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8 speaker set up and upgrade questions


Akrider174

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currently have a 2003 wake setter 23 LSV. 

  • Radio Sony BT head unit
  • Two tower speakers entryl evel 6.5 Rockford fosgate I think
  • 6 Sony 6.5 Front, Dash and rear.
  • Amp Small Pyle amp
  • All was on boat when I got it

Thinking of keeping head unit and all 6.5. Trashing the amp. looking for suggestions on amp to run all the speakers. Ive seen a couple of 6 channels out there  but only run about 80 per channel @ 4 ohms.

Ive seen the Rockvill rx8 bt that is 8 channels and has BT built in, Ive have a Rockvill before on my other boat and it was surprising of the quality sound output. I also would like to add a 10" sub as well in a sealed box.

Please point me in the right direction.
Thanks

Edited by Akrider174
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A 5 chnl like the Kicker KXMA800.5 or 6 chnl like the Wet Sounds HTX-6 will drive 3 pair of in-boats and a moderate 10" or 12" woofer. 

A 2 chnl like the Kicker KXMA400.2 or Wet Sounds HTX-2 will power a pair of 6.5" tower coaxials nicely. 

An 8 chnl would work, but what kind of wattage would that be for the woofer and tower? its also nice to have the woofer and tower separated. Divides the load across at least 2 amp.  

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While you're at it get rid of the Sony speakers.  Any 80 watt rms amps you're looking at, if not set way down, will blow them in sort order.  Much better speakers out there.

A couple RF R600-4D amps could run your 6 + 2 (plus a sub) all on separate channels (for independent gain setting and zone control) with good efficiency and at a good price point.

Also think about what you want to do with the tower speakers.  They're inadequate for wake boarding and marginal for surfing.  If not on a separate zone they'll just mess up the boat sound experience.  Go bigger/better or just take them off the tower.

BTW, welcome to the crew.

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Thanks for the info it really helps. I'm pretty good at car audio but marine is a bit different. I'm not opposed to an all Rockford set up. As to the wet sounds they are good but a bit pricey.

 

Thanks

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37 minutes ago, Akrider174 said:

I'm not opposed to an all Rockford set up. As to the wet sounds they are good but a bit pricey.

Interesting point. The two Wet Sounds amps I mentioned above, would be $980 MSRP. The two equivalent R/F amps would be $1200 MSRP for a PM500x2 and PM1000x5. You could run an M400-4 bridged to a single pair of tower and then the M600-5, but you are still coming in at $800 MSRP. Thats only $15. 

Now, before someone scours the net for the cheapest discount price on those r/f amps, just note, this implies that one cant get any discount on Wet Sounds, which is not true. Besides, does amazon have a tech support center and know naything about marine audio :whistle: 

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Specs and amp type are probably more important than brand. Class D amps are more efficient and save battery capacity. A boat is a pretty suboptimal sound stage so spending a lot on accuracy has quickly diminishing returns. WS is better but I think RF is a better value for amps.  WS makes great subs at a good price point.  Their marine EQ is the best.

Those original equipment Sony speakers will be the weak point no matter what you do.

Just saw MLA reply. No issue with what he said. You can get 2 R600-4D amps on Amazon for less than $450. True, no support but lots of power, efficiency, and good specs.

 

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3 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

You can get 2 R600-4D amps on Amazon for less than $450

This is where it becomes an apples to oranges deal. 1) the r series is not marine and ALL of the wet sound are. Is this a bad thing? no, not necessarily, but skews any across the board comparison when using price as a qualifier. 2) it looks like that amp is in retirement. There again, when using price, its not a fair comparison to use the clearance price of a discontinued item to the retail price of a current production model. No way to determine "value" with these. Using current models and MSRP from authorized outlets, Wet Sounds clearly has the better value amps in this case.    

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11 minutes ago, MLA said:

This is where it becomes an apples to oranges deal. 1) the r series is not marine and ALL of the wet sound are. Is this a bad thing? no, not necessarily, but skews any across the board comparison when using price as a qualifier. 2) it looks like that amp is in retirement. There again, when using price, its not a fair comparison to use the clearance price of a discontinued item to the retail price of a current production model. No way to determine "value" with these. Using current models and MSRP from authorized outlets, Wet Sounds clearly has the better value amps in this case.    

I don't really follow the logic here.  If the OP can get a pair of amps for $450, what difference (other than academic) does MSRP and current models make?

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3 minutes ago, MadMan said:

I don't really follow the logic here.  If the OP can get a pair of amps for $450, what difference (other than academic) does MSRP and current models make?

Week old frozen chicken or fresh cut today NY strip. Not fair to use price as a qualifier. How about we use the sale price of two Wet sounds Syn-4. We can get a pair of those for about $600. Now thats fair since both are retired and on clearance, which is the better value? Like comparing last years model ford 2wd pickup price to this years current chevy 4wd pickup price. price alone does not make value. Warranty and tech support add to it dont you think?   

You also overlooked the fact that the current amp is marine and the discontinued amp is not marine. This instantly adds to the cost difference. 

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10 minutes ago, MLA said:

Week old frozen chicken or fresh cut today NY strip. Not fair to use price as a qualifier. How about we use the sale price of two Wet sounds Syn-4. We can get a pair of those for about $600. Now thats fair since both are retired and on clearance, which is the better value? Like comparing last years model ford 2wd pickup price to this years current chevy 4wd pickup price. price alone does not make value. Warranty and tech support add to it dont you think?   

You also overlooked the fact that the current amp is marine and the discontinued amp is not marine. This instantly adds to the cost difference. 

I guess you have a different outlook than I do, MSRP and being last years model have no relevance to me.

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2 minutes ago, MadMan said:

I guess you have a different outlook than I do, MSRP and being last years model have no relevance to me.

Would MSRP be relevant if the discontinued retired component was still being sold at its original MSRP? You'd be scratching your head going "no way am i paying full price for a discontinued model? Would you pay full price for a left over 2016 Bu that even though it was never used and comparable in size, but it lacked the options as the new 2017?   

This started where the Op stated one brand was pricy compared to the other. Ive proved that to not be the case in a fair comparison. 

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This is great info. So I know I will need two amps. I will have 8----- 6.5" and 1 10" or 12" sub total of 9 speakers. Can some one help me narrow this down? looking at maybe 1 4 channel and one mono block I can run 2 @ 2ohms to each channel of the 4 channel =8 speakers. And the sub to the Mono block?

Am I missing something or on the right track? Or is there other configurations I should take into account?

Thanks

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AK,

With 3 pair of in-boats and woofer, sticking with my original rec, 5 or 6 chnl all day long. 

Single pair of tower speaker, 2 chnl amp or mild 4 chnl bridged to 2 chnl. 

This splits the woofer and towers, 2 hardest driven zones on a boat, up to 2 different amp and allows for zone control between in-boat and tower zone. A single 4 chnl driving 3 pair of in-boats and single pair of towers has aDont  pair of in-boats and tower paired. Dont like this. 

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I'm running all Exile and have a 4 channel exile amp that runs all 8 of my 6.5" cabin speakers.  BUT, my wiring per pair of 6.5" takes each channel from 4ohm to 2ohm since I have 8 speakers and a 4 channel amp.  The Exiles can handle that and most other good quality brands can as well.  If you can't afford Exile or Wetsounds (yikes I don't even like typing that) which are high definition/quality marine audio and both competitors, then you can certainly run a Rockford 4 channel and bridge each channel.  You obviously put a load on the amp and not sure where you live, but I wouldn't do this in Arizona where your amps are always running hot from air temp as well.

Most setups with 6 cabin speakers is that they run 4 speakers at 2 ohms into the 1st/2nd channels of the amp and the bow speakers are 4ohm on the other two channels.  Essentially with 8 speakers you are just running all channels at 2ohm, which most amps these days are stable enough.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/30/2017 at 8:23 AM, hawaiianstyln said:

I'm running all Exile and have a 4 channel exile amp that runs all 8 of my 6.5" cabin speakers.  BUT, my wiring per pair of 6.5" takes each channel from 4ohm to 2ohm since I have 8 speakers and a 4 channel amp.  The Exiles can handle that and most other good quality brands can as well.  If you can't afford Exile or Wetsounds (yikes I don't even like typing that) which are high definition/quality marine audio and both competitors, then you can certainly run a Rockford 4 channel and bridge each channel.  You obviously put a load on the amp and not sure where you live, but I wouldn't do this in Arizona where your amps are always running hot from air temp as well.

Most setups with 6 cabin speakers is that they run 4 speakers at 2 ohms into the 1st/2nd channels of the amp and the bow speakers are 4ohm on the other two channels.  Essentially with 8 speakers you are just running all channels at 2ohm, which most amps these days are stable enough.

I went with a nvx 900.5 ran all sets by 2 @ 2 ohm on the 4 Chanel's and a skar audio down firing 10 off 5th Chanel. Sub getting 300 watts, each pair of 6.5 getting 180. Sounds amazing I love it. 

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