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Ladythump Soul Rider
Joined: 21 Jul 2004 Posts: 300 City: Lake St. Louis
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Posted: Apr 19, 2005 12:44 pm Post subject: CD player, (4) speaker, (2) amp installation for the first t |
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With the help of all the stereo guru's on the forum and after many many painstaking questions, I just finished my first stereo installation in my ski boat and I thought a step-by-step DIY post would help all those others looking to install for the first time.
BUYING THE EQUIPMENT
I recommend finding a receiver with 5 volt preouts if installing in a boat. I bought a Panasonic MXE CQ-5210U from Crutchfield on sale for about $130.
When searching for speakers, make sure you look at the RMS watt instead of a peak watt. I went with (4) Pioneer T1680 4-way speakers rated at 50 watts RMS and 220 watts peak. I found these brand new on ebay for $35 a pair. These speakers went inside the boat, two in the dash and two in the back of the boat.
Next was the sub. A dual voice coil sub was recommended in order to run the sub at 2 ohms and get more power. I found a 12-inch Premier TS-W126DVC with enclosure (used) on ebay for $76. This sub cranks out 400 watts RMS @ 2 ohms.
I had a hard time understanding what to look for in amps. I wanted a 4 channel amp to run my four speakers at 4 ohms. I also had to match the speaker’s RMS to the amp’s RMS. Anything with 50-75 watt RMS on the amp would be fine. I was told it would be better to find an amp with a little higher rated RMS than your speakers. I went with a MTX MXA6004 4 channel amp that pushes 75 watts RMS. For the sub amp, I choose the MTX Thunder 421D. This amp is rated at 300 watts RMS @ 2 ohms. Both these amps I bought used on ebay for $200 total. I choose MTX because their power is usually underrated on the spec sheets and because of their size. I don’t have a lot of room under the bow.
The first thing I did was install the speakers and run the speaker wire. I made sure I labeled the speaker wire for easy identification later. Next I installed the receiver. This was pretty easy. Just connect the red, yellow, and black wires from your boat to the red, yellow, and black wires on your receiver harness.
Since my two amps did not fit on the back of the driver’s kick panel, I needed to make a dummy wall for the amps. I bought a piece of ¾ inch hardwood at Home Depot and had them cut it down to fit under the bow. Then I carpeted the board with carpet we had left over from redoing the bunks on our trailer the season before. I mounted the two amps to the board. Since the board is pretty heavy and it's at a good lean, I did not attach the board to the hull of the boat. I took two hinges and attached the right side of the board to the driver's kick panel.
Wiring the amps was the most difficult part for me. Mainly because I never installed amplifiers before and I had no idea where to begin. I bought a dual amp wiring kit from Walmart ($25) and expected the kit to have everything I needed. The kit was designed for car installation and not boat installation so it was short a negative power cable (the same gauge as the positive power cable) and a second distribution block. Instead of buying these things separately, I just bought a second amp kit from Walmart and wrapped black electric tape around the power cable I used for the negative side.
Check out the picture of the fuse block attached to the positive power cable. You want this fuse to be less than 18 inches from the battery. Run the remaining power cable to a distributor block. A distributor block takes one cable and distributes it to two smaller cables. Attached two smaller/thinner (gauge) power cables to the battery post on the amps and then attach them to the power distributor clock. Like this.
Do the same with the negative power cable (minus the fuse). You'll want to run your power cables away from your speaker wires. For instance, my power cables run on the bottom while my speaker wires run along the top of the board.
You’ll also need to run the thin blue wire from the amp kit to the remote amp wire on your receiver.
Now attach the RCA cables from the outputs on the back of your receiver to the outputs on your amps and you're good to go. Remember when connecting the power cables to the battery, put the negative power cable on before the positive. Now you're ready to adjust the gains on your amps. Hope this helps! _________________ Life is a series of ups and downs, separated by no-wake signs. |
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Juice75 Outlaw
Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 218 City: Austin
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Posted: Apr 20, 2005 8:12 am Post subject: |
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Nice Job on the install! Especially since it was your first time. I'm putting a single amp system in my boat this weekend. It should be easier than my truck, since there's no interior panels to remove. _________________ "You know what those things can do? Suck the paint off your house and give your family a permanent orange afro." |
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AndyDeeJay Outlaw
Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 239 City: Belfast
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Posted: Apr 24, 2005 2:11 am Post subject: |
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Excellent work.
Here's a few extra points for next time -
No need to run speaker wires seperate from power cables as the speakers impedance is too low to pick up any interferance.
However never run RCA signal cables near power or speaker wires. This will be amplified and will be heard as hum, buzz and crackles.
Did you treat the wooden board with sealer. Untreated wood will rot. Best to use Plastic like UHMW (same as used on underside of boat seats) _________________ Wakeboarding is so Kool in Ireland! |
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Ladythump Soul Rider
Joined: 21 Jul 2004 Posts: 300 City: Lake St. Louis
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Posted: Apr 24, 2005 7:49 am Post subject: |
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great point on the speaker wires. I thought it was rca's and speakers but just rca's. I didn't treat the boat as I dont' plan on keeping the boat after next season..... so I'll start fresh with a new board. Basically I was lazy. _________________ Life is a series of ups and downs, separated by no-wake signs. |
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OUwakeboarder Outlaw
Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 153 City: Moore/Norman
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Posted: Apr 25, 2005 11:52 am Post subject: |
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Hey my speakers get bad interferance when my boat motor is on and from the throttle, it has never done that before until the last time I went out. What do you think could be the problem. Thanks |
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Ladythump Soul Rider
Joined: 21 Jul 2004 Posts: 300 City: Lake St. Louis
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Posted: Apr 25, 2005 11:52 am Post subject: |
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final install _________________ Life is a series of ups and downs, separated by no-wake signs. |
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OUwakeboarder Outlaw
Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 153 City: Moore/Norman
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Posted: Apr 25, 2005 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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nice work |
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