Sound System For Larger Open Bow Questions...

MonacoMike

MonacoMike

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2009
14,721
Indiana lakes and Lake Michigan
Boat Info
2000 Cruisers 3870
8.2 Mercs
Engines
85 Sea Ray Monaco 197
260hp Alpha 1
I have a 29 foot open-bow day boat and want to upgrade the sound. Here is my list to get so far. The amps really confuse me so I want to get some thoughts on them.

Starting off with 6 JL M3 650

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...0x-s-gw-i-marine-audio-coaxial-speakers-93515

JL M3 sub

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...-marine-audio-infinite-baffle-subwoofer-93531

JL M600 6 channel amp. One channel per speaker?

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...m600-6-marine-audio-m-series-amplifiers-98272

JL M600 1 channel amp for the sub.

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...m600-1-marine-audio-m-series-amplifiers-98273

Would the MX500 amp be as good for the sub and much cheaper?

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...roducts/mx500-1-car-audio-mx-amplifiers-98407

Would the M200 amp work for the sub? Enough headroom?

https://www.jlaudio.com/collections...m200-2-marine-audio-m-series-amplifiers-98270

Thanks for looking...

MM
 
Last edited:
With quality gear like JL, I would relay heavily on your dealer. But here are some thoughts.

With an IB woofer, id go with the M600/1 over the MX500.

The M600/6 is a good choice for 3 pair of in-boats.
 
Wylie_Tunes said:
With quality gear like JL, I would relay heavily on your dealer. But here are some thoughts.

With an IB woofer, id go with the M600/1 over the MX500.

The M600/6 is a good choice for 3 pair of in-boats.
Click to expand...

I was planning to use the m455a Clarion head but it only has 2 RCA outs, one which doubles as a sub out. Can that work?

Thank you! MM
 
Mike,

Why not get the JL M800/8v2? Use one amp. 6 Channels for your 6.5" and bridge the 7th & 8th channel for the sub.

The amp has low pass filters and adjustments for each bank of channels. I use the 400/4 for two 7.7" in the cockpit and bridge 2 channels to a 10" JL sub. Sounds great.
 
Last edited:
OllieC said:
Mike,

Why not get the JL M800/8v2? Use one amp. 6 Channels for your 6.5" and bridge the 8th channel for the sub.
Click to expand...

I wish I knew enough to answer that. LOL

Edit, no I can answer that. To get all the sound out of the sub and speakers they need massive headroom from the amp. The speakers are 60 RMS ans will have 100 watts available while the sub is 200 RMS and will have 600 watts available to get all you can from the speakers and sub.
 
MonacoMike said:
I wish I knew enough to answer that. LOL

Edit, no I can answer that. To get all the sound out of the sub and speakers they need massive headroom from the amp. The speakers are 60 RMS ans will have 100 watts available while the sub is 200 RMS and will have 600 watts available to get all you can from the speakers and sub.
Click to expand...

I have had better success with multiple amps rather than one large. On my prior boat i tried the JL MHD 900/5 to run 4 speakers and a sub. Never could get it to sound right. Went to the M600/6 and a dedicated sub amp. Success.

I currently run 12 JL 7.7s and two 10" subs. To the best of my memory I have two M600/6 amps and two amps running the subs. Plus, an Audison Bitten DSP. Install was mostly 7 years ago so I would have look under the hood to refresh my memory. I will do that tomorrow as the weekend is starting early!

Last year i installed a Fusion HU as the stock one crapped out. Very happy with it.
 
JimT said:
I have had better success with multiple amps rather than one large. On my prior boat i tried the JL MHD 900/5 to run 4 speakers and a sub. Never could get it to sound right. Went to the M600/6 and a dedicated sub amp. Success.

I currently run 12 JL 7.7s and two 10" subs. To the best of my memory I have two M600/6 amps and two amps running the subs. Plus, an Audison Bitten DSP. Install was mostly 7 years ago so I would have look under the hood to refresh my memory. I will do that tomorrow as the weekend is starting early!

Last year i installed a Fusion HU as the stock one crapped out. Very happy with it.
Click to expand...

I bet that sounds amazing!
 
MonacoMike said:
I bet that sounds amazing!
Click to expand...

Yes, it does! If you go with the JL products you can add a sound level control for each amp. Cost is about $30 for the controller. You can then adjust the bass on the amps or set up a Speaker zone. I have the subs on one control and the transom speakers wired to a separate amp on a second zone This allows me to turn off or turn down the transom speakers if we are chilling back there. The controls are small and are mounted at the helm.
 
JimT said:
Yes, it does! If you go with the JL products you can add a sound level control for each amp. Cost is about $30 for the controller. You can then adjust the bass on the amps or set up a Speaker zone. I have the subs on one control and the transom speakers wired to a separate amp on a second zone This allows me to turn off or turn down the transom speakers if we are chilling back there. The controls are small and are mounted at the helm.
Click to expand...

Great suggestion, I will look into that. It would be great to be able to control them separately.
 
OllieC said:
Mike,

Why not get the JL M800/8v2? Use one amp. 6 Channels for your 6.5" and bridge the 7th & 8th channel for the sub.

The amp has low pass filters and adjustments for each bank of channels. I use the 400/4 for two 7.7" in the cockpit and bridge 2 channels to a 10" JL sub. Sounds great.
Click to expand...

Wattage wise to the in-boats, its a wash between 6 chnls of the 800/8 and 6 chnls of the 600/6. For the woofer, its a 100W rms difference. However, its a little deeper then that. Bridging 2 chnls of the 800/8 is maxing out the available wattage as 200W rms to the woofer = 100W rms form each of the bridged chnls, where as a single 4 ohm woofer on the 600/1 is 300W rms at 4 ohm is very conservative.

Thats only the part of it. The true mono 600/1 is far better for tuning an IB woofer then a bridged 800/8.
 
Thanks Wylie for the explanation.
I've myself have been debating adding 2 more speakers to the cockpit. Currently they're at the helm and passenger and not aft. However I want to do it so it's not gaudy. Because I have a 400/4 I suppose I could add another dedicated mono-amp for the sub and undo the bridging I have going on as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,156
Messages
1,427,411
Members
61,063
Latest member
Donny1983
Back
Top