Some Tower speaker and amp questions

[r3612]

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Well I was able to acquire 2 Kicker KB6000 speakers which I am going to run on the tower. I know they aren't pro audio by any means but I can honestly say I wouldn't use them enough to justify pro audio and heck they were free. They are rated like this.
150W Peak power.
75W RMS Power.
4 Ohms impedance.
Frequency response 55-21,000.
Dimensions 28x21x21

I am not sure if the 2 are going to be able to do the job as I have yet to only hear a boat with just 2.....though I have been behind boats with 4 and it was no problem hearing the music. If anyone has ran these or knows someone who has only used 2 I would love to hear your thoughts on if I "WILL BE" going with 4.
I need to pick up an amp. I am going to go Kicker as that is what I am already running in my boat (1)for my sub and (1) for my 4 Polks (call me OCD but all the same kinda looks cool ). I have had great experiences and have heard nothing but great things about these amps for the $$. I just don't want to get stuck if I end up deciding on running 4 speakers and have to buy another amp. I would rather pay a few more bucks up front and be prepared for what may happen than have to shell out more in the end. So me being not to stereo inclined with all the ohms and wiring in series/parallel would think if I got a 2 channel amp with enough rated RMS if I wanted to add 2 more speakers I could just wire 2 off the front and 2 off the rear. I figure I could turn the gain down if I end up staying with just 2. Think that will damage the speakers or hurt the sound? Here's the 2 ch amps I am eying Kicker ZX350.2 or ZX450.2


The 350
110 Watts RMS x 2 at 4 ohms
175 Watts x 2 RMS 2 ohms
350 Watts x 1 RMS @ 4 ohms

The 450
RMS Power
205 watts x 2 at 4 ohms
275 watts x 2 at 2 ohms
550 watts x 1 in bridged mode


So I am thinking that the 350 would work for 2 no problem, but would it do the trick if I wanted to go with 4 speakers up there? Or would I be better off going with the 450? I am sure the 450 will do the trick for 4 speakers j, but would it be too much for 2 and cause damage? Kicker as well as Monster Tower who run these speakers recommend an amp that runs 100watt RMS to each. Any pros going with a 4 channel amp or should I just stick to the 2 channel? Again I am not too stereo inclined so if anyone has any other suggestions on a way to go let me know, or if I am totally wrong on this please let me know. This is just what I came up with. Reason I want to add another amp is so I can turn the tower speakers on off separate from the cockpit and the sub.

Thanks in advance and Happy New Year to all

[jonyb]

A 2-channel would be fine for 4 tower speakers. The impedance would be 2 ohm and that doubles the power of the amp. If you can afford the 450, go with it. The more power you have, the less distortion you'll have. You're not gonna overpower speakers unless the head unit or amp is clipping, or the speakers start to distort. That's when you have problems.

I had 2 Kicker ZX amps in my last boat and they did really well. The 4-channel got a little hot after several hours of playing, but for what it was put through, that was pretty good.

[wakeboarder89]

i have a a pair of the kb600s, and i would say go ahead and go with four. you can kind of hear it with two but four would be better.