Stereo install questions

[eminent]

Hi Guys

I bought my boat last fall 2002 VLX. I got it at an insurance auction. It is almost ready to put in the water but I am looking at the stereo.

Here is what was in the boat when I got it

2 - U.S. acoustics USB-4065 65W x 4 Car Amplifier

1 - US acoustics USX-2080 80W x 2 Car Amplifier

I plan to replace the USX-2080 with a larger 600 watt RMS amp for the sub

As far as I can see there are 6 speakers plus the sub in the boat. (2 bow, 2 dash and 2 in the rear under the seats facing forward.)

It is wired for tower speakers.

The wiring that was around the amps was pretty crazy there are 15 pairs of speaker wires in the compartment where the amps were mounted.

So my first task is to try to find out what wire are hooked up and what isn't

When I go back and re install everything how would you hook up the amps?

1 - 4 channel for the rear and dash speakers

1 - 4 channel for the bow speakers and tower speakers

1 600 w amp for a bigger sub

It seems weird to hook up the tower speakers and the front speakers to the same amp and it also seems that they would be lacking power.

Any suggestions

[chadwick02]

Without knowing much about those amps or speakers and their ratings, my first instinct would be to:

Run the (2) left main cabin speakers on Amp 1 Channel 1 (probably a 2 ohm load)

Run the (2) Right main cabin speakers on Amp 1 channel 2 (2ohm)

Run the left bow speaker on amp 1 channel 3

Run the Right bow speaker on amp 1 channel 4

Adjust thoes gains so the levels work out properly

Then depending on your tower speakers, I'd bridge that amp

Run the left side of the tower off Amp 2 channels 1+2 bridged together

Run the right side of the tower off Amp 2 channels 3+4 bridged.

That will get you the most power to the tower.

Need to watch the loads though, depends on what you are using for speakers and what those amps can take.

[eminent]

the amp is stable at 2ohms so that would probably work. I didn't even think of running multiple speakers on a single channel. If I do that I have a separate amp left for the tower.

thanks I new I was missing something.

Now to sort through the mess of wire.

[shawndoggy]

I would do it like chadwick, except I would run the bow speakers and the rear cabin speakers on channels 1 and 2 (in parallel, 2 ohm), and the dash speakers on channels 3&4. The dash speakers in the vlx can tend to be really bright and in your face being on the dash and reflecting off of the windshield, so by putting those two speakers on their own channels, you can undergain them relative to the rear cabin speakers for some balance to the sound.

Then yeah, run the other four channel bridged to the towers.

the 2080 is probably too small to do much with. That is a great little amp though. I've owned two in the past. I've owned a 4065 too, and it had plenty of balz. nice amps for the money imho.

[Soon2BV]

I would do it like chadwick, except I would run the bow speakers and the rear cabin speakers on channels 1 and 2 (in parallel, 2 ohm), and the dash speakers on channels 3&4. The dash speakers in the vlx can tend to be really bright and in your face being on the dash and reflecting off of the windshield, so by putting those two speakers on their own channels, you can undergain them relative to the rear cabin speakers for some balance to the sound.

This is a great suggestion. I have my dash speakers at about 60% of the level of the front and rear cabin speakers.

[eminent]

Yeah its not hard to switch around the speaker outputs till I get what I like. but the dash ones on their own sounds good

thanks guys