Sound System Upgrade Questions

[JakeC 1]

I purchased a used Enzo SV240 at the beginning of last summer and couldn't be more happy with the wake I was able to achieve after upgrading many of the ballasts. The sound system on the boat is next up to be upgraded, currently the tower speakers can barely be heard when wakesurfing. After some inspection to the system I believe the issue is due to under sized amplifier for the number of speakers on board. Currently the boat has a Kicker MX350.4 channel amplifier which can put out 60 watts RMS x 4 or 175 watts RMS x 2. This amplifier is rigged such that the tower speakers (Skylon 8" pair https://www.the-house.com/wbskrub325utsp8zz-skylon-tower-sepakers.html) are operating in bridged mode while the in boat speakers (6 Skylon 6" in boat speaker)  are powered together in the four channel mode. I would like to get a better sound experience in my boat and I am thinking upgrading the amp is the perfect place to start. My question is should I simply try to find an amp big enough to power all these speakers or should I add an additional amp to power the tower speakers and then use this one to only power the onboard speakers. Thanks for the help!

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

2 hours ago, JakeC said:

This amplifier is rigged such that the tower speakers (Skylon 8" pair https://www.the-house.com/wbskrub325utsp8zz-skylon-tower-sepakers.html) are operating in bridged mode while the in boat speakers (6 Skylon 6" in boat speaker)  are powered together in the four channel mode.

Have you verified this, as it would be quite a feat for a single 4 channel amp to power a pair of tower speakers bridged, and then 3 pair of in-boats. id be willing to be the in-boats are wired to the head unit and the single 4 chnl is running the tower speakers. Easy to verify by disabling the amp, then any speakers left playing, are NOT powered by said amp. 

Id also suspect the amp is not setup and tuned correctly for bridge mode. An HLCD with 175 RMS should be more then audible at surf distance. 

[Troy 234]

Good info right there!

 

[JakeC 1]

On 4/5/2020 at 6:57 PM, Wylie_Tunes said:

Have you verified this, as it would be quite a feat for a single 4 channel amp to power a pair of tower speakers bridged, and then 3 pair of in-boats. id be willing to be the in-boats are wired to the head unit and the single 4 chnl is running the tower speakers. Easy to verify by disabling the amp, then any speakers left playing, are NOT powered by said amp. 

Id also suspect the amp is not setup and tuned correctly for bridge mode. An HLCD with 175 RMS should be more then audible at surf distance. 

Thanks for the advice! I finally had a chance to get back out to the boat today and did some experiments. Here is what I have found. The 2 tower speakers play off of AMP 1 and are wired two the two channels of amp 1. The interior speakers are wired to AMP 2 in bridged mode AND the head unit. I verified this by disconnecting amp 1 and both tower speakers stopped playing, however playing with the gain on AMP 2 I was definitely controlling the interior speaker. Next I disconnected AMP 2 and both the tower speaker and the interior speakers played however the interior speakers were much more quite. Is this a normal configuration to have for a sound system? I also spent a bunch of time playing with the gain and bass boost settings on the amp but was unable to really make it much loader when all the speakers were on and connected. Thoughts? 

Edited April 30, 2020 by JakeC

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

11 hours ago, JakeC said:

Next I disconnected AMP 2 and both the tower speaker and the interior speakers played however the interior speakers were much more quite.

It definitely sounds like the amp is driving the tower pods on chnls 1 & 2 i.e. AMP-1. It then sounds like chnls 3 & 4 i.e. AMP-2 is power some in-boats but maybe not all. This leaves 1 or 2 pair still on the head unit. 

The best improvement you can do is to install a new (2nd) and dedicated to the tower speakers. Then, rewire the existing amp and in-boats so ALL in-boats are driven by the existing amp. 

based on the online specs, those speakers have a 3 ohm nominal impedance, you would be best to go with a 2 chnl amp. id want to be in the 150W to 200W rms @ 4 ohm range, which will = a little more to a 3 ohm speaker.  

[JakeC 1]

On 4/30/2020 at 7:52 AM, Wylie_Tunes said:

It definitely sounds like the amp is driving the tower pods on chnls 1 & 2 i.e. AMP-1. It then sounds like chnls 3 & 4 i.e. AMP-2 is power some in-boats but maybe not all. This leaves 1 or 2 pair still on the head unit. 

The best improvement you can do is to install a new (2nd) and dedicated to the tower speakers. Then, rewire the existing amp and in-boats so ALL in-boats are driven by the existing amp. 

based on the online specs, those speakers have a 3 ohm nominal impedance, you would be best to go with a 2 chnl amp. id want to be in the 150W to 200W rms @ 4 ohm range, which will = a little more to a 3 ohm speaker.  

This exactly what I was thinking of doing, thanks for the suggestions. I have two 12V batteries in my boat wired in parallel, with a second amp is there a need two expand the battery bank with an additional deep cycle battery?

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

At the least, I would separate the two batteries into a main cranking and house bank, with a dual bank battery switch. I would want a cranking on one side and deep-cycle on the other side. Then, depending on how much anchor play time you wanted, then you can calculate the need for additional battery amp hours.

[JakeC 1]

39 minutes ago, Wylie_Tunes said:

At the least, I would separate the two batteries into a main cranking and house bank, with a dual bank battery switch. I would want a cranking on one side and deep-cycle on the other side. Then, depending on how much anchor play time you wanted, then you can calculate the need for additional battery amp hours.

Thanks for all the advice! I currently have a deep cycle and a cranking battery with a dual battery switch so I think I will start with my current battery setup and add another battery if needed down the road.