amp, speaker wiring

So I’m having a problem blowing my mids and tweeters in my 6x9 speakers in my boat set-up.

Here is the system.

Rockford Fosgate 801X 4 channel amp (100 watts RMS per channel @ 4ohms and 200 watts @ 2 ohms) running 4 6x9’s. 1 speaker per channel.

Kenwood sub amp (150 watts x2 rms) running 2 sony xplod 10” subs

Sony Xplod head unit with 50x4 output with front,rear and sub RCA outputs running to the amps.

Have 3 deep cycle batteries (180amp Hour ea,)and a 2 farad cap hooked up, I know what people think about caps but I had it given to me so I used it. Listen to it without the motor running most of the time so big batteries are a must.

Have had the best luck with some Kenwood eXcelon X698 3-way 6x9 speakers that lasted a couple of summers and have tried some cheaper Pioneer’s without much success. Getting sound out of a boat is hard to do with the only place to mount the speakers is low in the boat and we like to stand on the beach and listen to the music along with jamming big time inside the boat so turning up the smile knob (volume) is what happens the most. Have the bass on the 4 channel amp turned down and mainly use the 6x9’s the mids and highs.

Looking at the Infinity Kappa 693.7i speakers that have a 110 watt RMS rating, does anyone have any other advice?

I have 2 more 6x9’s and 2 6 1/2 “ speakers also in the boat that I run off the head unit when I do not to run the amps. Would I gain anything by wiring these other speakers in parallel or in a series to the 4 channel amp and having 2 speakers per channel? Would this give me louder sound or just spread the power across the 2 speaker and take some power away?

The Kappa speakers are rated at 2 ohms so hooking both speakers in parallel would give 1ohm and I don’t know if this would be a good idea? Also with 2 ohm  speakers my amp would be putting out 200 watts and the speakers are rated to 110 watts. So am I better off getting some 4 ohm speakers?

Thanks for any light you may be able to put on this.

I'd bet you are blowing speakers because the gain on the amp is too high.

I have the gain set fairly high, set at about 3/4's. Basiclly I think I'm putting to much power to the speakers and they are melting down. Hard to find speakers that will take the 100 watts for a long time.

Thought if I added some speakers and wire them the right way it may get more sound out and make the speaks last longer.

So after looking at some other sites, if I go with 2 speakers (4 ohm ea.) in parallel the amp will see 2 ohms and will put out more sound with less volume but if I crank it up it will be even harder on the speakers due to the increase in watts because of the 2 ohms = 200 watts and some of the best speakers I can find only handle around 110 watts.

How about the Infinity speakers that have a rating of 2 ohms and wire them in a series, that will give me 4 ohms and 100 watts going to 2 speakers per channel for a total of 8 speakers and 400 watts.

Or,

Get some 4 ohm speakers wire them in parallel with 2 speakers per channel for a total of 8 speakers running at 2 ohms and a total of 800 watts.

Which way would be better??? or should I leave well enough alone and just buy the highest rated speakers and keep the gain down. Looking for a solution that will give me the best quality and volume with the set-up I have.

DYohn] wrote:

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p>I'd bet you are blowing speakers because the gain on the amp is too high.

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not because you are overloading the speakers because they won't take the 100 watts per channel RMS, but because you are sending them a clipped signal.  When you say "gains are about 3/4" thal tells me they weren't set correctly in the first place.

As kind of an aside question and minor threadjack, does this sound correct.?  I would think without an alternator supplying power, your batteries will slowly lose voltage, causing the amp to clip because it's input power is lower than when the gains were set.

I thought that clipping mainly trashes the woofers and so far I have never hurt those in the 6x9's due to them being turned down on the low pass filter on the amp.

Still would like to know with the amp I have what is the best way to get the most sound out of the 4 channels? Bigger amp is not what I need because I can not find speakers that will handle any higher load then around 110 watts?

And yes the batteries running low will hurt the output and the three batteries I do have work pretty good but I would like to find a way to maintain more voltage without running the engine, maybe a 16 volt battery?. I have a volt meter on the cap and never let it go below 11.5 volts which I know is not ideal. I also charge the batteries every time before going out for the day.

Has anyone tried the two ways I mentioned before for wiring the speakers to the amp and what was the outcome?

Sounds like I may need to buy a dB meter and so some experiments but I was hoping someone here has done this before.

I just want to throw this out there; but would the moisture in a marine enviornment have anything to do with driver failure? He says after a "couple summers" - if he blowing them from too much power, I would think it would happen a little sooner than a couple years, especially if he is cranking the volume like that all the time. After that period of time, being in that type of enviornment would certainly begin to break down the materials the driver is made from and could possibly be causing failure...

Have you tried any of the marine specific speakers to see how they hold up?

I store the boat inside all the time and only take it out on nice days just down to the fresh water river where I mainly boat. I'm very anal about keeping everything dry and even put a sun shade up to help keep the heat out of the interior. Only have 170 hours on the boat and it is a 2001.

If I use a 2 ohm speaker the amp will be capable of 200 watts RMS vs. 100 watts with the 4 ohm speaker then I should be able to not push the amp as hard to get the same amount sound thus using less power, in this the case?

The different between 200 watts and 100 watts into the same speaker is +3db, or about 1/3 louder.  But yes, you should be able to not run the amp as hard for the same volume levels.

Set your gain properly, and make sure your head unit is not clipping.  Cranking the HU to max can be just as bad as having the gain set too high.

Been reading a lot on the subject of running 2 speakers per channel and it looks like as long as the amp can handle the low ohms it might be a good way to go to get the most sound.

My plan now is to get 8 6x9's and put them 2 each in parallel to each channel for a 2 ohm load and maybe run DPDT relays to cut 4 of the speakers when I want to run just off the head unit.

Any votes on a good 6x9's???

Ok, got the picture. Since I don't have a scope to zero things in I used the 3/4 volume trick and adjust the gain until I reached the loudest volume I was going to use.

Still no one has answered the question on what the best and highest RMS speakers they have use with success.

Any better idea's on setting up the amp?

Don't adjust the gain dependent upon volume of sound.  Adjust it dependent upon onset of clipping.  A simple and very effective way to hear a clipped signal is to listen to a sine wave that has been recorded at reference 0 db.  You can record test tone frequencies from https://www.realmofexcursion.com/main.html

Record freqs in the operating range of the speakers you listen to.  If sub, use 50 Hz.  Mids, use 500 or 1000 Hz.  Don't listen to tweeter freqs by themselves;  you will fall off the boat and drown.  I would suggest using 400 Hz as your test tone as you have only one amplifier to set gains.  For me, 400 Hz is pleasing.

Your goal is to adjust amp gain while playing the sine wave using a head unit whose output is at its fullest but not at clipping level.  3/4 volume on the deck is usually used (but you can use the tones to find this highest level as well, amp's gain all the way down).  When playing a sine wave, the speakers will quickly get hot.  Play the tone in short durations with periods of rest to prevent overheating.  But it shouldn't take long to find the point where the gain shouldn't be further advanced.  The tone will develop a staccato tick sound and change slightly in pitch.  That is the clipped level and gain has to be lowered back to pure sine wave sound again.

On another note, you should get past the notion of paralleling sets of speakers for more power.  Buy the amplifiers that you need to power your system correctly.  You've got a boat, man!