gonna be needing stereo help!

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

well im new to wake boarding just learned a few weeks ago anyways if wanted a boat for sometime and wake boarding has just given me a real reason to get one. Stopped by a local dealer and they had a nice 1998 master craft forgot which model but it was a v drive so i think i may get it. right now the engine is being rebuilt but its the right price. anyways im going to be wanting to put a kick ass stereo in it. Im an audiophile so i was thinking of doing 6 polk momos and a set of the kicker tower speakers plus 2 10 or 12 inch subs havnt decided yet. What confuses me is the wiring. I put my stereo in my truck but i want to able to wire the stereo to a set of 2 paralleled deep cycle batteries putting out 12 volts and use a different optima blue top cranking battery, what i dont understand is how im going to charge the 2 deep cycles without draining the optima i need help with a switch and so on as i do not understand how to run the boat off of one battery and the stereo off of set of 2 deep cycles and maintain them both(charging wise off the alternator) a diagram and some help would really be appreciated.

thanks

Joey

TnR6Rida · Posted: Aug 19, 2008 8:24 pm Post subject:

Can't help you with the switch wiring, but if you are wanting something that is going to sound extremely good look into wetsounds speakers. Best money can buy.

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

Agreed on the Wet Sounds speakers.

For batteries, 1 Stinger SP1700 will be way better than the 2 that you're gonna use. PM me if you're interested. I sell Stinger and a few other brands.

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

so one of those sp 1700 is enough to run my stereo for several hours while in a cove? how do i charge it? if i use the alternator wont it use the starting battery to charge it and drain my main starting battery?

Joey

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

That battery will be enough for several hours and maybe even several days. I sell a lot of these to go in boats. Put a Stinger SR200 relay in between the boat battery and the starting battery. That keeps the connection from the boat battery to the stereo battery broke so the stereo doesn't drain the starting battery. When you turn the key on, the stereo battery is connected to the starting battery and the alternator charges both of them. That's normally not enough charge, so I always charge mine after it's been playing for a few days.

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

can i get some link to the battery and the relay

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/productDetails.aspx?delineate=149&CategoryID=-1&ParentID=-1

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/productDetails.aspx?delineate=735&CategoryID=12&ParentID=1

PM me for pricing on those parts.

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

how do i connect the 2 batteries in parallel and put the isolator in-between them so that when the key is on the stereo runs off the alternator meaning both batteries are charging when it is off it runs off the stinger?

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

The stereo will always run off of the battery. The alternator just charges the battery while the boat is running. To add 1 battery to the existing battery, you run 1 2 or 4 gauge wire from ground to ground, then run 1 wire of the same size from positive to positive. The isolator goes in between the 2 batteries on the positive side to break the connection. On the isolator you also ground one side with a small 16 gauge wire, then with another 16 gauge wire connect the last connection to an ignition source.

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

so the isolator cuts the communication when the ignition is off between the main battery so the stereo is on its own separate sp1700 battery sounds easy enough when i am ready to purchase i will contact you via pm.

thanks

Joey

V8 Killer · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 207 City: Bridgeport

#1: Get WetSounds for the tower. Everything else is a DISTANT second place.

#2: 1 x JL 13W7 sub is what I have, with a JL 1000/1 powering it. Well, that's not true, I have the marine grade JL 10" sub that covers mid-lows pretty well.

#3: Screw Optima batteries. Over rated pieces of junk. We modify extremely high HP cars and Optimas have a great name but simply don't function like they should.
I'm pulling 2,800 watts with JL amps (in other words a real 2,800 watts, not the Wal-Mart over-rated peak-watt version). I'm powered by 2 x Kinetic batteries. Its all I need and tons more. http://www.kinetikaudio.com
I love their batteries so much we just became a big distributor for them. I'm done with Optima.
Stinger isn't bad either BTW. But so far these Kinetics have proved the absolute top of the line.

#4: If you need any more help on wiring let me know, I did my own stereo and can help all you need.

Best of luck,

Dusty

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

would it be better to go with the 1700 or the 2250 or 2 1500? the two 1500 is cheaper than one 2150 and provides more power? would the wiring be the same wire the 2 1500's in parallel run ground from one to the cranking, and power from the other to the isolator than to the + of the cranking?

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

I forgot to mention the subs. There's 2 ways to go about it. The best way, if you have the space, is to use a woofer with an enclosure or sealed or ported box. That's gonna give you the best sound. The other way is with a free-air woofer that only needs a compartment and doesn't have to be sealed. They don't sound near as good but if that's the only option then it's better than nothing.

I've done a few of the Wet Sounds free-air 10's in some Baja boats that sounded pretty good. All I had to do was cut the holes to mount them and wire them up.

Wet Sounds also makes a 12" woofer for use in an enclosure that we're gonna try out soon. It's got some pretty good specs so I'm sure it's a great woofer.

The free-air 10": http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/XS-10FA.html
WS-650 Coax's: http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/XS-650.html

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

here is what i have to work with about $3500
so battery is 400
isolator 100
pro 80 tower speakers 1000
2 alpine 10 inch r's or one 15 inch kicker sorabaric 300
box 30
6 wetsound ws 650's 660

so that puts me at 2500 now i need amps to drive them so i would need 2 4 channel and one 2 channel to run the subs what do you think would be good amps to run this setup? is this a good set up? i was thinking 2 speakers in the bow 2 at the captains chair(one on each side) and 2 at the rear 2 on the tower and the sibs im not sure yet maybe in front of the captain the boat im looking at is a 1998 maristar mc vdrive so suggestion would be great!

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

Amps: Which amps you get are gonna depend on a few things:
1. Will they be exposed to the weather or could they get wet? If so, you'll need marine amps
2. What impedance and how many woofers will you have?
3. Single or Dual voice coil?

If the amps won't be exposed or get wet, you won't need a marine grade amp. I'd definitely use a mono amp for the subs as opposed to a 2-channel. You've got the 4-channel amps figured out. You'll need 2 channels for the bow, 2 channels for the rear (4) boat speakers, and 2 channels for the towers. You can get away with using a 4-channel, but just bridge it down to 2. That's what I did in my boat, just because it was already in there from the factory.

If you're interested in used equipment, I'm gonna be selling the amps out of my boat soon to try out the WS amps. I've got 2 Kenwood Excelon 4-channels, and 1 Kenwood Excelon mono amp (KAC-X1R). I'll have to think about the pricing though.

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

i thiink ill probably end up usuing 2 of these http://sonicelectronix.com/item_12053_Kenwood+eXcelon+KAC-X4R.html#

bridging it down to 2 channels for the fronts and for the towers how does that sound"?

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

That would be fine. I don't care where you buy from, but please don't buy from places like that. They're not authorized dealers for anything and most of their products have the serial numbers removed. I've heard horror stories about deals that went bad. They sent out a JL amp to someone one time that was dead on arrival. It took those people almost 2 months to get another amp from them and sonic wouldn't give their money back.

V8 Killer · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 207 City: Bridgeport

I just added a second WetSounds 3-some package to my tower. I'm powering it with the new JL HD600/4. I got it from an authorized dealer for $600 and wow is this amp nice. I have all JL amps, but they are the older Slash v2 because I did most of my boat's audio last year before the HD amps were available. I wish I had all HD amps, these things are fantastic.

Although JL subs are better than either, the Alpine subs are better than the Kicker. They won't have stupid-hard hits like the 15" kicker, but they will produce a lot cleaner hit.

Use the Kinetik power calculator on their website here to figure out what battery you need. I'm using 2 of their HC2000's with a stock 95amp alternator and have no issues. My 2 blue top Optimas couldn't handle the 2200 watts I was running or even close, much less the 2800 I'm running now.

Regards,

Dusty

chewyjr15 · Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

according to kinetic i need 2 1800's thats nearly 800 hundred bucks no way can i afford that adn still get a kick ass stereo i think im going to go wiht one sp2250 from stinger!

V8 Killer · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 207 City: Bridgeport

jonyb · Addict Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 844 City: Paducah

NO! Stinger's better Laughing

j/p... I'll have to try those out on my next install.