Advice for a subwoofer and amp in 2002 300DA

Water U Lookin' At

Water U Lookin' At

Member
Jan 2, 2007
71
Washington, DC
Boat Info
300 Sundancer 2002
Engines
5.0 MPI, Bravo III Drives
I know there have been many posts about mods to our sundancers, but I haven't seen any posts regarding a sub and amp in a 300. I'm thinking about putting one in the helm seat facing outward like on the 44 sundancer I saw, but I wanted to know if anyone has done this and how hard it is to wire an after market amp with the Clarion stereo. Is the wiring difficult? Any advice is appreiciated.


Eddie
 
Wiring is easy. Search this forum for amps, or subwoofers...

Blue wire goes to a single, small input to tell amp to turn on - you can split this one to other amps if needed.
Use 4g or larger direct to battery with fuse for actual power line - red.
Use 4g or larger to ground back to grounding bus that battery is grounded to - black/green.
Take lines out that currently go to small amps behind electrical panel or behind Clarion unit and re-route those to your lines in at your new amp(s).
Take lines out to speakers.
Take pre-amp out to sub amp. Wire it the same otherwise. Use huge speaker wire for sub.
I like to tune the sub output to require me to dial the bass output on the head unit down a little. This takes a little bass out of my mid-range speakers to allow them to concentrate on mids/highs (it really means I can crank it up without blowing the S&^*( out of them).
 
Water U Lookin' At said:
I know there have been many posts about mods to our sundancers, but I haven't seen any posts regarding a sub and amp in a 300. I'm thinking about putting one in the helm seat facing outward like on the 44 sundancer I saw, but I wanted to know if anyone has done this and how hard it is to wire an after market amp with the Clarion stereo. Is the wiring difficult? Any advice is appreiciated.


Eddie
Click to expand...

Hi :smt001
The Clarion's have a 'pre-amp' out (rca plug) on them so that part's easy. The next thing is power / ground / trigger. My last install I made two 'Y' adapters and spliced into one of the accessoriy / lilghter plugs in the cupboard where I mounted the amp. You may have to juggle some stuff around because amps like their own circuit, but it's easy. You could also use an empty spot in your breaker panel (if there is one) and run some wires. If you're running your own wires go for something like a #4 (both), there is a little extra performance / safety with the larger capacity. The amp trigger is a blue wire on the back of the Clarion that needs to connect to the amp to turn it on when your head unit is powered up. Remember to mount the amp where it gets lots of air... they get really hot if you 'work' them! The cupboards in the 240's are open inside so they vent well enough.
As for the sub itself, because of the characteristics of low frequencies... you can mount it anywhere you want really.
In my 240's I have a MTX 400 watt (mono) with a 12" MTX sub. It's a nice match for the Clarion system and wow... does it ever wake it up! This is enough bass for a larger boat but overkill is better than not enough! You can turn the bass down on the Clarion which lessens the distorion on your speakers at higher volumes, then turn up the sub to compensate. It's a huge difference... very much worth the expense and time.
Hey... Hampton's post wasn't there when I started... I agree with what he wrote too except I don't really like running wires directly to the battery. If you choose to wire the amp direct, go to the first point after the battery switch. I think everything other than the bilge pumps should turn off when you turn the batteries off.
 
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Depending on amp size, 4ga wire might be over-kill... unless you don't mind spending the extra cash.

a 300watt amp would do fine with 6ga; even with the long ground run... But I already posted on his identical thread in another subject area!
 
NateRW21 said:
Depending on amp size, 4ga wire might be over-kill... unless you don't mind spending the extra cash.

a 300watt amp would do fine with 6ga; even with the long ground run... But I already posted on his identical thread in another subject area!
Click to expand...

The installation manual I got with the amp indicates 4 guage... the MTX website says the same... but I'm sure a #6 would be fine.
 
By all means, if it says 4ga, I'd run 4ga! My only point was that it depends on the size of the amp weather you'll really need the capacity of 4ga.
 
NateRW21 said:
By all means, if it says 4ga, I'd run 4ga! My only point was that it depends on the size of the amp weather you'll really need the capacity of 4ga.
Click to expand...

Yep. Also, they determine the wire size to run the amp at full capacity... which, in the real world, only happens on Friday and Saturday nights! :lol:
This actually brings up a few other points;
* mount the amp nearest the speakers as possible but not in a place that gets all the vibrations or too hot.
* there's a noticeable improvement with larger power / speaker wires.
* make sure your ground is the same size as your power.
* the expensive 'monster cables' don't sound any better than the same size single strand.
* with all electronics, heat is your enemy.
* it doesn't hurt to have a good quality rca cable but I can't say I can tell the difference. With the better shielding you may notice reduced background noise when your engine(s) are running but... uh... the engine(s) are running so you won't notice. :lol:
 
magster65 said:
Yep. Also, they determine the wire size to run the amp at full capacity... which, in the real world, only happens on Friday and Saturday nights! :lol:
This actually brings up a few other points;
* mount the amp nearest the speakers as possible but not in a place that gets all the vibrations or too hot.
* there's a noticeable improvement with larger power / speaker wires.
* make sure your ground is the same size as your power.
* the expensive 'monster cables' don't sound any better than the same size single strand.
* with all electronics, heat is your enemy.
* it doesn't hurt to have a good quality rca cable but I can't say I can tell the difference. With the better shielding you may notice reduced background noise when your engine(s) are running but... uh... the engine(s) are running so you won't notice. :lol:
Click to expand...


I will make a couple exceptions to these...
*in boats, with the LONG grounding runs, it can be beneficial to up-size your ground (ex. 6ga pos, 4ga ground)
*If your power run is over 15 ft, up-size your power wire over what is recommended to allow for resistance.
*never install an amp upside-down unless you run if FAR below max capacity; doing so effects it's ability to cool
*Although strand count doesn't effect current, durability is the benefit of multi-strand... so don't ever use solid (single strand) wire.
*twisted pairs/shielded audio feed cables will help eliminate interference... but you'll only notice if there is, #1 interference to block and #2, low enough ambient noise to tell the difference; go cheap if they are easy to swap... if it will be a royal pain to change to shielded, use them first.
*whenever possible, keep amp at least 2 feet from head unit and antenna; helps stop RF amp noise from being picked up from the antenna and head unit then fed directly into the amp
*18 and higher gauge speaker wire is for factory low power installs... use 16ga for drivers, 12 or 14 gauge for woofers.


MY stereo is easily heard over my engine!! :grin:
 
Thanks for all the advice! I'm going to try and mount the sub under the helm. There are no "open" places to mount the amp. In fact, the stereo itself gets real hot in general too. I'll send pics when I do this mod.

Eddie
 
Not sure how our boats compare, but our sub is mounted to my lower right at the helm, near the floor. 2 amps are in the aft cabin locker, 1 for the 4 6.5's outside and one for the sub. I went with the Kenwood 10" marine amp. I can send you photos of the location/install if you like.
 
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