Speaker/subwoofer project - Help

[SB Boarder]

Hey, new to posting here but have been lurking for a bit. I am helping my boat owning friends out with a project to upgrade the stereo on thier '05 Bayliner XT. The stock stereo is pretty bad, and they are on a budget so I am forced to get creative. I want to add two tower speakers, upgrade the stock 6.5's (inside), and add a sub. I am new to marine audio, but used to set up my friends cars all the time. I am donating the sub and doing the install.

Plan:
Add two Kicker 6.75's with enclosures from Audioformz.
Replace Stock 6.5's with better speakers, still running off headunit.
Add a 10" sub tucked "somewhere" Thinking under the Passenger side front area.
Power the tower speakers, & sub with a 4 channel Fosgatge Punch amp (donated from another rider, with two rear channels briged for the sub).

Concerns:
Not enough Battery power. Do I really need another battery?
Amp Placement - How to conceal without overheating problems.
Subwoofer placement? Whats a "good" budget sub to look at?

Just so you know, I am not expecting this to sounnd "perfect" when riding, but am hoping for some decent sound to ride and party to on the lake.


If any have ideas, comments. They would be appreciated.

Barret

[acurtis_ttu]

If you plan on runnig the stereo wiht the engine off for extened periods then a battery upgrade woudl be a good otpion, if not you will be fine. If you still wanna hang out and party with the engine off make sure you start the baot every 45min to 1 hour to allow the battery to charge a bit.
Kicker makes some really good subs for cheap as does alpine, drop it ina small enclosed box and you should be good to go. How much power will the fosgate amp push? It may not be enough to power everything. Try moutning the amp in a storage place, if nto you should be able to pick up some cheap cooling fans to set next to the amp that will turn on when the amp turns on and help with cooling.

[SB Boarder]

Thanks for the quick reply. I think the amp is in the 300w range. So that would be 150 bridged to the sub, 75 each to the tower speakers. Its hard to say since i dont have it in my hands. I have a choice between 1-2 of a friends amps, so I might have some leeway here. I am cautious about running two amps for the power concerns...

Kicker was on my list for subs, as was fosgate, and whatver else might go on sale.

Barret

[billymac]

i have a Maxum 1800MX runabout so our boats are similar

a JL Audio 10W1v2 is a great efficient and inexpensive 10" sub

i'd highly recommend it. 150 watts at 4-ohms is the sweet spot for it as well so it would be perfect. you can find one for around $100 if you look hard enough. too bad for you, i just sold mine on ebay about 2 weeks ago. i used to have it in a custom box up under the bow seat, but had a new box designed to fit up under the helm. i went with a 10W3v2 and bought a dedicated mono amp for it.

i had all this stuff professionally installed, but i'll tell you that if you can swing it to have the box installed under the helm, go for it, because it will sound way better than in the bow. also pointing the driver forward helps with the sound as well--at least mine did.

i'd also recommend you take a closer look at the polk momo mmc650's, they aren't expensive and are terrific sounding. they are also marine certified as well and audioformz now sells a pre-loaded mmc650 that would match.

as far as the the amp and sub placement goes, stick your amp(s) up under the glove box on the passenger side kick plate. use silicone to attach a carpeted marine plywood mounting plate up in there and then you can just screw straight to that.

i don't have pics of my amps or my sub box because this was actually my 3rd upgrade but if you'd like i could snap a couple and show you how they did it. the beauty of those JL 10" subs is they don't require a big box and you can mount it up out of the way under the helm and it will be totally stealth. no worries about kicking it, etc. the only thing they had to do was move my fuse box, but no biggie.

after this last go around i now have a 6-channel JL Audio e6450m running 4 polk MMC650's and 2 polk db1000 tweeters and then a JL Audio e1200 running the 10w3v2. -- it rocks.

you can check out some pics of my second upgrade here:

http://esnips.com/web/boatpics

good luck and let me know if you have any questions or want to see the amp/sub placement.

[billymac]

hey you know what, i am staring at my original custom bow sub enclsoure. the guy that bought mine off ebay didn't want it, so to save shipping i pulled the 10W1v2 out of it. if you're interested in it shoot me an email at brucemac@gmail.com

we'd probably have to verify that the hulls are the same or that it would fit, but i'm pretty sure they are. it's not going to be as efficient as under the helm though, so you may not be intersted. the box is in great shape, although one of the corners, the carpeting is coming off a little. just a thought, let me know.

[SB Boarder]

hey Billymac,

Thanks for the input. I am going to try getting the sub under the helm first, or at least somewhere in the cockpit before I go the bow route.

I have used a lot of JL subs in the past, but mostly W6's which are out of the budget, I will look into the W1's and see if I can find a deal.

Regarding tower speakers, the MOMO's are still a possibility, but since it's not my dime, I am just providing inputs. I have heard good things about the Kickers too, so I am letting my buddy pick his choice from the three loaded sets at Audio formz.

Pics would be awsome if its no trouble. I will try to take some of our boat as the install progesses (probably with questions, haha).

Barret

[jrhurst]

10" will work great under either side of the consoles , but u will have to dig out alot of foam !!! I put 6x9" under each side on my xt , then i made my own cans , swaped the rear 5 1/4" for some 2 ways , and added some more 6 1/2" up in the bow area . Sounds really good with the stock head unit and no amp !!