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Adding Bow Speakers


09vRide

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09vRide,

Here is what I meant...we do a lot of six speaker in-boats driven by a discrete six-channel amplifier. All channels are driven at a conservative 4-ohm level. As a result there is a lot of headroom and the amplifier clips very gracefully vesus into at a 2-ohm load where the amplifier clips a little more aggressively. Its a nice bonus. The amplifier has more headroom, less distortion and operates more efficiently at the higher impedance. Its never as apparent of a difference at low frequencies where comparatively small differences in distortion are very hard to detect. You will also get a little more power with a dedicated channel to each speaker. None of these amplifiers truly double in power when you halve the impedance as some specs may suggest. In reality the 4-ohm power is under-rated and the 2-ohm power may be a 40 to 65 percent increase. Test reviews demonstrate this again and again.

You are likely going to be running your bow speakers off dedicated channels at a 4-ohm load regardless so that you can gain them independently from the cockpit speakers.

So here is the determining factor. If when searching for a matching amplifier if there is a big difference between the price of a two-channel and four-channel model then you will probably choose the two-channel. It will run the four cockpit coaxials at 2-ohms and the two available channels of the existing four-channel amplifier will drive the bows. Its smart to distribute the load so that any one amplifier isn't strapped down to the toughest load across the board. However, if the four-channel is very close in price then you will have some moderate benefits at a moderate cost difference.

David

Would it be of benefit to get a matching two channel amp (R.F. P400-2), have it power the sub only (bridged) and then use the existing P400-4 to power the 6 cockpit speakers? I'd wire up the bow and rear cockpit speakers in parallel on one half of the amp and wire up the dash speakers on the other half. I'm thinking this way I could lower the gain on the dash speakers to offset the fact that the sound is bouncing off the windshield. It would also give more power to the sub (although I'd be giving the sub 400w RMS and its only rated for 300w). Would this be a practical/better solution?

With adding another amp I'd be putting more load on the batteries and alternator. I currently have two Deka Marine Master batteries and a 70 Amp alternator. With three amps am I overloading the batteries/alternator?

I'm starting to think adding two bow speakers is going to cost more than its worth......

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Howdy I Saw this thread and since I did all this in the summer of 2010 I thought I'd go cut and paste a section out of my long-running Fakesetter thread (with pictures) and put it in here. David at Earmark helped me out a lot like usual and on his advice I didn't try to make my old Kicker amp run 6 speakers and bought a JL XD600.6 amp to run my cabin speakers. Wayyyyy cleaner. So if you want the link to my final setup and pictures here you go and skip down to post #104. More directly here's the quote...

Lastly, y'all might know my model of Sunsetter VLX only has 4 speakers. Two in the rear and two under the windshield. Well, 3 of the 4 went out after 10 years of life and I set out to replace them. After a ridiculous amount of sweating and swearing I got the windshield off and the speakers all replaced with some very nice Polk MoMo pairs. Then, I decided I needed sound in the bow. Well, there is no where to put it. So with some help from Ronnie we fabricated a ABS plastic mount to sit in the storage pockets in the bow. These received a third pair of Polk MoMo speakers.

[ABS Plastic Shell]

[Carpeted Shell] - I carpeted one side and put several layers of fiberglass on the inside to stiffen up the frame and give myself something to screw the speaker into.

[installed Speaker]

Edited by Slurpee
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09vRide,

Using a pair of channels isolated to the dash speakers is exactly what you would do in order to offset the positional advantage of the dash speakers. This way you can tune in a little balance with the ambience of the rear cockpit coaxials. Besides, I don't like the dash speakers, which are in your face, to be too dominant since being in the corner between the windshield and dash and reflecting off the glass makes any speaker sound a little erratic.

I'm not concerned about the alternator when you are starting out the day with a fully charged battery. But after a really long duration at rest after depleting the stereo battery, once underway again you have to add in the load of the discharged battery to the load of the stereo. At that point you can either take the stereo battery or stereo off line with the alternator. A voltage sensing solenoid is also useful in protecting your alternator from an excessive load as it will not re-introduce the stereo battery to the alternator until the conditions are right. In any case, if you play the stereo at rest for any period then you need to be dependent on something more than the alternator for restoration. An AC shore charger is in order. Its good for your batteries and starting out the day with healthy batteries is good for your alternator.

David

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