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Best Bang For My Buck


SUN DVLS

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I am a newbie when it comes to stereos, so be easy on me. I currently have an '07 wakesetter with the stock deck and speakers (Sony Xplod giga panel). I don't need the boat to thump, I just want the radio to sound good when the boat is going 20+ mph. I have to turn the radio up to hear it over the engine and it sounds terrible at that point.

Where should I start (i.e. deck, speakers, amp, sub) for a better sound at high volume.

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Do you want to be able to hear it while riding or just in the cabin when doing 20+? If it is just while driving the easiest and probably cheapest route is to upgrade the cabin speakers and add an amp. Next up after that would be adding a sub. what kind of budget are we talking here? That way we can recommend some speaker and amp combos. Our Acis had Exile in boats and our new boat has wet sounds. Earmark marine always has some great specials on Exile in boats. If budget is a concern it's hard to find a better deal.

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You need to add an amp first, then see how it sound to you. If you're still not satisfied the next step would be upgrading the speakers.

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I run a full exile system and Bruizza is right, its hard to find a better deal on such a good product. That being said, I helped a close friend install polk mm cabin speakers(ran off stock clarion head unit) in his Mastercraft X-1. We also added a polk mm 10 inch dual voice coil sub powered by the pa880 4 channel amp. I was highly impressed with the sound quality. He searched ebay for bargains and got a great deal on all his stuff.

As far as being able to hear music over the engine, the cabin speakers we added are definitely enough by themselves. The sub was icing on the cake.

By the way, we also slapped 4 exile XM9s on his tower. The neighbors hate him.

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SUN DVLS,

All brands of source units boast big power (4 X 60 watts in some cases) but the reality is that they are about 4 X 15 watts. So if you have decent speakers, the distortion you hear when underway and trying to compete with the wind and motor noise is the source unit internal power running out of steam. An external ampilier with an honest 4 X 50 watts at 4-ohms is a significant upgrade. You could even edge that power up some in your amplifier selection in preparation for replacement speakers if that is a possibilty. So start with an amplifier because it's the weakest link presently and you would need to have an amplifier in any case with an upgrade speaker.

David

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Sun DVLS -

beginning of last season I had sony giga panel and stock kicker inboat speakers, like you do. they sounded like junk turned up. I got a basic 4 channel amp from Exile (sm400.4) and that made a huge difference. I can only image what better speakers and a stronger amp would do. If you are strictly budget for now, just add the amp for now and go from there.

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Sun DVLS -

beginning of last season I had sony giga panel and stock kicker inboat speakers, like you do. they sounded like junk turned up. I got a basic 4 channel amp from Exile (sm400.4) and that made a huge difference. I can only image what better speakers and a stronger amp would do. If you are strictly budget for now, just add the amp for now and go from there.

For as inexpensive as the kickers are, they actually sound pretty decent. They don't go too low, but if you cross them over high enough they'll take a ton of power.

A cheap amp like this one would make a world of difference: http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Acoustics-USX-4065-amplifier-/180836226267?pt=Car_Amplifiers&hash=item2a1aadd4db#ht_1184wt_1093

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Thanks for the replys, the comments were very helpful.

I think I will get an amp and see what I need from there. I saw a link from Shawndoggy, but can anyone recommend an AMP for me. Once again, I am looking on the cheapside but would like one I could eventually add a sub too. I am pretty sure I will not be getting tower speakers, so I don't need to plan for that.

Is there a link on the forum to give step by step installation for an AMP. I am a little intimidated by this task.

Thanks!

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If you want to run a sub too, you'll probably need a more powerful amp. A five channel amp (4 channels plus a sub) would be ideal, but you could get away with a three channel.

A four channel amp could work too. In that case you'd run two speakers off of each of two of the amps channels, and then bridge the other two channels to a sub. I'm going to be removing one of these from my boat in the next month or so (boat has 50 hours on it, amp was factory installed) if you'd be interested?

apx490m.jpg

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