Thread: Boat Stereo Project - Looking for Suggestions

So the wife and I have decided that our spring project for our boat will be to upgrade the stereo system. It will be a project that I will be planning for the next 60 days. Installations are permanent in boats most of the time certainly when it comes to the speakers, you know... the whole cutting holes in fiberglass thing. I am not an expert on all this stuff but I am not totally lost either. I know more of you probably have more experience in car audio as apposed to marine audio. There are really just two major differences that I see. There is no ground only battery negative and the components have to be made to survive in a boat.


Existing:
6 X Clarion CM1635 Component 6.5"
1 X JL Audio MX10IB3 10" Infinite Baffle Sub
1 X Polk Audio 1100.5 Amp with 4 X 80w and 1 X 280w @ 4ohm
1 X Clarion CMD5 Head Unit
1 X Clarion CMRC1 BSS wired remote at the helm

Clarion U.S.A. | CM1635
MX10IB3-CG-WH - Marine Audio - Subwoofer Drivers - MX-Series - JL Audio
PA1100.5 - Car | Polk Audio®
Clarion U.S.A. | CMD5
Clarion U.S.A. | CMRC1 BSS


Current plan with options

New Equipment:
1 X Clarion CMV1 Head Unit
4 X JL Audio M650 6.5" Coaxial
2 X JL Audio M770 7.7" Component
4 X JL Audio M100 Tweeters
(A Blue Tooth Device for Iphone Playback)
(New XM Receiver with more powerful antenna)
Use Existing Wired Remote
Use Existing JL Audio MX10IB3 Sub
Clarion U.S.A. | CMV1
Marine Audio - Component & Coaxial Systems - M-Series - Cockpit Coaxial Systems - 6.5 inch Systems
M770-CCS-CG-WH - Marine Audio - Component & Coaxial Systems - M-Series - JL Audio
M100-CT-CG-WH - Marine Audio - Component & Coaxial Systems - M-Series - JL Audio

Optional:
Replace MX10IB3 Sub with M10IB5 Sub
Add 2 X JL Audio M880 under rear bench on each side of the sub
M10IB5-CG-WH - Marine Audio - Subwoofer Drivers - M-Series - JL Audio
Marine Audio - Component & Coaxial Systems - M-Series - Cockpit Coaxial Systems - 8.8 inch Systems


Power...... You did not list anything about power, Nuckle. That is the main reason for this post. I am having a very tough time deciding on how to power the new speakers. I know for sure that the Polk amp is coming out. The fucking thing is 27" long. I really wish that I did not have to install the stand alone tweeters but JL does not make 6.5" components and 7.7's will not fit in the bow and stern, only in the cockpit. So it is either leave the clarion tweeters as dummies (they are starting to fall apart) or install the JL Tweeters to make everything look good. If they are there I may as well power them right?

So when using amps to power speakers is it best to get all you can out of the amp? Meaning if I have 4ohm speakers and an amp that is 2 ohm stable should I run the speakers in parallel and wire more than one speaker per channel? It seems logical, I mean you double your power by dropping from a 4ohm load to a 2ohm load. Are there trade offs here so long as the amp can handle it?

So let's talk optimal and pretend that I do the full install including the optional equipment. Could I run all 13 speakers off of these two amps or am I better off running 3 amps?

Sub Amp:
JL Audio M600/1
M600/1 - Marine Audio - Amplifiers - M-Series - JL Audio

Speaker Amp (Could be X2):
JL Audio M600/6
M600/6 - Marine Audio - Amplifiers - M-Series - JL Audio


I currently have 4AWG Positive and Negative cables running to my single amp strait from my dual battery switch. I will upgrade that to 1/0 and run them both to distribution blocks close to the amp install area. I also plan to upgrade my alternator cables to 4AWG for both + and - . Possibly upgrade my two batteries to Kinetik high currents unless that is over kill.


Sorry for the wall O Text but would really appreciate suggestions.

Nuck

41 views and no suggestions. I thought we had a fair number of audio geeks in the house.