Help with wiring sound

[Dom08]

Hey Guys,
Looking for some help with the boat sound system.

I have an outback that we just updated the speakers, we put in the following:

6 speakers Pyle Hydra 75 Watts RMS/150 Watts peak. It has a frequency response of 100 Hz-20 Khz and 4 Ohms impedance

2 tower speakers boss mrwt69 550 Watts, 275 watts rms 4 OhmsFrequency response: 40Hz – 20kHz

The boat has a Excile 800.4 amp which is a 4 channel amp

I may or may not put a sub in depending on the sound quality but i do have a separate sub amp that i can use

Can i use this excile amp to power these speakers? Or will it be over working the amp? I'm not looking to spend alot if anything more

[Dom08]

Here are specs of the amp

Into 2ohm stereo 200x4
Into 4ohm stereo 125x4
4ohm bridged 400x2




Could i run them in parallel/series and be good to run 2ohm?

Pair up the front 2 speakers in series , pair up the 2 mid speakers in series. Pair up the 2 rear speakers in series. They are 4ohm each. Run them in series and give 8 ohms for each pair. Which

[MLA]

First and foremost, I do not like to pair tower speakers and in-boat speakers on the same amp chnls, as this has them playing at the same volume level. Not very user friendly. I suggest a pair of amp chnls just for the tower speakers. With a 4 chnl amp and and 8 speakers, theres no good way, but to run the bow pair on the head unit.

2nd, thats an old-school class-a/b amp. Driving 8 speakers with all 4 chnls at 2 ohm is a hefty load, and could overheat the amp and put it in protect mode from time to time.

The actual RMS wattage from that amp is about half of what those advertised specs are, so running a pair at 8 ohm, is going to be very low wattage output, although it does reduce the load on the amp.

Overall best scenario, pick up a 2 chnl amp, or a small 4 chnl (bridged into 2 chnl mode) just for the tower speakers. Leave the 4 chnl just for the 6 in-boats.

[Dom08]

Now if i run a sub ill need an additional amp for that. So 3 amps in the boat?

For the boat speaker should they be in parallel or series?

[MLA]

Now if i run a sub ill need an additional amp for that. So 3 amps in the boat?

You would need a pair of chnls for the woofer. You could go with another 4 chnl, or a 5 or 6 chnl that would drive the tower pair and the woofer. So technically only one more amp to wiring up, but it lends the number needed chnls.

[Dom08]

Ok.
So from the head unit we would use the sub preout and plug it into the sub... and also use the speaker preouts from the head unit and plug them into the same amp and hook up the towers and sub to that amp?
I believe my kenwood head unit has 6 pre outs for speakers so for the towers they would share the preout for the front speakers for audio?

[MLA]

With the 3 pair (front, rear, woofer) pre-amp rca outputs, there are a number of ways you can configure the setup. Part, with depend on the final amp choices and what speakers they end up driving. You can signal the woofer amp chnls with a full range front or rear RCA pre-amp output, as well.

[Dom08]

Ok the other amp i have is a

Kenwood KAC-7021
150 watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms
230 watts x 2 at 2 ohms
460 watts RMS x 1 bridged output at 4 ohms
stereo or bridged mono output
4-ohm stable in bridged mode


Excile 800.4 amp
Into 2ohm stereo 200x4
Into 4ohm stereo 125x4
4ohm bridged 400x2

Speakers
6 speakers Pyle Hydra 75 Watts RMS/150 Watts peak. It has a frequency response of 100 Hz-20 Khz and 4 Ohms impedance

2 tower speakers boss mrwt69 550 Watts, 275 watts rms 4 OhmsFrequency response: 40Hz – 20kHz


And looking to put in my boston acoustic 12inch sub in also


Can you guys help me with the proper way to hook these up?

[MLA]

With that setup, I would run the 3 pair of in-boats on the 4 chnl

pair of tower speaker on the 2 chnl

This leaves a mono or 2 chnl to pick up for the woofer. If you know more details of the woofer, like model and coil impedance/configuration, we could offer some specifics on what amp for be good for it.

[Dom08]

Thanks for the reply, I don't have a manual as i bought the boat last year. I dug into the set up last night and found the 2 front speakers are wired up individually and the 4 back speakers are wired in series (left mid and left rear wired in series, right mid and right rear are wired in series) so on the amp there are 4 hook ups for 6 speakers. Can i keep this set up? Or will it run the amp too hot?

[MLA]

@Dom08,

I would confirm that the main cabin port side speakers and main cabin STBD side speaker are in parallel, not series. Neither will cause an amp to run too hot, as long as the amp is supplied with ample cable size and tuned properly. However, there will be a noticeable power difference difference between a pair of speakers per chnl in series, compared to parallel.

[Dom08]

Ok. I will need to check that wiring.

[Dom08]

When it comes to the signal for the towers should i just splice it from the front output on the deck? So the front output from the deck will feed the towers and the front boat speakers?


..................................|---------------2 channel amp---tower left
................................|---------------2 channel amp--tower right
Deck front output----|
.................................|------------4channel amp-----boat left front
.................................|------------4channel amp----boat right front
4channel amp will run the boat mid and back speakers also

[MLA]

I prefer to have the cabin supplied by front or rear, then the tower supplied by the other.

[Dom08]

Ok ill fiddle around with it.
Moral of the story is i need to run another amp to power these speakers.

What should be a good wire size for the power cable to run? Both amps can run off of the same battery?

[MLA]

Moral of the story is i need to run another amp to power these speakers.

I think I read that somewhere :p

Cable size? Thats an equation based on amp draw and cable length. Unable to answer at this point.

[bjrow]

We setup ours as per MLA's suggestion above and it works well for us.
Front head unit RCA outputs go to tower speakers RCA amp1 inputs, tower amp1 is put in pass thru then the RCAs output of amp1 go off via RCA leads to the in-cabin bow speakers RCA amp2 input. The rear head unit RCA outputs run to the rear speakers RCA amp2 inputs. So x2 amps used. One could introduce a WS420 or such but wanted to keep our system simple to start with. We (wife and I) just played with the amp gains etc to get a balance we liked. You will find the effort very worthwhile as the music more wraps around as you move about in or out of the boat!

That was last Winters' project, nearly halfway thru Autumn here and scratching my head what to do for this Winter.....

Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.