Stereo Questions

gcope83 · Newbie Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 23

Trying to setup my stereo and had some questions.. How are you wiring you speakers? What I mean is how are you hooking up 8 - 10 speaker sets to a four output deck/amp? I know you can parallel each pair giving you 4 outputs at 2 ohms but what do you do when you add the fifth set? I am looking to setup a system with six speakers in the boat with a sub and at least two on the tower, possibly four. This gives me a total of 10 speakers with sub and I am trying to figure out how to wire the amp(s) to a four output deck...

Thanks

Gary

Brit Rider · Posted: Jun 14, 2004 6:03 am Post subject:

get more amps Cool

gcope83 · Newbie Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 23

But no matter how many amps you have you still only have four outputs from the source.. That is my question...

G

BigDeal · Soul Rider Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 477 City: Orlando

At one point some time back, I had 6 full range speakers in the boat and a pair on the tower all wired into one Kicker KX600.4 amp. Not too hard to do. Simply wire each of the four pair in parellel, and you'll end up with four 2 ohm channels. Now a couple considerations.

1 - Because of power constraints, I would not recommend adding a sub to the wiring scenario I noted above.
2 - I would also recommend against adding any more speakers in the wiring scenario I noted above.
3 - If you wire four pair of full-range speakers as I've noted, you better have a pretty powerful, efficent amp that can handle the 2 ohm load without overheating.

A suggestion. I'd strongly recommend: One amp to power the speakers in the boat, a second amp to power the tower speakers, and a third amp (Class D) to power your sub. I you really intend to run as many speakers as you described, three amps is a much better solution for powering the whole setup. In the end, the sound will be much better and you won't run into any nasty issues like amp overheating.

Good luck.

Styk33 · Posted: Jun 14, 2004 9:43 am Post subject:

I agree with what BigDeal said in his suggestions. I run three amps in my boat, one for the boat speakers, one for the sub and one for the tower speakers. My deck has a sub output on it and I hook the sub amp to that. Then I have the front output to the boat speakers and the rear output to the tower speakers. I adjusted the gains on the amps to have things balanced the way I like it, but I can make changes by fading the deck if need-be.

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

Why can't he just use 2 amps? That would be 4 speakers from the cd-player, 4 speakers from amp1 and a sub from amp 2. That doesn't seem to be too much load on any one component. If he goes up to 10 speakers I could see getting 3 amps but for 8 speakers I would think 2 would do the job.

Johnny5 · Criminal Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 82

gcope83 you hit the nail on the head, download it.
Run a maximum load of 2 ohms stereo on any channel of your amp.
If you end up with 5 prs of spkrs and a sub syst then you will simply need to split your signal. You can do this with a y-cord or some amps do have a pass thru function.
You can also add volume pots to control multiple amps off of one preout.
Depending on your deck you may want to consider a line driver to increase your output voltage before you split it, generally these will allow you upto 12V out

Remember all that downloading is gunna draw some amperes of current, make sure the alternator is down with that.

Cheers

gcope83 · Newbie Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 23

I am planning on using Alpine's CDA 7998 which does not have an onboard amp. Also planning on using two of Alpines MRP240 amps with a sub amp. I guess I could use a splitter on the RCA outputs giving me 8 outputs to feed the two amps and then run a sub output from the deck. I will have this driving 4 pairs of componant 6.5"'s and then a 10" sub below the dash.. How does this sounds???

Gary

BigDeal · Soul Rider Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 477 City: Orlando

I think you're on the right track. Split your decks preamp outs for the two Alpine 240's, and run your sub amp off your decks sub outs and you should be in business. My only concern would be whether the 240's will deliver enough power (i.e. rated @ 40w x 4 channels @ 2 ohms @ 14.4V) to the components to make them perform at their best. If you were running four pair of Alpine 6.5" coax's, I wouldn't be as concerned, but components generally require a bit more power to sound their best.

Like I said before, I think you're getting closer......