One amp to power all speakers?

[Klipper]

I am looking to rebuild my audio system. I have an 07 outback DD and it has the basin Kenwood system; head unit and six 6.5" all running off the head unit. I will be replacing all of it and adding a pair of towers and a sub. I really want to run the whole system off one amp. My main question is: is there a good amp that will handle the entire system? Here is what I have found:

1. JL Audio M800/8
2. JL Audio M600/6 with the pair of bow speakers running off the HU.
3. Alpine PDX-5 with the pair in the bow running off HU
4. All other marine 5 channels...

Any other good suggestions?

What HU's have you guys been replacing with? I like the remote that's wired in to allow for remote operation from the helm. Any guidance would be appreciated as there are a lot of options out there!

If you have suggestions for the speakers as well feel free to comment.

Thanks for all your help.

[MLA]

First thing I would suggest, take all the speakers off the head unit. There is no advantage to doing a single amp system for 6 in-boats, pair of tower speakers and a woofer, if you are going to compromise at every turn. Low wattage to speaker or woofer, all amp chnls driven at their minimum impedance, pairing tower speakers and a pair of in-boats together on chnls or leaving speakers on the head unit.

You are going to need 4 chnls just for the in-boats, 2 more for the tower speakers and either 1 or 2 for a woofer, depending on if the amp has a dedicated woofer chnl like a hybrid 5 chnl or 2 chnls if its a full range amp that gets bridged and runs low pass.

The JL M800/8 would do it, but you are limited to a 200W rms sub setup and IMO, very light wattage wise for a single pair of tower speakers.

I would first choose the tower speakers and woofer. Then you can see what wattage is best for those components. Now you have an idea of what amp or amps is going to bets get it down.

I would really consider dedicated amps for the tower and then for the in-boat setup.

[David Analog]

The JL Audio 800/8 is unique with so many channels and so much input versatility in a single chassis. And it is such great quality in so many respects. By choosing the right subwoofer (better sensitivity over extreme power handling) you can effectively use the bridged 200 watts lowpass. As mentioned above, the HU power isn't going to work out and the six in-boats are going to consume four amplifier channels. The six in-boat speakers will then be well powered. That leaves just two channels for the tower speakers and that is my main concern. This would certainly restrict your tower speaker selection and limit their usage to surfing (which would still be a stretch), or at rest within near proximity. I'm thinking you need two chassis with a total of 9 to 10 channels. So let's take an example. If you ran the M700/5 and M400/4 you would also have an inexpensive route to zone controls with the built in remote level control ports which would save you the expense of adding other components or additional RCA cables. More power on the subwoofer. 200 watts to each tower speaker. Now you're cooking.

[trayson]

PPI P900.5 for the cabins and the subwoofer. Get a sub that will allow you to run the amp at 2 ohms to get a little more juice out of the amp.

PPI P600.2 or PPI P900.4 for the towers. Get one of the handful of zone controllers to control your towers/sub/cabins separately and I think you'll be pretty happy.

The PPI amps are tiny and inexpensive. Sure, they aren't the made in America brand name stuff. But they're solid little performers.

[Klipper]

This is really good feedback guys. Thanks. Keep it coming!

[Klipper]

Does anyone else have any experience with the PPI amps? Any other amp suggestions?

[sandm]

I ended up with a rockford prime amp for around the same money as the ppi and it's a little workhorse. granted in a car. it was one of the few I found that had a 2ohm stable sub channel in a 5ch amp so I could run a pair of svc 4ohm subs.

I used Arc Audio in the boat and believe they are a virtual match to wetsounds minus the coated circuitboard. they are on their 3rd year and have performed flawlessly. are a tad on the pricey side tho.

[David Analog]

Does anyone else have any experience with the PPI amps? Any other amp suggestions?

Klipper,
I support your original confidence in the JL Audio M series amplifiers. You can always get less expensive, or more "rated" power (@ one frequency only, @ an unrealistic supply voltage, with one channel only driven), but you will have a tough time getting all the quality attributes of the JL Audio in another amplifier. Like additional noise filtering against transient spikes from wake plates, etc., cast heat sink versus extruded, sealed chassis, gasketed & sealed panel over controls, an analog switching amplifier (Class D) that operates at up to four times faster than other amplifiers, differential-balanced-inputs, and the MONSTER difference is the studio grade front end. Meaning....that when it comes time to tune the amplifiers you can find the pre-clipping point with precision at a real world supply voltage, and that you can find the precise crossover points and find exact symmetrical crossover points when needed.

[Klipper]

Any thoughts out there about the Alpine marine amps?

[icemanftr]

Any thoughts out there about the Alpine marine amps?

I don't run Marine series, but I do however run Alpine M4 on all four towers and Alpine MRX V-70 (5ch) to power cabins and W6 sub. I absolutely love Alpine amps for their indestructible design, years of worry free problems, and the power output with tiny footprint. I don't worry so much about marine series stereos. Not like I'm gonna run this setup for 20 years. But the last three or four years have been great and problem free.


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