Tower Speaker Questions?

zimma · Newbie Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 33 City: Indianapolis

My buddy just got a boat, and he put tower speakers on it and we cant seem to hear the song clearly when being towed. You can tell the tune if you know the song but it is not clear at all. He has 2 cans, with 2 speakers in them both for a total of 4 speakers 2 facing forward, two backward. They were purchased off of ebay, liquid audio. The speakers are the Polk Audio MMC650. He has a clarion amp 400 watts, 4 channels. I am not quite sure what the power distribution is but i can find out if needed. He also has a bazooka tube hooked to the amp as well but i beleive it is only somewhere around 80 watts. The only thing that i can think of is that his head unit is a old sony tape deck 30x4. Any ideas on what would be wrong. Is it a wiring flaw, do these speakers not cut it. We have no answers and are really searching. Any insight would be nice. O ya , and the boat is a 1984 ski nautique 2001. Didnt know if that would make a difference.

Also i was looking at the NVS that a lot of people talk about and it looks like there are polk speakers in them. We cant seems to figure out waht is wrong

Here is a link to the speaker page http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/specs/speakers/round/mmc650/

777 · Newbie Joined: 18 Apr 2005 Posts: 23 City: decatur

it could b a wiring flaw but then again it could be the speakers? i wouldnt know. but if you get new speakers try and go for the skylons that have kickers. those kick a$$. ive seen NVS but ive never heard them. im not tryin to make your choice for you but if it were me i would go with skylon!

fox_lake_rider_667 · Newbie Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Posts: 30 City: welcome

I would face all 4 backwards. but idk if it would help at all. you could try using a bigger amp. but i would think its a wiring problem

joedirt00 · Posted: Oct 04, 2005 4:17 am Post subject:

Is there a divider in the cans? If not the front speakers might be cancelling out the back one when they hit against each other. Theres a tech term for this, I think harmonic cancellation or something like that. Check the wiring and try wiring up the fronts opposite polarity of the rears. this way as the rears move out the fronts will move in and teh cones stay in sync. If that does not work you could try dividing the cans your self with a chunk of plywood and gorilla glue.

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

I have those exact speakers / setup. They are run off a 1000 watt amp, no sub yet. You can hear the music if we turn it up to about 22-25 depending on the song. Think about it though you are only hearing 2 of the four speakers, the other 2 are out front.

If you are IN the boat at that volume it is loud as ever. In the front they sound great and behind the boat just hanging out they sound great. We are going to add 2 more except just get rear facing speakers. Run them off the amp as well as a sub. IMO it is not wiring or anything it is just that those 2 speakers are not able to push enough sound over the engine when being pulled.

zimma · Newbie Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 33 City: Indianapolis

777- i think we are gonna stick with these as quite a bit of money has been thrown into them. But thanks for the recomendation.

fox - the 4 speakers are in 2 cans, 2 facing forward and 2 backwards, taht is how they were set up when we bought them.

Joe- sound legitimate, but i am not sure if there is a divider i will have to check that one out. It makes sense if there was not one.

Shadow - that is what we were leaning towards to, just gettin another pair. Do u think that it would be better to get the 2 speaker cans or the 1 speaker can. I am sort of leaning towards the one speaker can as what Joe Dirt said. Let me know what u think, it is one of those things that is just buggin us due to the fact that we put some money into the situation.

Something that also is confusing me is that i keep reading that these speakers are stock on nautiques and are upgrades on the mastercrafts. Also that they are one of the best rated speakers. This was the reason why we purchased them, and now we are wondering why we cant hear them while boarding. Wish i had that answers...lol...just doesnt make sense

Would another set of speakers solve the problem...does anybody else have any recomendations. Also i am still a little partial on it having soemthing to do with the old tape deck that we are runnning everything through. Any insight would be appreciated thanks..

Vampyre · Addict Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 622 City: Ooltewah, TN

I would just rotate the ones facing forward to face rearward, thereby giving you four rearward speakers.

zimma · Newbie Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 33 City: Indianapolis

vampyre- the problem is that they are in cans that are set up that way, they cant be changed unless you do some serious fixing.

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

Shadow - that is what we were leaning towards to, just gettin another pair. Do u think that it would be better to get the 2 speaker cans or the 1 speaker can. I am sort of leaning towards the one speaker can as what Joe Dirt said. Let me know what u think, it is one of those things that is just buggin us due to the fact that we put some money into the situation.

Something that also is confusing me is that i keep reading that these speakers are stock on nautiques and are upgrades on the mastercrafts. Also that they are one of the best rated speakers. This was the reason why we purchased them, and now we are wondering why we cant hear them while boarding. Wish i had that answers...lol...just doesnt make sense

Would another set of speakers solve the problem...does anybody else have any recomendations. Also i am still a little partial on it having soemthing to do with the old tape deck that we are runnning everything through. Any insight would be appreciated thanks..[/quote]

I would get another pair of the cans, but get singles this time. At least that is what I am doing. The reason I got the double was so people in front of boat can hear. They work great for everywhere but when being pulled you have to really crank them but you can hear them.

Anyway we are going to get 2 more singles, giving us 4 facing to the rear, which should help alot. Yes, your deck may have a little to do with it, but we have a new clarion deck and see the same issue. Also, the speakers are on a 1000 watt amp. Like I said you can hear them IF you turn it up to like 25 only problem is that blows the people out of the boat. Smile

. So, do the singles and I think you will be happy. Also, talk to the guys at Liquid Audio sounds they are great people they may be able to help. I mean they shipped me a couple speakers on the honor system when I had issues with the ones I purchased.

Hope this rambling helps.

Vampyre · Addict Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 622 City: Ooltewah, TN

Can't you adjust the fader, or even the gain control on the amp to lessen the volume on the forward speakers any? Or are they tied to the same channel as the rear facing. I am wondering if perhaps some kind of manual attenuation device for the forward pair, say an inline resistor or something?

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

joedirt00 · Posted: Oct 07, 2005 6:07 am Post subject:

I just thought of this, what is the impedence of an individual speaker and how are they wired.

If they were 8Ohm speakers wired in parrallel it would be a normal 4Ohm load. If they were wired in series your the amp would see a 16Ohm load Shocked

This would reduce the output of your amp tremendously.

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

zimma · Newbie Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 33 City: Indianapolis

shadow- let me know how they work out if you are getting them anytime soon. thanks

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

zimma - prolly not till in the sping at this point. But will let u know.

zimma · Newbie Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 33 City: Indianapolis

Shadow- I was just wondering how many watts do you approximately send to each speaker. I dont think that my amp is close to 1000 watts but i am not 100% sure...i prolly should figure that out.

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex

250 going to each CAN, so I am loosing some because each can has 2 speakers. Now, when I put in the other two cans that will give me 250 to each of those cans ( 1 speaker each) So, my output should be greater. Then I will run 500 to a sub.

Here is a link to the Amp I am using:

http://www.pyleaudio.com/itemdetail.asp?model=PLMRA420

Not a household name, but a) it works and b) it was cost effective.

shadowfox · Outlaw Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 156 City: N Tex