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Winter wetsounds project


joshb

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Not a stereo pro, quite the novice actually, bought a bunch of stuff during black friday and am finally getting around to install it.

The original set up had all of the in cabin speakers and sub running off a 5 channel, and I plan to leave that as is. Boat came with a Polk 4000.4 pushing 2 terrible 6" speakers on the tower.

Now I added 4 Rev8's, and kept the one dedicated amp to the 4 tower speakers (the Polk d4000.4).

My question as a newbie is... what really would adding a second amp do to the tower speakers? I've been told I NEED a different/better/bigger or second amp for the tower speakers. Currently I've only listened to it in my garage, but it sounds awfully loud to me. Not knowing stereo stuff, what would adding an amp really do for me, would it just be louder or actually sound better? Mostly I ask because I found a second polk 4000.4 for $152 delivered.. and an extra $150 is basically the end of my budget... is it worth it? do I need it? In my head for $150 bucks I could double the power running to all the tower speakers by bridging each of the 2 4000.4's. Would that make sense? Should I just leave it as is?

Like I said novice here, thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

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two of those amps, each bridged down to two channels (so each amp powers one pair) would get you 200w per can, which is what the Rev8s are rated for.

At your current setup of 125w per can, you're definitely leaving something on the table. and at only an additional $150, I'd say go for it.

No matter how loud you think it is in the garage, it won't seem as loud at the end of the wakeboard line. Or maybe that's only in my case because my wife's at the helm and in control of the volume knob.

Edited by shawndoggy
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IIRC, the 4000.4 is 400 x 2.

that's not what crutchfield says? http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Zi5cB2ju335/p_107PAD4K4/Polk-Audio-PA-D4000-4.html

EDIT: but yeah the manual does say 400x2.

I still think I'd rather have 400w than 125 per can. I mean we all know that those are 400 very optimistic watts.

Edited by shawndoggy
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It's really not about advertised watts. You can buy an amp rated at 100 watts for 99.00 or 1000.00. The 1000.00 amp will play louder, but it will also have more bass, well defined bass, clear midrange without a harsh gritty sound, and far more clear detail in the upper range. You will also be able to play it louder before the distortion kicks in. You have really good speakers that are going to faithfully reproduce the signal you feed them. Pump crappy watts into a Wetsounds speaker and it is guaranteed to sound like crap. The amp matters....a lot. If real amps are not in the budget right now, just use what you have until you can replace them.

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that's not what crutchfield says? http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Zi5cB2ju335/p_107PAD4K4/Polk-Audio-PA-D4000-4.html

EDIT: but yeah the manual does say 400x2.

I still think I'd rather have 400w than 125 per can. I mean we all know that those are 400 very optimistic watts.

Actually that link does state 400 x 2 but whos counting. I do agree skiskier, especially with this polk/NVS/Sountream platform. Very "thin" sounding in bridge mode to rev-8's and rev-10's.

RMS Power Output (Watts x Channels) 125 x 4 Peak Power Output (Watts x Channels) N/A Power at 2 Ohms (Watts x Channels) 200 x 4 Bridged Power (Watts x Channels) 400 x 2
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Totally going along with what skyskier said above, but perhaps putting a finer point on it, it is so easy today for an amplifier manufacturer to claim any output power they want without coming close to those published specs.

Now if you are JL Audio you have to be ultra conservative. But if you are Boss, or Polk, what reputation and mindshare are they protecting to begin with? They are solely price-driven products. When it's proven that a Boss amplifier comes in at a 1/4 of the rating, it doesn't matter, they keep on selling.

Power specs, as in CEA2006 rating, only tell you the power at a supply voltage you cannot replicate in a boat, at only one single mid band frequency, often with one channel driven versus all channels driven, and at a distortion that is at one frequency only instead of across the entire audio spectrum. So there are too many major holes in the rating method where two similarly rated products could be a mile apart in actual performance and sound quality.

I have a good friend (Odin w/ Earmark Marine) that has invested a ton into monster power supplies and good test equipment so that he can accurately check what power levels truly are. Sometimes it's a real shocker.

And here is another big amplifier factor that is most often and totally overlooked....the front end....the processing end. Some of these amplifiers have the nastiest crossover filters. Or, they are using a 1 to 30 ratio on the input pots. They do everything else that doesn't show up as a CEA2006 power rating completely on the cheap.

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Well this summer's budget really is gonna be max $200- for stereo- too many other priorities that come first. That being said, I understand that you get what you pay for and that I am dealing with a crappy amp for nice speakers. Question is for this summer is it worth investing the extra $150 to double the power? Or just a complete waste of $

Or option #3 thanks to another thread... ebay the polk and get a different budget amp for the summer like a PPI 900.4 coming in at $164? With a budget of $200, what would the experts do? Thanks

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the ppi and the polk are clones. I wouldn't sell one to get another.

if you were going to switch things up, I'd look for something like a wetsounds Syn2 or an arc audio KS300.2, both of which you could probably find used for $300 (or less in the case of the arc). You'd get a touch more power, and quality power at that.

Edited by shawndoggy
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  • 4 weeks later...

Update: Even with the mixed responses I pulled the trigger on the super cheap second polk 4000.4. Front end aside, and regardless of actual output vs advertised output, I figure it will be double what a single one was putting out.

Final question, I've got them installed in the boat, but I've never bridged an amp before, read the directions in the manual, looks to just be following the wiring locations as per instructions, as a complete rookie, just wanted to confirm I don't need to change any settings on the front of the amps, or adjust any levels specifically for bridging or to protect the rev8's. Thanks

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1 hour ago, shawndoggy said:

to start, prior to tuning, the gains should be set to minimum, and the crossovers should be set to high pass around 100hz.  

And set the channel mode to "2 channel" or Stereo if you are going to used bridged output.

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