Amplifier Wiring Question

[cab13367]

All,

Total novice here. I am getting a head unit with 3 sets of preouts - front, rear, & sub. I have a separate amp for the sub plus a 4 channel amp for the 6 in-boat speakers. I don't have any tower speakers. My question is, how do I wire the 4 channel amp to drive the 6 in-boat speakers? Or do I drive 4 speakers with the amp and run the other 2 from the head unit's internal amp?

Thanks for any advice.

Al

[04OUTBACK]

Al,
One thing to consider is volume control and fade...
Do you want the back 4 to be louder than front 2 and be able to fade front/back?
If this was setup you wanted, you could run front 2 off stereo and back 4 off amp..
does the amp have 2 pair RCA pre amps? If it does, then use both sets of inputs...you could pair the back 4 on the rear output of the amp and front 2 on front output..

[cab13367]

Al,
does the amp have 2 pair RCA pre amps? If it does, then use both sets of inputs...you could pair the back 4 on the rear output of the amp and front 2 on front output..

Brad,

Yes, the amp does have two sets of RCA inputs. I was thinking of doing what you are suggesting but how would I wire the 4 back speakers to the two rear channels of the amp? Do I wire them in parallel or in series and why?

Al

[04OUTBACK]

I'll have to defer on the parallel or series question. I have never been good on that one. I thought about that after I posted as I saw a post on WW that made me think of it.

Since you have 2 pair of RCA in and out, it would do it that way, but get some clarity on the parallel or series.. i have never understood the whole 4 ohms/2 ohms thing.. I have a BA in communications.... not anything too technical.

[jmvotto]

Maybe this may help or just may confuse ya. It did me the first time through



http://www.termpro.com/articles/spkrz.html

[tazz3069]

Cab-----
I have a simular setup. The only difference is that I have a 5 channel amp. In regards to the rear speakers, I wired them in seris. That way you can wire them to a single channel. Do this to both sets of rear speakers.
What type of amp are you running? I have the Kicker 700.5 amp. I can use one set of the RCA to run all six speakers. The amp works this way if you only use one set of the RCA. The other RCA, on the sme amp, is hooked up to the sub output. The system sound awesome. On my head unit, I have a third RCA output. That one will be hooked up to the second amp, which will be running the tower speakers. Hope this helps.

[JesseC]

Cab-----
I have a simular setup. The only difference is that I have a 5 channel amp. In regards to the rear speakers, I wired them in seris.

Tazz by doing this you will have to turn the rear gains higher than the front ones. Wire them in parallel with the cables in a Y split at the speakers, still just single connection at the amps.

IF you are going to amp all of the speakers in the boat (4 in the rear and two in the bow) I would wire the rear four in PARALLEL and the Front two to their own channel. From the factory the rear speakers are wired in series and the front two have their own direct wires. To put there rear four in parallel is VERY simple.

Rear speakers:
On one side take both of them out, make sure that they are wired in series ( wire from the radio follow the path of + - + - so the wire sort of goes in a series of connections, so that is positive wire of radio goes to first positive of speaker the negative on that speaker hooks to the positive of the other and the negative of the other goes back to the radio)

To put in parrallel just hook as follows:
Positive from radio goes to positive of both speakers kind of in a Y pattern. THe other wire goes to the negatives of both speakers.

Parallel will increase the ohm load and cause the rear four speakers to pull more power than the front ones. So the rear speakers will pull a 2ohm load and the frone two will pull a 4ohm load.

Wiring in series requires gains on the amps to be turned much higher. I would rather go parallel and turn the gains down. In this configuration the four rear speakers will be a little louder than the front two which is what I wanted in my boat.

Just remember that if you lower the ohms, make sure you amp is stable for that ohm load. If you get too low the amo will overheat if it can not sustain a really low ohm load. Most quality amps are 2ohm stable.

[JoeTechie]

I was just about to create a much geekier response, but Jessie's is excellent.

-Joe

[tazz3069]

Jesse is the man. He helped me out last year with my system and tower lights. It great to have people like that as a member. Even though most of us never met, it like all of us have been friends for a long time. I love this place and my boat.

[csmsk]

I wired my boat the exact same way Jesse explained. Parallel each set of rear speakers off the rear channels and run the fronts direct from the front channels.

I upgraded all the speakers to 6 1/2" Polk Momos and am pushing them with a 25th anniversary Kenwood Excellon 4 channel amp. I also installed a sub that I'm pushing with a Kicker 300.1. It sounds sweet, and I'm glad because I really didn't want to add tower speakers!