Stereo FS: Kicker Marine Amps

[Augieol65]

Hey boss @bigblank69 I got another question. I bought that Polk amp you recommended and plan on doing the set up you suggested. If I wanted to add one of those wet sounds sound bars and went with the surge 10 which is the one that has an amp in it but no blue tooth. Would I be able to wire that to control that volume independently of the rest of the system? Can I wire like an in-line volume control running to that bar or is there a better way? Might need your expertise come spring what’s your beer per hr rate?

 

[Augieol65]

Or would it be better to do 2 of those Polk amps you recommended and a non powered version of the wet sounds sound bar?

 

[bigblank69]

Hey boss @bigblank69 I got another question. I bought that Polk amp you recommended and plan on doing the set up you suggested. If I wanted to add one of those wet sounds sound bars and went with the surge 10 which is the one that has an amp in it but no blue tooth. Would I be able to wire that to control that volume independently of the rest of the system? Can I wire like an in-line volume control running to that bar or is there a better way? Might need your expertise come spring what’s your beer per hr rate?

Let me look to see how that Soundbar is connected. If you run RCA's up the tower to the bar (Likely) you can get a inline RCA "Bass Knob" that can raise and lower the gain of the Soundbar. Assuming ofcourse the soundbar itself doesn't employ sometype of remote control as it is...

 

[bigblank69]

Or would it be better to do 2 of those Polk amps you recommended and a non powered version of the wet sounds sound bar?

That can be an option as well, and likely cheaper. You might even be able to drop down to a PAD2002 instead of another 4004 if the Soundbar doesn't need as much wattage.

 

[bigblank69]

Just looked it up... A Stealth Core 10 with another external amp is what I personally would do... you can get a PAD20002 for it and it will only run about $110 and personally I think the wiring will be easier...

 

[Augieol65]

Thanks brother! That’s what I shal do

 

[Augieol65]

Just looked it up... A Stealth Core 10 with another external amp is what I personally would do... you can get a PAD20002 for it and it will only run about $110 and personally I think the wiring will be easier...

Hey boss @bigblank69! Weather has finally broken here and I have picked up my boat. I have the PAD 4004 and PAD 20002 amps as well as the stealth core 10 sound bar. For wiring this I will run the 6 Polk speakers off the 4 Chanel and wiring like you said. With the sound bar I’d assume I run the two channels to the sound bar is there any worry of the amp being 500 W and the sound bar being 300? Or because it’s receiving both channels is it only receiving 250 W?
Thanks for your expertise

 

[bigblank69]

No worries on the amp being a 500W amp and the soundbar being 300W. As you know the Stealth is 150x2 rated with each channel being a 4 ohm load. The PAD2000.2 is rated at 125x2 @ 4ohms (Though it will likely do 150x2 as they underrated amps). Everything will be powered perfectly. Let me know if you need help setting the amp gains. I actually have a an easy trick

 

[Augieol65]

Please!!! I just put in the 4 channel for 6 polks and have no idea how to tune it. No sub for right now

 

[bigblank69]

Ok this is going to sound funny but I guarantee you it works... Buy a Piezo tweeter (must be a piezo) and download some 40hz test tones to play thru the audio system.
Unplug all of your speakers from the amps.
Connect the piezo tweeter to 1 channel of the amp, the tweeter doesn't need to be mounted just connected.
Play the 40hz test track, with the gain all the way down on the amp you should here zero noise.
Turn the radio up to about 5 clicks from top volume. This will be your max volume from this point forward.

Now go the amp and slowly start turning the gain of the amplifier up (Make sure this is the right gain for the channel connected to the tweeter) keep turning until you hear sound out of the Tweeter, turn back down until the tweeter is again silent. You have now succesffully tuned the gain for that set of channels. Repeat with the other pair of channels and the other amp. Your amp is now set below clipping

 

[Augieol65]

Ok this is going to sound funny but I guarantee you it works... Buy a Piezo tweeter (must be a piezo) and download some 40hz test tones to play thru the audio system.
Unplug all of your speakers from the amps.
Connect the piezo tweeter to 1 channel of the amp, the tweeter doesn't need to be mounted just connected.
Play the 40hz test track, with the gain all the way down on the amp you should here zero noise.
Turn the radio up to about 5 clicks from top volume. This will be your max volume from this point forward.

Now go the amp and slowly start turning the gain of the amplifier up (Make sure this is the right gain for the channel connected to the tweeter) keep turning until you hear sound out of the Tweeter, turn back down until the tweeter is again silent. You have now succesffully tuned the gain for that set of channels. Repeat with the other pair of channels and the other amp. Your amp is now set below clipping

Thanks! This one work?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O7OY420/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KFK3Ab2XAR2MS

 

[bigblank69]

It should. If your in the Itasca Schaumburg area you can always just have a spare one I have hangin around

 

[Mainah]

Ok this is going to sound funny but I guarantee you it works... Buy a Piezo tweeter (must be a piezo) and download some 40hz test tones to play thru the audio system.
Unplug all of your speakers from the amps.
Connect the piezo tweeter to 1 channel of the amp, the tweeter doesn't need to be mounted just connected.
Play the 40hz test track, with the gain all the way down on the amp you should here zero noise.
Turn the radio up to about 5 clicks from top volume. This will be your max volume from this point forward.

Now go the amp and slowly start turning the gain of the amplifier up (Make sure this is the right gain for the channel connected to the tweeter) keep turning until you hear sound out of the Tweeter, turn back down until the tweeter is again silent. You have now succesffully tuned the gain for that set of channels. Repeat with the other pair of channels and the other amp. Your amp is now set below clipping

Never heard of that before but I get why it works. My only concern is how much clip is needed for it to make noise. I don’t know and would be interested to see this compared to an oscilloscope.

I can say for certain that polk head unit at 90% and jl recommend gain setting using ac voltmeter is near dead on given my oscilloscope testing. Just make sure polk head unit is not over 90% as that is where the head unit starts clipping.

 

[bigblank69]

Never heard of that before but I get why it works. My only concern is how much clip is needed for it to make noise. I don’t know and would be interested to see this compared to an oscilloscope.

I can say for certain that polk head unit at 90% and jl recommend gain setting using ac voltmeter is near dead on given my oscilloscope testing. Just make sure polk head unit is not over 90% as that is where the head unit starts clipping.

It will start making noise as the signal wave begins to flatten (Clip), the times I have seen it compared to an o-scope it's a match.

 

[bigblank69]

I plan on doing a video on my youtube channel comparing this method to my AD-1 Amp Dyno's built it distortion detector.

 

[Mainah]

It will start making noise as the signal wave begins to flatten (Clip), the times I have seen it compared to an o-scope it's a match.

Sweet. Not 100% ideal for full range channels set to 80hz highpass but still much better than by ear and will only lose a wee bit of top end on those channels. That is one of the better clipping videos I have seen as well.

For those interested here were my results for the polk headunit and jl amps.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/polk-pa4a-oscilloscope-testing.16908/

 

[bigblank69]

Sweet. Not 100% ideal for full range channels set to 80hz highpass but still much better than by ear and will only lose a wee bit of top end on those channels. That is one of the better clipping videos I have seen as well.

For those interested here were my results for the polk headunit and jl amps.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/polk-pa4a-oscilloscope-testing.16908/

If using a full range amp this method still works, just turn the HPF Filter off when setting the gain, and then turn back on after the gain is set.