Replacing cabin speakers different ohms

[ninedriver]

I currently have 6 kicker km613 (4ohm) cabin speakers being powered by a kicker zx200.4

I'm wanting to swap those speakers with 6 Polk MM651 (2ohm 100w/200w) speakers.

Will I have to make any other changes or is it just plug and play?

[jmvotto]

2.7 ohms. Should be fine.

I added them to my pontoon sound great

[bjrow]

Hey Ninedriver, I did mine last year on our '14 Mondo and was recommended to go for the MM651UM's as they are 4ohms.
Did the cabins and bow speakers and worked really well on the Kicker 200.4.
You'll get a lot more bass from them (although not like having a sub) and musically it will be more pleasing based from my experience.
If you have the Sony head unit you'll find that playing around with its settings sufficient to put a smile on your face, I actually had to turn things down once I was done to suit my taste and received quite a few compliments while out. Good luck with the install.

I should add that the cabin speaker pairs were wired in parallel, i.e lhs 2 were wired in parallel for one channel of the amp and the rhs the same for the other channel.
I was advised by members here to go for the MM651UM's as they are 4 ohm impedance and would be kinder to the Kicker Amp. The 2.7 ohms may work presenting a 1.3ohm load to the amp but it didn't seem to be worth the risk considering my time and $'s. For me it was plug and play with these speakers.

Cheers BruceR

[bjrow]

Found my thread when asking about upgrading the speakers, may be useful, maybe not.....
https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?26924-Change-in-cabins-from-factory-to-Polk-MM651-s-worth-it
Cheers BruceR

[MLA]

I currently have 6 kicker km613 (4ohm) cabin speakers being powered by a kicker zx200.4

I'm wanting to swap those speakers with 6 Polk MM651 (2ohm 100w/200w) speakers.

Will I have to make any other changes or is it just plug and play?

If all 3 pair are driven by the 4 chnl amp, then no its not plug n play. The 2 pair on main cabin are wired in parallel and will need to be rewired to series.

[ninedriver]

Time to resurrect an old thread... Unfortunately, I'm just now getting to my install :(

So, just so I'm clear. Yes, my kicker zx200.4 is currently wired like MLA says with one speaker wire (+,-) going from my amp to my one port bow speaker and one speaker wire (+,-) going from my amp to my one starboard bow speaker. Then there is one speaker wire (+,-) from my amp that is branched off into a parallel set of speaker wires that go to my 2 port cabin speakers and the last speaker wire from my amp is also branched off into a parallel set of speaker wires going to my 2 starboard cabin speakers. Again, those 6 cabin speakers are kicker km613 (4ohm). With this current setup, does this mean that my bow speakers are each driving one channel from the amp at 4 ohms? And the 2 cabin speakers per side in parallel are driving the amp at 2 ohms?

And now on to the upgrade to 6 Polk MM651 (2 ohm) speakers. If I just swap out the bow speakers, how will the new 2 ohm speaker affect the 4 ohm channel from the amp?

And, by changing my 2 pair of cabin speakers from parallel to series, how does that impact the amp? I'm assuming the above will be my new correct set up??

Thanks
Steve

[stevemarich]

if you do it as you say, then your bow will run at 50 rms a speaker, no ill effects to amp. but you will drop down to 35 rms per pair on the cabin speakers , but there will be no ill effect, that would be the best way to do it with what you have, keeps everything in check with what that amp can handle.to clarify, keep bows the same but change cabins from parallel to series hope it helps

[MLA]

With this current setup, does this mean that my bow speakers are each driving one channel from the amp at 4 ohms? And the 2 cabin speakers per side in parallel are driving the amp at 2 ohms?

One half of the amp is seeing a 4 ohm load p/chnl from the bow speaker, other half of amp is seeing a 2 ohm p/chnl load with the 2 pair of main cabin speakers.


And now on to the upgrade to 6 Polk MM651 (2 ohm) speakers. If I just swap out the bow speakers, how will the new 2 ohm speaker affect the 4 ohm channel from the amp?


The amp chnl is neither 2 or 4 ohm, but rather the speaker load is and amp "sees" the load and responds per design. In te case of this amp, the output per chnl increased to its 2 ohm rated output.


And, by changing my 2 pair of cabin speakers from parallel to series, how does that impact the amp?

Now for the bad news. Going from a 2 ohm load crated by to two speakers to a 4 ohm load created by 2 speakers, the amp's output is reduced by the 4 ohm load to its rated 4 ohm output. This in tern, is divided to each speaker.

So, lets say the 2 ohm output is 50W rms. With two speakers, the two speakers each net 25W. And if the 4 ohm output is 25W, now each of your speaker nets 12W rms.

[stevemarich]

Model ZX200.4
RMS Power in Watts, all channels driven
@ 14.4 Volts, 4Ω stereo, ≤ 1% THD+N 35 x 4
@ 2Ω stereo, ≤ 1% THD+N 50 x 4
@ 4Ω mono, ≤ 1% THD+N 100 x 2
Frequency Response, ± 0.5 dB: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >95 dB, a-weighted, re: rated power
Input Sensitivity: 125 mV - 5 V low level
250 mV - 10 V high level
Electronic Crossover: HI, LO or OFF (bypass),
fixed @ 80 Hz, 12 dB