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Adding sub


pawter1970

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So I have a 700watts Kicker 5 way amp, all wired to 4 main boat speakers and the 2 tower speakers. It's not sounding great and not much bass

Want to add a 10' sub, The kicker Amp as option for Sub connection but I am thinking it would be too much for one amp (6 speakers and Sub). Whats my best (and easiest) option. Not looking at turning the lake into a dance floor, just want to add a bit more bass to my sound since we rarely crank the system and mainly uses Satelite radio.

I am guessing a 4 way Amp for the boat speakers, Sub and Tower speakers on the 5 way amp...? I have a 06 VLX so wondering where would be the best location for the Amp, not sure if there is room on the panel under the wheel since the heater is behind there or should I just have the amp put in the battery locker under the glove box.

Thanks a bunch guys.....

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I've had that amp and it can handle a sub. Find a sub of your choice with an RMS rating between 300-500 watts and you're good to go after some tuning. Make sure your 12v+ and 12v- to the amp are at the very least 4 awg, better yet 2awg when adding a sub.

Edited by Bobby Light
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I used to run that amplifier too. Ran 6 interior 6.5's and a JL 10W3, sounded really good and never had a problem with it overheating. Bobby L is right, you'll want to make sure you're using at least 4 awg wire.

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So I have a 700watts Kicker 5 way amp, all wired to 4 main boat speakers and the 2 tower speakers. It's not sounding great and not much bass

Want to add a 10' sub, The kicker Amp as option for Sub connection but I am thinking it would be too much for one amp (6 speakers and Sub). Whats my best (and easiest) option. Not looking at turning the lake into a dance floor, just want to add a bit more bass to my sound since we rarely crank the system and mainly uses Satelite radio.

I am guessing a 4 way Amp for the boat speakers, Sub and Tower speakers on the 5 way amp...? I have a 06 VLX so wondering where would be the best location for the Amp, not sure if there is room on the panel under the wheel since the heater is behind there or should I just have the amp put in the battery locker under the glove box.

Thanks a bunch guys.....

Your best bet is to use the existing 5-channel amplifier for the sub and all in-boat coaxials. This way you are not loading the amplifier down at the lowest posible impedance load on all channels. Plus, you can better distribute the workload this way. The sub and tower channels are typically worked the hardest so place your division there. Then get a dedicated amplifier for the tower speakers. Depending on your existing tower speakers and your long range plan for tower speakers, the tower amplifier might be either a two or four channel model.

David

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Although we have run that amp a number of times over the years to power 6 in-boats and a 2 ohm sub with no issues, I agree 100% with David. Looking at the system as a whole, you will be better served to give the towers an amp of thier own. This is a far better route then running that amp in 3 chnl mode with a pair of tower speakers bridged on chnls 1/2 & 3/4 and a sub on 5. A nice class-D 2 chnl amp for the towers would give you more power then they are currently receiving and be way more efficient. With the 4 OHM DVC sub wired in parallel, that amp will deliver 420W rms. This is plenty power for a number of 10 or 12 inch subs. For a single 4 ohm sub, the amp will deliver 210W rms.

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take a look at some of the "thin" subs by JL audio...have the 13 under the steering wheel (and have heater) and gave up about 5-6 inches of leg room...JL is not cheap though.

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Keep this in mind relating to thin woofers in an open field boat. Btw, this is an issue totally independent of brand. A shallow design woofer has extra mass to maintain rigidity in a shallow architecture. It also usually has a much greater diameter voice coil because the magnet is often to the inside versus the outside. These elements combine for a less sensitive woofer which is contrary to the needs of a boat. Plus, a thin woofer typically falls short in excursion as compared to a standard depth woofer with deeper cone architecture. You will not have much of a penalty in the enclosed cabin of your vehicle but there is a noticeable difference in an open boat. Not to mention that a cast-frame, shallow-mount sub with non-standard parts is considerably more expensive to build and purchase. So while there are some EXCELLENT shallow woofers out there, you are better served with a deeper woofer in a boat....particularly for the cost.

David

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