Need help picking stereo amp
 

I have decided real music in the boat is needed. A little new to matching up sytems so I am asking for help. I have not picked out a head unit (stereo) yet.

The speakers are (4) Pioneer 6.5" 150watt max 35W RMS 4ohm in the cockpit and 2 Kicker 10" subs 300watt max 150W RMS 4 ohm, each in their own marine enclosure box.

Should I get two amps and then do I need a crossover?? Or should i get a 5 channel, 6 channel amp? How about a Pyle 6 channel, 4 x 100w + 2 x 250w RMS at 4 ohms, 4 x 250w + 2 x 500w max at 4 ohms. It is a marine unit. I am also trying to avoid having alternator and battery issues. Is one larger amp going to use less power than two smaller amps?

Confused

JL audio makes a few different high quality marine amps. It would be best to have a dedicated amp for the subs and a dedicated amp for the mids and highs. You can use the cross over built into the amp. Does your head unit have sub pre amp outs? If it does not I would recomend one that does. Put a cap in line to store energy when the bass hits.

Thank you, I will look for head unit with a sub out line. What does a crossover do? Would I need one if I used a 4 ch amp for the speakers and a mono amp for the subs? What size amps should I get?

"Put a cap in line to store energy when the bass hits."
Not really sure what you saying?

Most good amps & headunits have crossovers built in. For example on the sub amp, you can set it to block highs & where to cut off 100 hz, 120, etc. Then on your amp for mid's & highs, you would set the low cut off so the amp wont send those frequencys to your coaxs.

I would buy more power than you need. Cranking your volume & sending distorted power to your speakers is more harmful than good clean power. Plus if you ever decide to upgrade your speakers, you will have some watts to spare.
Maybe 50-75W x 4 for your Pioneers. I would take the 2 kickers, run them in parallel to drop the ohms down to 2 & then look for an amp that can put out about 500-600w x 1 @ 2ohm. but thats me.

Have fun!

Brad he is refering to putting a in high value capacitor which stores energy for when the amp is being played real loud and a big base note hits the amp then uses the store energy in the cap

A crossover will seperate the freq. you need. Example: it will pull out the low notes if needed or high notes...etc....

No, you would not need a crossover if you use a 4 ch for the mids and highs and a mono for the sub if you have sub outs on the head unit and a low pass filter on the 4 ch amp.

A cap just stores energy so there is no high amp draw when the bass hits. This is needed in a boat, better for the batteries.

Brad if you need it done i have a local guy who moonlites on the weekends .He did my dually,Excursion,lambo,chrysler 300,Eliminator,the kidz party barge and did the SKATER .He will look at what you have and tell you what you need to buy from Crutchfield .com or buy the equipt on ebay and he'll put it in for ya .he just put a TV in my kidz mustang this weekend unit was supposed to be 1200.00 he charged him 350.00 for the unit and 150.00 to put it in
ROCK ON :ernaehrung004:

I'm going with Alpine PDX series amps when I do my stereo this winter. Very compact size, don't get hot, all of the amps are the same physical size and are stackable. Available in a variety of power and channel configurations.

Hi Brad, I also have a local guy that is good, he also has a direct connection to get you the gear you need. He did my boat in the spring and could not be happier. OH yeah JL audio is the ONLY way to go.....BZ

WOW! Which is louder the engines or the stereo?

Use JL marine for amps, JL for subs, and the JL 7.7" for mid and high. You will not be disapointed. If you do it do it right.

My boat is very close except I used non-marine amps (theyare mounted in the cabin) and what ever you do get the I-Pod adapter.....BZ

No need for the marine amps if they are in the cabin. How do you like the 7.7"?

As a Live Audio Engineer and as someone who has actually caused a "brown note experience" upon someone else :hitfan:, Baja232Brian speaks the biggest truth in the audio world. This is the best advice on this particular thread. But you should get 2 of these instead!!!!!

So what if they slow you down by 20mph, get bigger motors!!!:ernaehrung004:

Heck if i would have noticed it was a Skater, i would have jacked things up a bit. :)

HEY BRAD in this case the STEREO is def loader , It rocked at the stereo shootout a year ago.With thesystem in the SKATER cant match the sound of those BIG TUBE CMIs ,He put all the amps,subs,boxes,caps high & dry behind the dash up in the tunnel they hit real hard but are'nt as load as the other system .dont think we can hit 95 dec unless we move the subs under the engine hatch.:ernaehrung004:

I thought I would offer some insight here....from an insider prospective...

I recently sold my second car audio store I owned for the last 5 years and I owned my first store I owned for 4 years. I have been in 12 volt electronics for the last 19 years....I have competed in almost every class of sound quality and SPL sound competitions in USAC, IASCA, and MECA.

I would HIGHLY reccomend before deciding on a "brand" name of product your going to put into your boat to take a long hard look at the warranty offered by the manufacture of the product.

It doesnt matter if it's JL Audio, Rockford Fosgate, or American Pro Audio (flea market stuff). If it is going in a boat there is a good chance that it will get wet at some point or another.

The is some MINOR differences in Marine Audio Vs. Car Audio. Typically anything labelled "Marine Audio" has an additional film inside the product to help keep the water out, keyword being "help". There is no such thing as a true "marine" amplifier. For the most part "Marine" audio products have the exact same internals as their "Car" audio counter part with a few pieces of film as thich as a piece of notebbok paper to help keep water out. In most cases the price is 1.5 times more for a "Marine" audio part than a regular car audio part. In essence there is very little difference in "marine" vs. "car" audio. The only noticable difference will come out of your credit card when you pay the price difference.

With that in mind I would look at other manufactures that offer better warranty's than company's like JL Audio, Kicker, and so on. I carried and sold JL Audio for a LONG time and they make a decent product but when you compare JL to other product lines that out perform JL and carry an 1/8th of the price tag with 10 times better warranty.....you save money, hassles, and down time of your system when there is a problem.

I would reccomend you look at company's like Exile Audio, which has always been my personal choice for my marine clientele and what I run in my personal boat.

Exile has a 2 replacement warranty and most independent audio stores offer it as an over the counter exchange warranty. Meaning if your on the water and get your amp, speakers, or subs wet they will replace them the next day.

I cant tell you how many times I sold Exile to boaters because of the warranty. Exposing ANY electronic equipment to water (fresh or salt) will wear significantly on the product over the course of a year which is when most of the JL, Kicker, Fosgate, Memphis warranty's run out.....So you make a huge audio investment that will last you one year, maybe two, three and your lucky, 4th year your buying new again....

Going with a company like Exile you stretch the length of your dollar without sacrificing performance of your sound system...

As for crossovers, yes allot of head units come with them built in but you have to look at the application to see what best suites the circumstance.

Building a system in a boat only is ALLOT different than building one for a car. With a boat your playing into wide open air and overdriving/underpowering your system can lead to failure. I personally would perfer and reccomend using the crossover that is built into any quality amplifier on the market in conjunction with your head units crossover. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Plus if your sitting somehwere and someone jumps in your boat and starts playing with the knobs they might turn off the head unit crossover and blow a speaker or something......It is REALLY important to power and crossover the speakers properly to avoid failure.

Power is a HUGE concern when doing up the right boat system. You dont want to be that guy on the sandbar who can play his chit wide open for 30 min and then needs a jump to start the motor. Capacitors ARE NOT what you need, you will need extra battery's to do it right. I would suggest even going beyond the red, yellow, and blue top Optima's and buying a good pair of 1200amp Dry Cell car audio battery's. Add a heavy duty RV relay that will allow the dry cell's to charge when your running the motor and run the audio system when the motor is turned off. The relay will also keep your "starting" battery's isolated from your "audio" battery's so you dont look like a chump when it's time to crank the motor and go home....

I can go on and on, but I think is enough for you to at least think about.....If you need additional help dont hesitate to email me. I can also hook you up with the equipment (literally any brand) at wholesale pricing....I still have good relationships with my product reps. If your interested, hook your boat up to your truck and pull it to Northern Alabama for a week and I'll build it for you..... There is ALLOT more that I could type, but would rather tell you on the phone or something.....so if you need something email me..

[email protected]

These name brands have absolutely no place in a MTI or Skater......it's like trying build a 40+ Foot MTI with a pair of 3.0 Litre supercharged 4 cylinder Merc's and expect it to run more than 80mph on GPS.....they are not for the job

Thank you for the information everyone. I will look for good brand name products. I should have mentioned that the music is a real low priorty for me. The MTI has no sound system and never will, the closed canopy is so loud at speed that you must wear intercom headsets. They help prevent ringing ears and allow conversation. The Skater is my cruiser and I am only looking for a some backround music in the no wake zones. We often times wear intercoms in that boat as well at speed. The goal is nothing exotic, more like a nice factory car system that will only be for the passengers in the boat at slow speeds not sandbar jammin.

[QUOTE=Brad Zastrow;2334886]Thank you for the information everyone. The Skater is my cruiser and I am only looking for a some backround music in the no wake zones. QUOTE]

Your very welcome....

For "No Wake" zone music I would reccomend the following....

Panasonic Head unit - they carry a 2 year warranty and have sufficient built in crossovers to do the job.

Coaxial Speakers - Almost any brand will do, keep in mind if they get wet your going to have to replace them. I would reccomend to buy either an inexpensive pair or something with a good warranty. I would at least run a 6.5" if possible or 6x9's.

One Amplifier - to run your subwoofer or subwoofers (keep it simple). i would reccomend a D-Class amplifier for power effieciency on your battery and alternator. A good 400 watt D-Class amp will do the job no sweat with your stock battery and alternator setup.

Most quality head units on the market today are rated at 50 watts per channel, which you will never get a true 50 watts out of. You will see probobly 30 to 35 usable watts per channel and when using the built in crossover you can squeeze maybe 37 watts per channel.....Totally enough to do the job.

If your not planning any sandbar jam sessions then dont worry about the extra battery and like I said it wont harm the alternator or battery...although adding an extra battery is a good idea.

I have some sony marine 2007 models left over if anyone is interested. A couple amps , heads , speakers. @ Dealer cost.