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Help me build my stereo setup please!


LoganR

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Hey all! First post, long time lurker. I've got a 2005 V-Ride that we recently acquired, but it needs some serious TLC where the stereo is concerned. For starters, the remote HU is missing. The black box in the battery area is missing. There are some Kicker 6.5's that have seen better days in the factory locations, and some aftermarket 8" cans on the tower that are trash. Long story short, it needs a complete overhaul. My plan to get it back to an enjoyable state is to get an amplifier that has bluetooth, eliminating the need for any HU/etc. since all of the music I'll be playing will be via my phone anyways. I also have a pair of Wet Sounds Pro 485's that I'll be using as tower speakers. 

What I would like is a decent recommendation for some 6.5's to pair with the 485's, and an amp to run all of them. I don't plan on needing overhead as I'll upgrade the boat before I upgrade the stereo again, but am welcome to recommendations on amp size such as a larger 4 channel vs 6 channel , 6 channel bridged, or a seperate amp for the 6.5's so I can control gain on both. 

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Moot point with your plan, but I beleive an 05 would have had a traditional single DIN head unit under the arm rest next to the captain's chair. 

11 hours ago, LoganR said:

or a seperate amp for the 6.5's so I can control gain on both. 

With multi channel amps, all the tuning settings are tied to a pair of chnls. So a 4 chnl has 2 sets of controls, a 6 chnl has 3 sets and an 8 chnl has 4. So you can "set" the gains of each par of chnls differently from the other pairs of chnls. However, if you are using a single bluetooth input, whether its a BT amp or a universal BT receiver, you will not have separate control of the gains as in some form of volume control. 

If you are not looking to power any of the speakers sufficiently,  The a simple 4 chnl amp would do for a pair of tower pods and 2 pair of in-boats. Or a 6 chnl if you have 3 pair of in-boats. 

Edited by MLA
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34 minutes ago, MLA said:

Moot point with your plan, but I beleive an 05 would have had a traditional single DIN head unit under the arm rest next to the captain's chair. 

With multi channel amps, all the tuning settings are tied to a pair of chnls. So a 4 chnl has 2 sets of controls, a 6 chnl has 3 sets and an 8 chnl has 4. So you can "set" the gains of each par of chnls differently from the other pairs of chnls. However, if you are using a single bluetooth input, whether its a BT amp or a universal BT receiver, you will not have separate control of the gains as in some form of volume control. 

If you are looking to power any of the speakers sufficiently,  The a simple 4 chnl amp would do for a pair of tower pods and 2 pair of in-boats. Or a 6 chnl if you have 3 pair of in-boats. 

That’s what I thought originally but apparently misread some information and applied it to my year, thanks for clarifying! 
 

So you think a 4 channel would be fine, any recommendations?

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On 6/6/2021 at 1:33 PM, bretcole said:

Sub?

 

Potentially in the future. With the lack of recommendations I’m leaning towards an SDX4 to just run the 485’s for now with a 220BT, that way I can just connect another amp later for the interior speakers. 

Edited by LoganR
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Don't buy the wetsounds 220.  The 420 SQ or BT is worth the upgrade.

 

Also, i highly recommend you figure out interior and sub before you spend money on tower amp.  Until the inside sounds decent, i don't think you'll be happy with how the tower sounds.  It takes a lot of bass to round out strong tower speakers, even at low to moderate volumes.  

Just my 0.02.  good luck.  

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  • 8 months later...

Revisiting this topic as I’ve done some purchasing, installing, and now looking to finish up. 
 

Currently running an SD4 to the 485’s, and a 420BT. Looking to upgrade my interior speakers, and got an amazing offer to purchase an SD6. It seems like overkill, but again the price is impossible to beat. My current thoughts are to run 4 6.5’s, and a 12, with the 6.5’s on their own channel, and the sub bridged. Any issues with this plan? Any recommendations?

Edited by LoganR
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Besides the woofer size, have you planned out the rest? That amp will narrow your woofer options such as the power handling class and final impedance. The get the best out of the woofer, a sealed enclosure be the preferred setup. The amp is not the most ideal to power a ported or infinite-baffle woofer. 

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11 hours ago, MLA said:

Besides the woofer size, have you planned out the rest? That amp will narrow your woofer options such as the power handling class and final impedance. The get the best out of the woofer, a sealed enclosure be the preferred setup. The amp is not the most ideal to power a ported or infinite-baffle woofer. 

The Revo 12 is what I am currently looking at. 500 RMS 1000 peak, and the SD6 is rated for 585 mono @ 4 ohms for the bridged channels. Certainly not as much power as it could handle, but not drastically underpowered either. However, I am certainly up for suggestion. 

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Follow up question as well.. is it worth the additional cost to put 8’s in the back, leaving 6.5’s in the dash, given that there will be a subwoofer?

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Since a full-range speaker and a subwoofer perform different tasks, the woofer will benefit the system regardless of the number and size of the full-range speakers. Regardless of size, you would not want to ask those speaker to try and act as a subwoofer. With that said, yes, there is both a volume gain and mid-bass gain with a larger speakers v's a smaller speaker. 

Power wise for the woofer, your plan is a good match. The only small downside is that a bridged full-range amp will not offer the best tuning, in order to match a ported enclosure.  

Edited by MLA
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20 minutes ago, MLA said:

Since a full-range speaker and a subwoofer perform different tasks, the woofer will benefit the system regardless of the number and size of the full-range speakers. Regardless of size, you would not want to ask those speaker to try and act as a subwoofer. With that said, yes, there is both a volume gain and mid-bass gain with a larger speakers v's a smaller speaker. 

Power wise for the woofer, your plan is a good match. The only small downside is that a bridged full-range amp will not offer the best tuning, in order to match a ported enclosure.  

Perfect, thanks for the confidence boost! I definitely don’t plan on the 8’s to act as a sub, but I was worried I’d lose too much high end. I contemplated just upsizing the rear speakers and leaving the 6.5 in the dash for ease/full coverage, but I think you’ve sold me on going 8’s on all 4

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