Questions About Installing a Polk Marine System

[lolimeys]

I've recently started building a Polk based sound system for my boat (21' Northriver w/V-8 & dual battery setup). So far I have installed two 6 x 9 MMC690 and a C300-2 and it already sounds great. Deck is a Clarion Marine M455 with wired remote.

I have a second C300-2 and want to add more speakers -- a six or eight speaker system when done. Recommendations on how to go from here????

[Siegel1719]

well since the C300.2 is 2 ohm stable when ran in stereo you could always run 2 sets of like MMC650s or MMC525s off the second 300.2. That would put you at your goal of a 6 speaker setup or what i would do is run a set of MMC6500 components off of the second 300.2 and call it aday. Would sound awesome. Then maybe even add a sub and amp and you would be rockin.

[lolimeys]

Thanks for the info. I am considering adding 4 x MMC650 and maybe 2 more MMC690. Do I run 2 of each speaker model off each amp or do I run 4 x MMC650 off one amp and 4 x MMC690 off the othe amp? Wired in series or parallel? The main reason I'm thinking of a 6 or 8 speaker system is that I'm in a boat and not a closed in car.

[PoweredByDodge]

haha - lolimeys, dude... i've got four 6x9's in the bed of my pickup truck... with 50 watts to each speaker, it screams. you can hear that shit all the way down the block. audio is so wonderful in helping one become obnoxious. :)

however... to answer your question. yes, if you are going to have 4 each (2 pair) of the momo 6x9's, then it would be wise to run the two that are on the left of the boat off the left channel of ONE 300.2 amp. then off the right channel of that same amp, run the other 2 momo 6x9's. if you're going to have 2 amps anyway, then try to avoid mixing sizes of speakers on the same channel... differences in sensitivity of each speaker size will make tuning and crossing them over a nightmare.

however, if you are going to go with just 4 speakers - which is fine - and say you're second pair is a 6.5" , then you can put the two left speaker (one 6.5 and one 6x9) on the left channel, and then do the same for the right.

forget about a sub - i mean, it would be nice, but honestly, i think on a boat it's more about how damn loud you can get and how much SCREAM you can get outa those speakers. I think if you had 8 momo 6x9's and 2 polk 300.2 amps that you would blow just about everything else out of the water -- literally.

[lolimeys]

Thanks to the help I'm getting from the forum I can almost see daylight! I've decided to leave the current C300-2 with the MMC690 as is. I've installed the second C300-2 waiting speakers. One last question -- 4 x MMC650 or 2 x MMC6500 components? What are the advantages either way?

[PoweredByDodge]

4 x mmc650 = more speakers, more spl, louder... louder... um....louder.

2 x mmc6500 components = better sound quality -- in a car. i dont think you're going to be able to appreciate the SQ advantage of a component set in a boat because you're in the open air and it's more about being loud than it is about pin point location of speakers and relative driver placement.

i say add 4 mmc6500's.... and then add 2 more 6x9's when you're ready.

and then invite me on your boat, so as that i may envelop myself in utter deafening bliss.

[heXtant]

i say go ahead with the 4 mmc650's, they are very nice speakers, and like dodge said, it would be hard to appreciate the SQ 6500 gives out when on a boat. go with the 650's, you wont be dissapointed. i have 2 pair of them and they are damn nice speakers. plus they are almost half as much (new) on ebay then the 6500's.

take pictures when finished if you can

[lolimeys]

Once again thanks for the answers. I'm going to go with the 4 x MMC650 off the second C300-2. How do I wire them? Series or Parallel?

[PoweredByDodge]

parallel kimosabi.

|| <--- means "in parallel with"
+ <-- series

that'll give you 4 ohm || 4 ohm = 2 ohm load -- amp will do like 150 per channel into 2 ohms... so 2 speakers on a channel gives you 75 watts per speaker or better.

4 ohm + 4 ohm = 8 ohm --- amp does like 75 watts into 8 ohms... that's 37 watts per speaker. not what you want!.

[lolimeys]

Once again thanks for the help. Parallel it is --- I'll finish the install, take her for a blast and let you'all know how it sounds.