get the benefit it was designed to provide. Alternatively, you may always have dead batteries and no sound.

My suggestion would be to run two amplifiers and switch off whichever is not needed as you choose. Regular amps are less expensive than high current amps. Regular amps seem to last longer as insuffient power tends to burn them up and they consume less juice so you can play more music.

I have small amps blowout priced from $75.00.

Andy Buzz
Maximum Audio
Tampa, FL
813-882-8477

UNSANE

Jon I think he was wanting to run all the speakers off the JBL amp which will do 142 watts x 4 at 2 ohms. Doing that off the headunit would be pretty stupid, every month at least one of my students come up to me and ask why there home stereo quit at their party. I ask how many speakers did they hook up to them, they say "all we could find" and I say "here's your sign"

OldSchool

Actually, I was thinking of using the Kicker KX650.4 or the JBL GT75.4 amp, with a pair of 6.5" coaxials in the front of the cockpit and a pair of 6 X 9's in the front of the rear seat base. Liike I said, all that I have bought as of now is the 4 Babb speakers for the cabin. I'll decide on what speakers for the cockpit, get them and then worry about what amp and head unit to buy. There is plenty of time left until boating season!!

UNSANE

Oh yea, I forgot you Yanks have off seasons for things The JBL GT amp I told you about is the one that does 143 watts. The Kicker amp might be strong enough to run all 8 but I would just run the cabin speakers off the headunit and the cockpit speakers off the amp. 6x9's or co-ax's will work great for the bench seat, but the placement of the speakers in the front might be bad (like on my boat) and that's when component systems come in (seperate tweeter). Can you post pics of the cockpit speakers?

Audiofn

Unsane he has the typical Top Gun setup with the speakers mounted btwn the bolster legs.

Jon

Brad Zastrow

Now I remeber why I do not have sound systems in any of my boats. Too much money and effort. Only our pontoon has tunes and I never turn it on. I prefer the the sound of the wind, waves and big fast V-8's.

OldSchool

Ordered my cockpit speakers yesterday...went with the Kickers.

One question about amps. I've narrowed that down to two. Does anyone have any experience with these:

JL Audio Model e4300M Price $349.99 45W X 4 rms @4 ohms

Precision Power Model DCX300.4 $229.99 50W X 4 rms @ 4 ohms

Also, JL has a e4300 (not marine) for alot cheaper. Is getting the marine version worth it? Where I'm mounting it is in the cabin...it will never get wet.

OldSchool

bump