US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

In order to narrow down my speaker wiring opitions,

Cockpit has 4 speakers, small sub, amp
Cabin has 2 speakers, stereo CD/DVD reciever, flat screen TV


Cockpit....
1) Do we recieve different sounds between the front and rear speakers if I were to power the cockpit speakers using all 4 channels of the amp, or just left and right? Just your plain music.

2) Cabin
....for DVD movie use. same question for non surround sound system. No front and rear difference, just left and right? No amp use in the cabin.

3) 'IF' there is a front to rear difference, is it possible to use the recievers RCA pre outs (F&R) to feed the amp for the cockpit speakers, AND also wire the cabin speakers using the recievers speaker wire, but when using the cabin speakers, have the amp turned off so the cockpit speakers are not used. I don't know if it is an either/or condition only.

I'm thinking if both speaker and pre outs can be both wired, the cabin speakers will be on a switch so when the amp is on for the cockpit, the cabin speakers are killed. And when the amp is off, those cabin speakers will be used, but only thru the recievers own power.

If there is no front to rear differential on standard music or movie playback w/o a surround sound unit.......

I will not use the front pre out and just run the 4 cockpit speakers off the rear pre outs, and then power the cabin speakers off the recievers front wires and still switch off the amp to conserve battery and shut off the cockpit speakers and also utilize the fade control otherwise.

Does any of this make sense?

Thanks

UNSANE

1) Just left and right, I don't know of any mobile amps with 4 seperate inputs

2) Again just left and right

3) You can put the cockpit amp on a switch to turn them off when not in use, but the cabin speakers will most likely stay on because you're using the head unit's on board power amps unless there's a way to shut those off seperately. (this would be a function of a menu in the headunit if it even has the capability) There should only be 2 pre outs (left and right)

You're making sense..............somewhat

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

I'm lost now. The wiring and description shows 3 preouts, for front (L&R), rear (L&R) and sub. Right now I'm only working on the output factor.

So it is possible to have both the preout and the recievers speakers wires both used? I understand by using a switch for the cabin speakers the reciever will not 'see' them, but even though the amp is turned off and no power to the rear speakers, the preout is still hooked up within the amp. I don't know if that causes a conflict with ithe reciever.

Thanks for any help. The Best Buys salespeople haven't been much help

rainmn

On most head units, the internal amp is on whether you are using any external amps or not. There are exceptions to this (like the Nakamichi I have) but on those units, you typically have to choose to turn off the internal amp via a menu command.

UNSANE

What headunit do you have? I'll look it up. Normally there are just Left and Right but this presents a whole new ball game because it has video and sub outs. The only thing missing is Center for 5.1 But it's not anymore complicated, just more flexible.

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-mX6plna...550&I=158MEXR5

UNSANE

Ok, this is what I found so far. This unit has dual zone capabilites. Use the Front Pre outs to send sound to the cockpit amp and speakers, the Rear defaults to CD/DVD. I still recommend a switch on that amp though, but if it doesn't see signal, it will shut off automatically after a few minutes. Sony calls it Zone x Zone and it will allow someone in the cabing to be watching a DVD or listening to a CD and people in the cockpit to be listening to the Tuner or Aux (satellite, I pod etc...) So if I read this right, hook up your cabin speakers to the Rear speaker wires and the hook up the cockpit amp to the Front Pre outs and of course your screen to video out. Hope this helps.

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

Sounds great.
Thank You.

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

Alright, now for the next problem..... as I see it.

I just pulled my amp and subwoofer out to see what they are.

Amp is a MTX Blue Thunder Pro 504
From MTX website:
25W x 4 @ 4 ohm
50W x 4 @2 ohm
100W x 2 bridged @ 4 ohm
what does this relate to in todays lingo so I have an idea of comparison... 200W ?



Sub is an 8" MTX Blue Thunder Legend series
All I see on it is 8 ohm writing. Can't find any power rating on it or in the MTX website archieves.
The sub is in a vented sub box that is FG to the boat inside the rear seat storage. A 10" will not fit. I have to stay with the 8" w/o major work, which I don't want to get into at this time, so the single 8" it is.
Are these still avalible? All I see are 10" and up.



I installed 4 Babbs speakers a couple yrs ago in the cockpit that are ran off the amp also.
2) 5 1/4" 4 ohm, 80 RMS
2) 6x9 4 ohm, 80 RMS


Is the single 8 ohm sub a mismatch for the amp? What is the damage possibilties?
Obviously this is not a high power system.
I believe the amp is under powered also for the 4 Babb speakers alone. I'm looking for suggestions on the required amp power needed to power my speakers and sub.... Wattage and # of channel preferences. For what it is worth, I am a total stereo illiterate person. So speak in simple terms if you would.

Also thoughts on the sub.

Once again, any suggestions are appreciated.

UNSANE

8" are still available, Fosgate makes several models. Your amount of boom boom is really $ dependent. Since you just have the one sub speaker, I would suggest looking for a powerful one and feeding it its correct power. Amp lingo is still the same today as it was back in the day. 100 watts X 2 will always be marketed as 200 watts or better yet the peak power capability of 5 million watts so people at the store go " ohhhhh, datz phat and kewl, I'll take this to da hizzie and be the shizzie". Anyways, tomorrow I'll look up some stuff for you and present you with some amp and speaker setups and I'll try to get costs as well. What model is the boat by the way?