• Welcome to Jetboaters.net!

    We are delighted you have found your way to the best Jet Boaters Forum on the internet! Please consider Signing Up so that you can enjoy all the features and offers on the forum. We have members with boats from all the major manufacturers including Yamaha, Seadoo, Scarab and Chaparral. We don't email you SPAM, and the site is totally non-commercial. So what's to lose? IT IS FREE!

    Membership allows you to ask questions (no matter how mundane), meet up with other jet boaters, see full images (not just thumbnails), browse the member map and qualifies you for members only discounts offered by vendors who run specials for our members only! (It also gets rid of this banner!)

    free hit counter

Class A/B or D amplifier for full range speakers?

David Analog

Jetboaters Commander
Vendor
Messages
581
Reaction score
353
Points
177
Boat Make
Boatless
Year
NA
Boat Model
242 Limited S E-Series
Boat Length
NA
For example, a JL Audio M series amplifier will typically produce its 14.4V rated power with a much lower 12.6V supply, as repeatedly demonstrated in tests. And it will typically produce at minimum 95% of the 1kHz rated power across the entire audio bandwidth, say down to 40 Hz. You can bet that the Fusion HU, or any HU, will not come close to exhibiting the same behaviors. So even at the identical 1 kHz power rating, these two amplifiers could sound significantly different. 1 kHz power isn't at all revealing. Why? Because past a point, for every one octave lower, it will require four times the power to produce an equal amplitude, and because 50% of all music fundamentals fall between 200 and 600 Hz, and because the mid bass and deep bass that register even lower are extremely demanding of power by comparison. The power needs of music are not linear.
Moving on. Most amperage draw calculations are based on DC equations (simple volts X amps = watts). But amplifiers are not DC light bulbs. Music is very transient in nature and very different from a sine wave used in testing or DC. So music, unless pure drone bass (which is noise) draws a mere fraction of the current.
I guess what I'm saying is that to rely on specs is to understand every qualification and exclusion. Specs are just a unit of measurement for the sake of the most basic of comparisons but do not necessarily translate to music and real world usage.

Btw, a side note. A fridge is by far the least efficient when ramping up to cool down. So if possible pre-cool the fridge and contents while the boat is still connected to AC and a healthy battery charger (keeping in mind that small chargers are not intended to do a power supply duty). Pre-cool all contents at home or in the hotel/motel. You can also get a head start by throwing in a couple of those freezer packs. Once cooled, temperature maintenance requires far less energy. Then simply practice the phrase, "born in a barn?"
 

Bruce

Jetboaters Fleet Admiral 1*
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
13,332
Reaction score
13,426
Points
857
Location
Royal, AR
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2007
Boat Model
SX
Boat Length
23
Btw, a side note. A fridge is by far the least efficient when ramping up to cool down. So if possible pre-cool the fridge and contents while the boat is still connected to AC and a healthy battery charger (keeping in mind that small chargers are not intended to do a power supply duty). Pre-cool all contents at home or in the hotel/motel. You can also get a head start by throwing in a couple of those freezer packs. Once cooled, temperature maintenance requires far less energy. Then simply practice the phrase, "born in a barn?"
The fridge had been running all boating season long for three years. Generally we place precooled items into the fridge.

A Guest 2610A onboard charger keeps the batteries charged when shore power is available.

This is My Unusual (Alternate) Dual Battery Setup
 
Last edited:

Mainah

Jetboaters Admiral
Messages
3,016
Reaction score
4,050
Points
362
Location
Chapin, SC
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2016
Boat Model
Limited S
Boat Length
24
The fridge had been running all boating season long for three years. Generally we place precooled items into the fridge.

A Guest 2610A onboard charger keeps the batteries charged when shore power is available.

This is My Unusual (Alternate) Dual Battery Setup
The link to your battery setup appears to be broken. I am getting interested because I just made the decision to swap from dry stack to wet slip with shore power and water . I am starting to rethink my custom submerged wort style kegerator and cooler ideas and considering a more traditional compressor based drawer or cooler style fridge. Carrying a cooler to and from the boat every time has gotten old.
 

Bruce

Jetboaters Fleet Admiral 1*
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
13,332
Reaction score
13,426
Points
857
Location
Royal, AR
Boat Make
Yamaha
Year
2007
Boat Model
SX
Boat Length
23

viggen

Jet Boat Addict
Messages
69
Reaction score
21
Points
117
Boat Make
Boatless
Year
NA
Boat Model
242 Limited S E-Series
Boat Length
NA
As stated class D tech in a amp can be great, it's not really A/B vs D but more about space/room available, power available etc. For home or car audio there are great A/B and D amps.... just like there are some crappy A/B and D amps

Comparing a amp that's 80-90%+ effecient vs something that's probably 40-50% effecient in a environment where the engine will not be run for a long time D seems like a easy choice. Plus there do not seem to be many if any A/B marine amps available as well....

Correct your fusion deck does state 26w at 4 ohms & 43w at 2 ohms however their manual doesn't state at what THD those numbers were acquired. For all we know those numbers could be at 10% THD or more thus quite a big difference between a seperate amp developing similar power.

I would bet fusion greatly exaggerated these specs and did not use CEA2006 standards for showing amps actual power, if they did they would of listed that rating. Thus they probably used a smaller frequency response and a higher THD to show a unrealistic power rating for the amp.
 

David Analog

Jetboaters Commander
Vendor
Messages
581
Reaction score
353
Points
177
Boat Make
Boatless
Year
NA
Boat Model
242 Limited S E-Series
Boat Length
NA
Hope this helps. Let's not overlook the other industry power rating standards. Besides RMS and CEA2006, you also have WLS (When Lightning Strikes) and JBF (Just Before Fire).
 
Top