quadracr

Now that I have your attention, I need a little help. 1998 27ft Ultimate Warlock v bottom. I have installed 8 Polk Audio DB650 6.5 coaxial speakers throughout the boat. I have an Alpine MRVF340 4 channel amp. I would like to not have to buy another 4 channel amp so can I hook my 8 speakers into the 4 channel amp some way without hurting either component?
I believe hooking 2 speakers in series would double the ohms to 8 as someone else said less power but would run cooler. Hooking 2 speakers in parallel would put the Ohms at 2 which will run hotter. Would that hurt anything since the amp is made to run 2 ohms? Is it not worth it to take the chance and just go series?

I also have an Alpine amp MRD M500 mono that I am going to use to power a set of subs. Nothing fancy just some needed bass. A couple of 10's maybe 12's. What would work well for this?

Im not looking for a competition quality just some decent sound on the water.

Please feel free to fire away

MILD THUNDER

iTrader: (3)

As long as the amp is stable to 2 ohms, i dont see a problem. It should have protection if it was to overheat. Id run them in parallel for the 2 ohm load.

dzglaser21

If you run 4 speakers to 1 channel, you'll want to series each pair then parallel the 2. So speaker 1&2 series, 3&4 series then when put both + and both -'s together then into one channel. I'd reccomend the 4 ohm load because on a boat your listening to it loud to hear it over the engines and also long periods while on the batteries. If you need i diagram pm me with your email and ill send you one. As far as subs it depends where your going to put them. If its some where in a cavity say in the front, you can use a cheaper lighter wieght woofer. (i.e.Kicker comp VR, JL W-1 or W-3) remember better the sub sub heavier it is and more power it takes.

dzglaser21

Also if you were to parallel 4 4 ohm speakers to one channel it would be 1 ohm.

NightHawk

Remember your speaker impedance ratings are just an average number. The exact impedance varies greatly with frequency so it's posssible at high volume levels your amp may cut briefly if the instantaneous current demands exceed a certain level. It likely won't damage anything but you're probably running a borderline load on the amp.

jswfl09

Weird. I have the same amp (out of my old Grand Cherokee which was totaled) and was thinking about using it to power my 4 cockpit speakers yesterday. I got a really good deal on it years ago and have pushed it pretty good, especially in SWFL summers.

I've never run more than 4 speakers on that amp but hypothetically if you decide to run the 8 at 2 ohms I know this amp will run pretty hot. I kept mine inside an air-conditioned vehicle but under a seat. It used to go into protection mode and shut down when I would push it and being on a boat you are going to push it when you are going. I had to run a DC fan on it but that was because of being under a seat. On that same token, if you have it somewhere where it has plenty of air cooling it might be just fine.