Sub Woofer Install

ghuskin said:
Teekster,

Nice job on the audio. Are your compnents "marine grade", or are they just the regular "car audio"? Looks like you lost some stowage?
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The only marine grade components in my system are the cockpit subs. My boat is in freshwater 5-6 months per year. Marine grade components are not really warranted here. Just avoid foam surrounds and paper cones. The amplifiers are safely tucked in the cabin. As far as the Ipod controller, I just cover it with a sandwich bag when I wash the cockpit. So far so good.

As far as the stowage, there is still quite a lot on a 340.
 
Teekster,

Thank you for your input! I put a stereo on my boat this summer, but have not yet permanently mounted the speakers. I'm trying to find the best "spot" for them. I've thought about adding two additional speakers, as well as a sub, but am limited with space on a 22. I've thought about making small ported enclosures for the two speakers, then mounting them in the gunwale, for a little more bottom end. It's nice to know that I am not limited to "Marine" components with whatever I decide.
 
teekster said:
They are just 10" subs. I didn;t want a free air installation and I didn;t want the enclosures to be out in the open. I still have not gotten around to cutting some "vent holes." You do lose a little (made up for by watts), but it was easier to install.
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Hmmm. I like the way you think. Did you not want free air installation because of sound issues, or because of weather issues? (I do use a hose in the cockpit to wash the boat)
 
comsnark said:
Hmmm. I like the way you think. Did you not want free air installation because of sound issues, or because of weather issues? (I do use a hose in the cockpit to wash the boat)
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Sound issues. They will handle the weather just fine.
 
teekster said:
If you don't want to cut a hole into your fiberglass, this is a very good (IMHO, better) alternative. I paid $300 for this last year. It is now $81 !!!

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/prod...S&cm_ite=1 PRODUCT&cm_keycode=67#availability

A sealed box gives much more predictable bass than a free air sub (ie. what Sea Ray uses). I have put one of these under the aft seat in my 340. It truly rocks. You will still need an amplifier, but you will be much more satisfied with the sound compared to a free air sub or a bazooka (ported tube). I had a free air sub in my 280. There ws varying bass depending on where you were in the cockpit.

The sub that comes with it is quite capable. I picked up another to put in a custom enclosure under the captain's seat (the Kicker enclosure wouldn't fit). I think I paid $150-200 just for the sub.

This is such a steal that I just bought one for the runabout I may buy in the next 2 years.
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The price is now $46 with free shipping. Now I need an amp. - This is my first audio upgrade. Does the amp drive only the sub or does it increase power for the other speakers? If it is only the sub then do I only need a 2 channel amp? Thanks
 
You can get a single channel amp to drive the sub, OR what you want is a 5 channel amp to drive 4 speakers and 1 sub. Why 5 channel well if you want front back, left right seperation (fade and balance) then you will need 4 channels if you do not care then you can go with less channels.
 
Morpheus said:
You can get a single channel amp to drive the sub, OR what you want is a 5 channel amp to drive 4 speakers and 1 sub. Why 5 channel well if you want front back, left right seperation (fade and balance) then you will need 4 channels if you do not care then you can go with less channels.
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If I go the 5 channel route - would I need to mount it near the head unit? Also do the amps come with a remote? Can the stock speakers take additional power?

Thanks
 
Typically you get better performace out of your speakers even stock speakers when you use an amp vs the amp in your head unit.

Take a look at most 4-5 channel amps you notice the size of them, head unit manf. put what that does inside your head unit, yea it gets the job done but it's underpowered normally and doesn't provide a very good sound quality to your speakers.

Cars and Boats are different when it comes to "Stock Speakers" more in the past then now though. Car makers use to use the cheapers speakers made and using an amp vs the head unit power always made those speakers sound better then you can imagin but there was also the risk of over powering them because of the quality they are.

The speakers in your boat are "Stock" but they are not like those stock speakers of the past they are really decent speakers. Your head unit is doing a disservice to your speakers.

It would be easiest to install the amp near the radio as then you would need shorter Audio cables from the head unit to the amp and the speaker wires are already at the head unit so those need to go to the amp. I do recommend you running a seperate power cable from the batteries to the amp and ALSO PUT A GOOD FUSE ON IT. Your headunit will have a remote wire for the amp (99% of that).

Your amp will have more power then your speakers but that's good you don't want your amp running at 100% capacity because that turns into it heating up and could cut out or ware out quicker. I wouldn't go nore more then 75% but you will be surprised how lower and clear your speakers are you will never need to turn it up much.

Also what you might want to look for in an amp is a remote BASS volume knob you can install somewhere. The reason bass in music is different all the time and depending on your preference you will want to turn down or up the bass. Yes the radio can do that but it's better to do that via the amp.

The bass and treble settings you will want to turn the bass down and treble up some as this will be your regular speakers and you don't wnat them putting out much low bass only mid bass. Your sub it for all the low bass let it handle that. The 5 channel amp should have a high/mid/low pass to seperate the bass from the rest of the music so that only bass goes to your sub, unless you like that gehetto sound <grin>

Hopefully this helps and answers some of your questions if not keep asking I'm sure I'll get it right eventually.

Biggest
 
Morpheus

You have me convinced that if I’m going to the trouble of installing the amp I should go with a 5 channel. I'm sure I will have more questions during the install. Looks like my project for the spring is adding a battery, amp and my $46 woofer.

Thanks for your help.
 
Just don't cheap out on your amp. All of my knowledge comes from car stereo's but most if not all should still apply. The only thing I don't know which is something I'd like to know for my own install, how do you ground stuff in a boat? In a car typically we would just sand off a bair spot in the trunk and use a self tapping screw to attaching a nice grounding wire for the amp which normally works sometimes you would get engine noise so you would need to ground the radio and the amp on the same ground but in a boat how is it grounded?
 
I was thinking if I install near the head unit that I could ground at the fuse box. Does the ground path back need to be as large as the positive wire?
 
The spade plugs on the fuse box only allow for 18-22AWG connections which would not really be sutiable for your amp, you want to match the ground cord AWG with the size of the power cord AWG, your going to have to run the power cord from your battery so you probably should go ahead and run the ground from their as well.
 
Good point - is there a path to run it under the deck or do I need to go back to the engine and around?
 
okay we are not audiophiles. I have the CMD4 head unit, 4 stock clarion speaker and I am adding the sub mentioned above. What would be an example of decent amp to add? Add 2 seperate amps?

would like to improve my sound but on the cheapside to make the boating dollar go further.
 
wish2fish

your "best" would be to add two amps. One for the stock speakers, and one for you sub. You would also need a crossover. this gets a bit expensive. Boats are not the best for acoustics, so...

You could get away with a decent 5-channel amp w/ built in crossover for the sub.

my .02.

Gregg
 
wish2fish said:
okay we are not audiophiles. I have the CMD4 head unit, 4 stock clarion speaker and I am adding the sub mentioned above. What would be an example of decent amp to add? Add 2 seperate amps?

would like to improve my sound but on the cheapside to make the boating dollar go further.
Click to expand...

I would do just a 5 channel amp (4 channels for the stock speakers and 1 channel for the sub) Normally they come with a build in cross over.
 
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