Rockford Fosgate

[pnichol080]

Does anyone use this amp, Rockford Fosgate POWER 1000 5 channel "Limited" Amp? I'm considering this amp its on ebay for $650.00. This amp has five channels front/rear 100x4 @2ohms sub channel 600x1 @2ohms. I have 4 mb quarts premium series on for the tower rms 60-130W and the sub that comes from the factory from Moomba 175 w. Is this too much amp?

[Buttafewcoe]

An amp of that size should have a 'gain' on it. The gain adjustment is used to control the output of the amp to the speakers. My Sony Xplode is a 600W'er and has a gain adjustment for each channel.
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I would think you'd be happy with the R-F amp
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[MOOMBA_97]

Too much is never enough.

Seriously, RF is awesome IMO.

[pickle311]

That is an awesome amp, get it you will be glad you did, you will never blow a speaker from too much power unless it's an extreme amount.
Also, the gain is used to match the input level from the head unit. If the gain is too high, the amp will reach max output before the radio ever reaches full volume. When that happens, as you continue to turn up the volume the signal starts to clip. A clipped signal is straight DC voltage being applied to the speaker. A clipped signal will fry the voice coil in the speaker. If the gain is set too low, then max power will never be achieved from the amp. I always set the gains a little low and I use larger amps to compensate for this. I still get the volume I desire and never have to worry about overdriving anything.
Get the amp, it rocks.

[pnichol080]

Thanks guys I think I'll be getting the RF. I'll let you know how it sounds once I get it installed.

[Buttafewcoe]

Pickle, I guess I could've been as tech noted as you, but the fact of the matter is the gain controls keep you from over driving your speakers.
Sure, you want your amp max-ing out as the vol comes up on the head, but even then, keep a little in reserve or you'll be waiting for the over-heat on the amp to cool off b4 the toons will come back on.
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Anyone here have the thermal trip kick their amp off?
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Hope this helps
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[pnichol080]

Has any one had problems with their Kenwood stereo turning off and on? My stereo seems have a short somewhere cause when it kicks off sometimes the gas gauge along with all other gauges loses power also. I looked under the dash and moved some wires and everything came back on. I have been told that the stereo problem might really be an amp problem. I have the Kenwood amp that came with the boat my local dealer said the amp is overheating, and going into protection mode. If so why would the stereo shut off? Im not an audio guy, and if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it.

[pnichol080]

I just bought a Kicker ZX850 4 channel amp for $340.00 shipped. Does anyone use this amp I have read some great reviews on this amp. I'm going to use it to power my tower speakers, and I'll use the amp that came with the boat for my sub and my interior speaker. I'll let everyone know how it sounds once I get the amp and install it.

[lowdrag]

My only question would be how you plan on wiring the factory 4 channel to run the sub and the enterior speakers.

[pnichol080]

I'm not going to do it myself, because I have no experience with audio at all. I will brink it to Soundwaves they already said they can install. Right now my tower is wired for two speakers, and I will be replacing them with 4 6x9 mb quarts. The sub I'm considering replacing as well with a 10" Polk. Here is what I was thinking, 1 channel for the sub and split the other three channels for the interior speakers? I'm not sure as I said I'm not an audio If anyone has a better suggestion for this setup let me know please.

[pnichol080]

brink it lol, its still kinda of early.

[Buttafewcoe]

What I did with mine was use the 'Front' left output for all of the speakers on the left side of the boat, The "Front' right output for all of the speakers on the right side of the boat. 'Rear' left went to the left tower speaker, 'Rear' right went to the right tower speaker. Amp set to high pass on the boat speakers, neutral on the tower.
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I don't have a sub yet, but when I get one, a separate 2 channel 'bridgeable' to drive the sub set to low pass.
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Hope this helps
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[pnichol080]

I already have two amps the kicker zx850 4 channel, and the Kenwood that came with the boat. Like I said the kicker amp will be for the tower speakers and the kenwood I hope will run the rest. I had the Kenwood running the sub, two tower speakers as well as four of the interior speakers. I'm assuming that is why my amp would over heat after about one hour and go int protection mode. I would lower the volume and it would turn back on for a while and do the same thing over and over . Now I have upraded the tower speakers and have 4 now instead of the 2. I think this new amp will help out so neither amp will have to work as hard and will stay cooler longer and wont overheat.

[JoeTechie]

It also depends on how you are wiring the speakers. They create different loads if you are wiring in series or parallel. Amps have very specific load limits. Matching speaker ranges and amp loads is the only way to get the best from your setup.

-J

[pnichol080]

This is the specs on the tower speakers Size: 6 1/2
Sensitivity: n/a
Frequency Response: 38-32,000 Hz
Recommended RMS Power: 60-130W
Peak Power Handling: n/a
Impedance: 4 ohms
The amp 2400 WATTS PEAK OUTPUT!
850 watt RMS 4 channel ZX series car amp (new 2006 model)
215 x 4 RMS @ 2 Ohms
425 x x RMS bridged
175 x 4 @ 4 ohms
speaker- and preamp-level inputs
Mosfet Powered
preamp outputs
Tri-Way capable
S/N Ratio: >95 dB
18 DB BASS BOOST
Removable Shroud
12 dB per octave high-pass/low-pass crossover
bass boost (0-18 dB)
Soft Start turn on
THD: .05
Free Remote Bass Boost Control
frequency response 20-20,000 Hz
FUSE RATING: 40A x 3
Dimensions 23 1/4"L x 2 1/8" H x 9 5/8"
I think everyone is familiar with the stock sub and kenwood amp. How should I set this up?

[lowdrag]

Since you're not doing the wiring yourself this may be irrelevant, but anyway... I don't think wiring the sub to one channel on the amp is going to work. You need to balance the right and left channels. The Kenwood amp should give you the ability to bridge two of the channels and run the sub that way, but even then I don't think you'll get the greatest performance out of it. I'm assuming the new Moomba's have 6 interior speakers. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that. That would leave you with six interior speakers to run off of the remaining two channels. If you wire them 3 to a side in a series, the ohm load will be way too high and if you do them parallel the ohm load will drop enough that the amp will have stability issues. I'm not sure that a parallel series will work for that application either.

I guess I should have read closer, you did say 4 interior speakers. In that case, bridge 2 channels for the sub and run the interior speakers in pairs wired in parallel to the 2 remaining amp channels. In the future if you want to upgrade, you could easily change the wiring to run each of the interior speakers to a separate channel on the Kenwood or run them in pairs to two bridged channels. You could then buy a class D amp and add it to run just the sub.

In addition to what you've got planned, now may also be a good time to start thinking about adding another battery and a selector switch as well if you haven't already done so. The wiring isn't all that difficult if you do decide to take on the project yourself and save some money.

[JoeTechie]

Actually he said he is using 4 OF the interior speakers - probably just not running 2 of them. Right ?

I'd do this:

Amp 1
Channel 1&2 - Front interior
Channel 3&4 - Rear interiors (both pairs - wired parallel pairs L&R)

Amp2
Channel 1&2 - Tower speakers (both pairs - wired parallel pairs L & R)
Channel 3&4 - Bridged to 1 channel - Sub.

I'd chose the more powerful amp to run the tower and sub. Whichever that is.

Pretty simple.

The second amp should solve all the problems with overheating.

-Joe

[lowdrag]

If he does have two more interior speakers that he's not using he could always run those off of the head unit as well.

[JoeTechie]

I don't think the kenwood head unit has the 3 way fader to do that... does it ?

-J

[Buttafewcoe]

No, but the way mine's hooked, it fades from the tower to the interior.
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[Nafplio]

How'd you hook it up?

[Buttafewcoe]

What I did with mine was use the 'Front' left output for all of the speakers on the left side of the boat, The "Front' right output for all of the speakers on the right side of the boat. 'Rear' left went to the left tower speaker, 'Rear' right went to the right tower speaker. Amp set to high pass on the boat speakers, neutral on the tower.
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I don't have a sub yet, but when I get one, a separate 2 channel 'bridgeable' to drive the sub set to low pass.
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Hope this helps
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B

[Nafplio]

Thanks. Is the head unit inside the glove box?

[Buttafewcoe]

yep
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