amplifier direction question

[pmkkdx]

finally took the boat into a sound shop to have our issue trouble shot. forgive me as I am not an audio techy type ...

'04 X2 (205V) original problem was we lost our sub and tower speakers (4x), late last summer. sometimes the sub would work but rarely or the tower would work but neither worked well at the same time. We thought we might be having heat issues since everything is contained in front of the passenger seating area under the glove box. I believe this is all OEM with the exception of one amp we replaced about 8 years ago (think that's the one with issues)

They found one amp has issues with the RCA jacks (again, might be using the wrong terminology) with intermittent power. He finally used some kind of adapter from his phone to check each of the jacks to find which ones were going out.

our options would be to replace the amp that is going out/bad RCA with a 3 channel (JL Audio or Memphis or ???) to drive tower & sub ... but wouldn't we still possibly run into a heat issue with having 2 amps in that closed area?

the other option would be to go to a 5 channel (JL Audio or Memphis or ???) and only have the one amp that drives the sub, tower AND the speakers around the cabin.

we are not needing anything to blow out windows, just listening to moderate level of tunes while cruising but my wife enjoys listening to music while she slalom skies ...

pros & cons??? recommendations (keep it in layman's terms please)

[pmkkdx]

also, have any of you put in some type of breather port and/or fan to push/pull heat away from your amps?

[swatguy]

What are you trying to exactly power , and what do you have now exactly. They’re are plenty more choices to be discussed outside of JL and Memphis. Some more cost effective.

Going 5/6 channel really limits you on power and brand choices , as well as starts to get more expensive to gain the combo of power for each channel. Using a 2 amp solution might be the better route . It’s realy depends on what you have and what you’re trying to run . Quality D class Amps are cheap these days relative speaking and get you consistent power .

[swatguy]

also, have any of you put in some type of breather port and/or fan to push/pull heat away from your amps?

It’s aounds like you’re not hammering on your stereo where you would need that. If you were in party cover blasting tunes to the max or are pushing the limits on an amp for power then that would be a huge consideration.

[pmkkdx]

thanks for the response with questions. I have the stock cabin speakers (6x I think, 6.5" guessing?), that has an amp (still working properly) that has 150wx4 marking.

I haven't measured but guessing either a 10" or 12" sub (likely 10" but not sure), 4 tower speakers (guessing 6.5?) with 4 tweeters (1.5"?) ... problem amp ... 3 channel but not sure of the size, but guessing 75wx2 (tower) + 150wx1 (sub).

about the only time it gets run at ear bleed levels (to me) is when my wife is skiing and she wants to hear it 60' back at ~30 mph.

[pmkkdx]

maybe you can tell what kind and/or size speakers (at least maybe the cans) based on a few pictures.

[MLA]

the other option would be to go to a 5 channel (JL Audio or Memphis or ???) and only have the one amp that drives the sub, tower AND the speakers around the cabin.

This route to me, seems counter intuitive to resolving a heat related issue. This places MORE load on a single amp, resulting in the amp working harder, producing more heat.

IMO, I would rather have the in-boats and woofer paired, and towers on their own amp. reason being is that the tower and woofer zones seem to always be the hardest driven zones on a boat.

[bcd]

Class d are more efficient and don't generate as much heat. If you don't have those now, there are gains to be had. I had three amps in my 205v/x star when I had it. The only time I had heat issues is when I would pile a bunch of crap in the storage area and start covering up the amps.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[swatguy]

Pretty sure but not positive those are DBot speakers or possibly diamond audio. A decent performance speaker from back in the day/original era of that boat .


Guessing at minimum those are 100watts each. At least that is my recollection from a while back.

Unless the previous owner mounted extras, the stock system in that boat is only (4 ) speakers . 2in the bow one under the passenger lounge and one on the rear bench located on driver side. If you do in fact have 6 inboard that makes things a little trickier amp wise.

I wold assume the speakers on the tower are probably already wired in parallel. This means there is one positive and one negative wire heading to your amp per set rather than 2 pairs of wires ( totaling 8 connections at your amp )

As MLA mentioned having your sub attached to the same amp as those tower speakers is really demanding on an amp . I could see an amp going into protect Mode/ shutting down trying to keep up with the power demand of pushing both. It wouldn’t take much.

In order to ensure we would be giving you correct info we want to nail down the amount of interior speakers (4 or 6) as well as sub woofer model.

[pmkkdx]

thanks again!

its very possible there is only 4x cabin speakers but I will verify ... those are still working great off the one good amp that is marked 150Wx4. This is the original that came in the boat when I got it back in 2009 and possibly could be what came from the factory when the boat was new.

judging from when the guy at the shop was testing, the left 2 tower speakers are connected together to one channel, the right 2 tower speakers are connected together to another channel and the sub is connected to a third channel (or possibly bridged to channel 3 & 4?) of the second amp (that has issues). This one is a Planet Audio but not sure of size as I haven't found any marking on it. A friend & his son did the install replacing the original amp shortly after we got the boat, likely early summer of 2010

my wife took a bunch of pictures last night to send to my son as he is also researching a recommendation. Of course, he uses the boat too occasionally and wants the moon but on my budget ... HA!

let me see what my wife took pictures of ... stay tuned.

[JimN]

'04 X2 (205V) original problem was we lost our sub and tower speakers (4x), late last summer. sometimes the sub would work but rarely or the tower would work but neither worked well at the same time. We thought we might be having heat issues since everything is contained in front of the passenger seating area under the glove box. I believe this is all OEM with the exception of one amp we replaced about 8 years ago (think that's the one with issues)

They found one amp has issues with the RCA jacks (again, might be using the wrong terminology) with intermittent power. He finally used some kind of adapter from his phone to check each of the jacks to find which ones were going out.

our options would be to replace the amp that is going out/bad RCA with a 3 channel (JL Audio or Memphis or ???) to drive tower & sub ... but wouldn't we still possibly run into a heat issue with having 2 amps in that closed area?

the other option would be to go to a 5 channel (JL Audio or Memphis or ???) and only have the one amp that drives the sub, tower AND the speakers around the cabin.

we are not needing anything to blow out windows, just listening to moderate level of tunes while cruising but my wife enjoys listening to music while she slalom skies ...

pros & cons??? recommendations (keep it in layman's terms please)

The amp(s) should have spacers behind the mounting flange, to allow air to pass behind and help with cooling. This has nothing to do with the RCA jacks, but it's good practice.

The cables should enter from the bottom with an upward curve- water doesn't flow uphill and any moisture that gets on the cables will drip off.

If the audio cables are from Monster Cable, this probably contributed to the problem- they have had problems with the outer ring being too tight and when the cable is inserted or removed, it can damage the jack. The jacks may be repairable by soldering the connections- this shouldn't be a reason to change the amp, IMO.

[pmkkdx]

wife confirmed only 4 speakers in cabin, 2 in bow, 1 under rear seat and 1 under side seat.

closer picture of tower speakers.

picture of amp with issues... Planet Audio RX4.300 - 150Wx4

[JimN]

wife confirmed only 4 speakers in cabin, 2 in bow, 1 under rear seat and 1 under side seat.

closer picture of tower speakers.

picture of amp with issues... Planet Audio RX4.300 - 150Wx4

I would be surprised if those cables hadn't been yanked and jerked around by things put in the compartment- cables should ALWAYS be secured and out of the way of anything that could move nearby. Also, I see rusty screws, which means water was on anything that's in there- it's possible that the connections are corroded, not broken.

The amp should be turned 90 degrees, whether this one stays, or not. Route the audio cables and speaker wires as high as possible and if the power wires come from below, use screw-down wire ties at 6" increments to make sure something can't grab the wires and stress the terminals.

[MLA]

With a brand like planet audio, i would take that 150x4 with a block of salt. Even if thats the 2 ohm x 4 spec, that means the tower drivers are only netting 75W rms each. At worst, that 600W is an unrealistic peak number for marketing, and RMS is likely half of that.

[LDA6339]

With a brand like planet audio, i would take that 150x4 with a block of salt. Even if thats the 2 ohm x 4 spec, that means the tower drivers are only netting 75W rms each. At worst, that 600W is an unrealistic peak number for marketing, and RMS is likely half of that.

I think the Planet Audio amp is on its way out anyways, if not- it probably should be.

OP, you should just be able to swap amps once you identify which one you need and what fits the budget, there have been some great suggestions in the thread. I would definitely re route some wires, clean it up and make it look real good. That is how you will ensure you get the longest life out of your system.