Advice needed connecting two head units to one amp

ZZ13

ZZ13

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2009
5,331
Lady's Island, SC
Boat Info
2001 400 Sedan Bridge
Engines
Cummins 450 Diamond
I have one head unit and two amps. The two amps drive 7 outdoor speakers. The head unit directly drives four indoor speakers and remotely turns on the amps. So when you power on the head unit you get sound to all 11 speakers. I want to add a second head unit to drive just the outdoor speakers. Easy enough. But there are times I want one head unit to still drive all 11 speakers. My thought was to "Y" connect the RCA out from each head unit to each of the two amplifiers. Thus whichever head unit was on would drive both amps. I would also tie together the remote amp turn-on wire from each head unit so when a head unit was on it turned on the amps.

Thus, when the head unit with the indoor speakers is on it would turn on the amps and drive sound to all eleven speakers. When the other head unit was on it would turn on the amps and only drive sound to the 7 outdoor speakers. I wouldn't be able to turn on just the internal speakers unless I wired the internal head unit's remote amp turn-on wire to some kind of on/off switch. Also, without such a remote turn-on disable switch if I accidentally turned on both head units, I guess the apocalypse would occur as both head units would be activating the remote turn-on and signals through the RCA lines simultaneously.

Is this two grassroots of a wiring approach? Any better ideas? Trying to keep it simple. I searched for some kinda switch to do all this but couldn't find one that would work out of the box.
 
ZZ13 said:
I have one head unit and two amps. The two amps drive 7 outdoor speakers. The head unit directly drives four indoor speakers and remotely turns on the amps. So when you power on the head unit you get sound to all 11 speakers. I want to add a second head unit to drive just the outdoor speakers. Easy enough. But there are times I want one head unit to still drive all 11 speakers. My thought was to "Y" connect the RCA out from each head unit to each of the two amplifiers. Thus whichever head unit was on would drive both amps. I would also tie together the remote amp turn-on wire from each head unit so when a head unit was on it turned on the amps.

Thus, when the head unit with the indoor speakers is on it would turn on the amps and drive sound to all eleven speakers. When the other head unit was on it would turn on the amps and only drive sound to the 7 outdoor speakers. I wouldn't be able to turn on just the internal speakers unless I wired the internal head unit's remote amp turn-on wire to some kind of on/off switch. Also, without such a remote turn-on disable switch if I accidentally turned on both head units, I guess the apocalypse would occur as both head units would be activating the remote turn-on and signals through the RCA lines simultaneously.

Is this two grassroots of a wiring approach? Any better ideas? Trying to keep it simple. I searched for some kinda switch to do all this but couldn't find one that would work out of the box.
Click to expand...

Have you thought of a home receiver? Put a a/b switch for the outdoor speakers no frying the amps. But my real question is what are you trying to achieve? 2 zones 2 different types of music?
 
Trying to achieve 3 zoned. An outside only zone, an inside only zone and an everything zone

My four internal speakers have volume control knobs on them, so I can get the outdoor only by just turning those knobs down. I can't get indoor only unless I wire the remote amp turnon to a switch. That's the easy way to get all three zones. Adding a second head unit gives me the option to have the outside and inside zones playing different stuff at the same time. Not sure I would do that, but I want the option.
 
Why not wire them so inside is "front" and outside is "rear" and use the fade control from 1 head unit?
 
ZZ13 said:
Trying to achieve 3 zoned. An outside only zone, an inside only zone and an everything zone

My four internal speakers have volume control knobs on them, so I can get the outdoor only by just turning those knobs down. I can't get indoor only unless I wire the remote amp turnon to a switch. That's the easy way to get all three zones. Adding a second head unit gives me the option to have the outside and inside zones playing different stuff at the same time. Not sure I would do that, but I want the option.
Click to expand...

i just sent you a pm i will tell you how to do it.
 
I missed the part about listening to different music if you wanted...
mrtopgun, post the way here too so we can learn something. I find this intriguing and could consider something like this.
Mike
 
Kreole Kid said:
That's exactly what I would do.
Click to expand...

Ok he wanted 2 sources to play at the same time. He has 2 zones. So he wanted both zones to play at the same time with different sources at the same time with control. So football game inside and music outside all at the same time with a volume control with each zone.

System was being run with a head unit inside and 2 volume controls off of the head units power. Amps were running the outside with 7 speakers with volume control coming from the head unit. His goal was to have control over the speakers outside.

With his set up the simplest is to add a table top v/c that will allow him to turn the volume control up or down. His main goal was control.

If he wanted 2 zones 2 sources and different sources at the same time playing he would need 2 head units.The recommended route was a home receiver to accomplish that goal with ease of use. He could run his stereo off a tablet or i phone. It becomes a lot easier that way.

Remember the head unit was the master volume control for the outside and inside. The volume needs to be set a level say 50% and adjust the volume with the volume controls. The way it is set up now I can see how he is frustrated. Also the Head unit has no fader.
 
One clarification. The head unit does have a fader, but both the outside set of speakers and the inside set have front and rear speakers. So rewiring to get all the outside on rear and all the inside on front would have to be done. Although you all gave an idea. Could I disconnect the front RCA going to the amp driving the front outdoor speakers and then split the rear RCA to go to both outdoor amps? This would get all outdoor speakers onto "rear". Then I'd have to figure out how to get 4 indoor speakers on to the head units two front speaker connectors. Parallel them or series them?
 
Add the table top volume control as discussed. The head unit will be set at a desired max level that you like. Then the table top volume control will control the volume of the outdoor speakers. So now the volume will be changed at the volume control of the desired area. Remember you can call me when you get into the system just leave a message so I can call you back.
 
mrtopgun - What was your recommendation? As an A/V designer (no I didn't make that up, they actually write me checks to do this) my curiosity is piqued. Although my world is commerical and not marine...
 
Newman said:
mrtopgun - What was your recommendation? As an A/V designer (no I didn't make that up, they actually write me checks to do this) my curiosity is piqued. Although my world is commerical and not marine...
Click to expand...

I came from the 12v side and have been doing Home Theatres and home automation for 20 yrs. So i recommended was that he needed control. With what he had use a V/c to control outdoor speakers. What I recommended was that he had the room use a home receiver that has 2 zones. Then with the WIFI connect a tablet using headphone out for Itunes and control over the music library. Then use the iphone as a remote. Use Tango Remote app.Pretty simple.
 
mrtopgun said:
I came from the 12v side and have been doing Home Theatres and home automation for 20 yrs. So i recommended was that he needed control. With what he had use a V/c to control outdoor speakers. What I recommended was that he had the room use a home receiver that has 2 zones. Then with the WIFI connect a tablet using headphone out for Itunes and control over the music library. Then use the iphone as a remote. Use Tango Remote app.Pretty simple.
Click to expand...

Good deal. Nice to see a fellow A/V nerd. I wasn't trying to start an argument or anything I was explaining why I was interested. That sounds like a simple enough solution to me.
 
Newman said:
Good deal. Nice to see a fellow A/V nerd. I wasn't trying to start an argument or anything I was explaining why I was interested. That sounds like a simple enough solution to me.
Click to expand...

Where are you in Ohio? Columbus here
 
mrtopgun said:
Then use the iphone as a remote. Use Tango Remote app.Pretty simple.
Click to expand...

what's the advantage of Tango remote app over the volume control in itunes remote? a different library, source?

I bluetooth my ipad to the din in (CMD6), run itunes with volume control
 
skylark said:
what's the advantage of Tango remote app over the volume control in itunes remote? a different library, source?

I bluetooth my ipad to the din in (CMD6), run itunes with volume control
Click to expand...

The app allows complete control over the stereo unit. The tablet is a source. The app allows the units to talk to each other and change audio video all types of control with your Iphone, and not through a bluetooth witch is distance and compressed sound quality. Pretty cheap app. If I lost ya just ask me.
 
If you are planning to buy new hardware, you may also want to check out solutions from Fusion Electronics. They have multi-zone support for 4 zones built-in to some of their head units (www.fusionelectronics.com/marine), and their equipment is made to do exactly what you are describing, but not the multi-source part. They are marine units that integrate with Garmin, Raymarine, and Lowrance nav equipment, as well as most mobile devices.

If you just want multi-zone on/off and volume control, a Fusion head unit is a very advanced, straightforward solution.

Thinking more about multi-source, some other questions come to mind. Does source voltage matter, i.e., will you have 120V AC available, or are you trying to keep this 12V DC? What sources would you want to be able to select from that aren't integrated into the head unit (CD, Sirius/XM, iPod, TV, etc.)?

There aren't many, if any, multi-source, multi-zone 12V systems with centralized control. The Bazooka CSS-3I is a marine multi-source controller that could be made to work with up to two sources in as many zones as you want (plus a third source local to each zone). You would need one per zone and would use your existing amps and your existing head unit. You would need to wire a CSR remote to each CSS-3I. It uses a pass-through / tap methodology. This does what you want but you can't control any zone from any zone, if you know what I mean. The zones are controlled from it's respective zone, or from a single location if you co-locate the remotes.

If you go the 120V route and can install a router, an alternative would be an awesome multi-room system called SONOS (www.sonos.com). It likes to have an Internet connection but works fine without one. I have this in my house and love it. It is modular and distributed so the price is directly linear with complexity. You would need one Connect device per zone, utilizing the analog inputs for your sources, and the analog outputs for your amps. Because you are using the analog inputs, the number of input sources would be limited to the number of Connect devices / zones. Your head unit could be one source. You could also attach a networked hard disk to the router, load it with music and access that as well. It is automatically catalogued and organized. If you can enable your router with 4G or LTE wireless, there are also numerous streaming services available. Every zone can have whatever source at whatever volume. Zones can be joined, and mixed/matched anyway you want while still maintaining separate volume per zone. It can all be controlled from any number of mobile devices that are attached over WiFi to the router. Very powerful and surprisingly simple.

Fun stuff!
 
So after noodling on this all night I have decided to replace my XMD1 head unit with a Fusion IP700. It support 4 zones. I can wire the four indoor speakers directly to the IP700's speaker connections as zones 1 and 2. Then I can wire the zone 3 RCAout to the amp that drives the 5 cockpit/bridge outdoor speakers and wire the zone 4 RCAout to the amp driving the two outdoor speakers on the bow. This gets me to state of the art control and all the wiring work is done right at the head unit.

Thanks to everyone for their inputs.
 
ZZ13 said:
So after noodling on this all night I have decided to replace my XMD1 head unit with a Fusion IP700. It support 4 zones. I can wire the four indoor speakers directly to the IP700's speaker connections as zones 1 and 2. Then I can wire the zone 3 RCAout to the amp that drives the 5 cockpit/bridge outdoor speakers and wire the zone 4 RCAout to the amp driving the two outdoor speakers on the bow. This gets me to state of the art control and all the wiring work is done right at the head unit.

Thanks to everyone for their inputs.
Click to expand...
I believe that this configuration eliminates the option to play different content to different zones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,248
Messages
1,429,275
Members
61,128
Latest member
greenworld
Back
Top