Putting a New Stereo In & Need Help/Advice!

[shawndoggy]

matt, where do you have the cabin speakers highpassed? Believe me, a sub doesn't have to be thumpin' to add some real bottom end to your music. Some of my favorite sub tuning tracks are the live version of Get Up Stand Up with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh from Talkin' Blues, and Hotel California by the Eagles. Not exactly "BOOM" tracks, but there is a lot more music there than you can hear from 6.5" speaker.

[mr7]

Actually, we are still tuning the amp. Does anyone have any link that really explains how to configure everything? When I was playing around with the crossovers and HPF, LPF, etc I didn't really hear a difference. The only obvious difference I heard was the gain (obviously).

Most definitely agree shawndoggy & we WILL add one, just not at this moment due to time constraints. We'd rather use the boat right now, then spend another day working on it. Like I said hopefully in the fall, or next spring. What we have now is a HUGE step up from what we had originally, so we don't mind just enjoying that for a little bit- but you're right, a sub will add a lot, no question.

[shawndoggy]

yes, bang for the buck putting an amp on your cabin speakers is by far the biggest jump in sound quality.

You want those cabin speakers highpassed. Probably around 80hz. This basically removes the bottom notes from the speakers and prevents them from trying to reproduce sounds that they can't, which in turn will make the cabin speakers play louder and clearer because they won't break up trying to reproduce those low bass notes.

And then you want a sub correspondingly lowpassed around the same area (though you might bring the xover up to 100-110 depending on the sub, what you listen to, etc.).

Edited June 12, 2013 by shawndoggy

[mr7]

Even without a sub, we would want them high passed? Right now, when we crank it loud enough I can feel it good-enough (for the time being) & I wouldn't want to completely cut that out until we get a sub.

Also do you know what the Multiplier buttons are for? (X1 & X10)

[shawndoggy]

x10 changes the frequency 10x. So if you have it set on 80hz, x10 would give you 800. You want it on x1.

Yes, high pass now. believe me you won't even be able to tell. Actually high pass at 100, then while you've got the stereo fully cranked and sounding good, lower the hp and you'll see where the speakers start to break up.

There is no way no how that $60 6.5's are giving you anything appreciable at 60hz.

[Earmark Marine]

matt,

Even though you do not have a subwoofer you still want to 'highpass' the in-boat coaxials. Maybe you wouldn't do this in a vehicle cabin but it is strongly recommended in an open boat. For this application (without a sub) I like a highpass crossover set at 55 to 60 Hz. At that frequency you will not be able to detect any diffence in bass output or bass extension because the 6.5" coaxial speakers cannot produce anything that low with any degree of amplitude. But by removing those frequencies below the crossover range, you limit the speaker's excursion and greatly clean up the fullrange, especially when played loud. Not to mention that when you narrow the bandwidth of the amplifier it also plays a bit louder and cleaner. Btw, at a crossover selection of 60 Hz the speaker is already at half power and begins to gradually roll-off about one/third octave higher...so about 80 Hz. Ideally, in this fullrange application, you want the highpass filter to mirror the speakers natural roll-off.

David

[mr7]

Will definitely take your advice and do that this weekend! My only question would be how to exactly adjust to a certain frequency? If you look at the adjustments on the PPI 900.4 there are only screws with no obvious graduations, just a min & max. Any advice?

PPI 900.4 Adjustments: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/pictures_new.php?id=38338&picture_id=860584

Also, where do I find matching carpet to wrap the kicker board in?

[shawndoggy]

you'll kinda have to do it by ear. Figure you've got 380hz of adjustment between 20 and 400, so 12 oclock is 210ish. you'll probably want to be somewhere around 9 oclock. I'd take it up to 12 oclock, crank it to full tilt boogie, and bring the xover down until the bass starts to make the speakers break up and go a little up from there. Since you don't have a sub, you may want a little more bass on the speakers, which is fine, you just won't be able to crank the volume quite as loud.

[mr7]

We got to take the boat out this weekend and as you guys suggested (from early on) a sub would be a nice addition. It sounded different on the water than the driveway which influenced the decision. We would really like to get everything installed in the next 2 weeks (we're having a bunch of family down for a week), so your advice is greatly appreciated (as always).

Ideally we would like to put a 10" or 12" sub under the observer seat locker (where the battery is). I was thinking about going with a Polk for budget concerns and we were really pleased with the Polk cabin speakers.

We would need an amp & we pretty much would have to buy an enclosure because we don't have time to make one.

Do you guys have opinions as far as size, location, type of enclosure, and amp? I've searched around and found people put them under the dash but as mentioned, we'd like to avoid that if possible.

[shawndoggy]

If you aren't going to put the sub under the driver's footwell, don't bother. It will sound like poo in the observer's compartment unless you do a bunch of work to correct the inherent limitations of putting it there, which undercuts your stated goals of keeping it cheap. There's no way to do the observer's compartment and have it sound good and have it be cheap and easy.

Location: must be under driver's footwell.

enclosure: sealed is easiest and hard to get wrong. ported can sound good but you must have a box built to your sub's specs. Off the shelf is unlikely to be a perfect fit, and a bad ported box will sound awful. So in the interest of keeping it cheap, find a sealed 1 ft2 box and a 12 that does well on that airspace. You would need to strip all of the carpet from the box and coat it with fiberglass epoxy resin to waterproof it. then paint with bedliner or something to make it look better. Then get a matching amp. Pretty sure the 2 channel ppi does about 600w and would be a good match. You'd probably be $400 or so all in, with box, resin, bedliner, sub, and amp.

Or, for the time being, let's go back to the infinity basslink. It's cheap, it's got a built in amp, and it will complement what you already have very well. It's also small and easy to install. Plastic enclosure, no need to waterproof. If you put it in and hate it, you can sell it on craigslist for $100 and only be out $100 of your $200 investment. That's how I'd go on a limited budget and tight timeframe.

Edited June 18, 2013 by shawndoggy

[Nitrousbird]

Do not put it in the observer compartment. Period, end of story, stop thinking about that being a good idea.

I still haven't installed my Basslink yet...fits very easily under the driver dash and I'm willing to sell unless I get around putting it in my company vehicle.

[mr7]

If I put the infinity basslink under driver side dash, I would have to run 8 gauge wire around the bow of the boat to hook it up to the battery, correct?

Would I be able to put it behind the 'false' board under the dash (cover it up up somehow)?

[shawndoggy]

on my old boat the basslink that was there when I bought it was mounted high under the dash, screwed into the back wall (which may be trickier if you have a heater, but doable), yes behind the kick panel. You will need to run power wire. Either up around the bow or down through the observer's compartment and under the walkway (assuming it's already predrilled for that). A modest basslink under the dash is going to sound better than a $500 setup in the observer's compartment.

[Earmark Marine]

A modest basslink under the dash is going to sound better than a $500 setup in the observer's compartment.

^^^Good advice.

David