New boat, needs some help in the stereo department.

[calebj06]

So I recently purchased a 2019 AR240 and the stereo is BAD.
SO……I’m thinking about an upgrade and stopped by the local shop today. Here was their game plan. Let me know what you all think. (I will probably do this in stages).

replace the 4 6.5 speakers as well as add 2 more mid cabin. They are suggesting JL6.5’s which I know are top of the line. $300 a pair.
or I might cheap out a little and go kicker where I can get all 6 for $300 (probably what I should do).

Rockford 10” sub. Don’t have the exact model. They REALLY recommend it even over the JL.

6.5 or 7.7 JL tower speakers

Rockford m5 1500x5 amp. This amp would do it all.
Front 2 speakers on a channel
Mids on a channel
Rear on a channel
Sub on a channel
And tower speakers on a channel


I guess my 2 biggest questions are this.
should I save the money and get the kicker speakers?

should I trust that this single amp will run everything? (These guys are SUPER experienced and have never steered me wrong in 20 years)

 

[MrBubbaGump]

So there is still some information missing from this post. Are these M3's or M6's? I am assuming M3's based on price point. I did a full JL set up and had JL on my last boat as well. I highly recommend going with M6's over the M3's if you can fit 7.7's cut the holes and put them in they sound so much better than the 6.5s. That said the tower speakers I have not heard the 7.7's and I have never seen anyone with the 6.5's I put the 8.8 Towers on my boat and the only regret I have is not putting 8.8's all the way around the boat.

As far as the sub I have a 10 JL M6 its great and no complaints but I will be honest I didn't really look into other subs I just kept with everything being JL.

That amp in my opinion would not work for you set up first its 100 watts per channel to drive your speakers and 600 watts to the sub if I am looking at the right amp. That means if you put two speakers to one channel you will be getting less than 50 watts per speaker while running on battery power.

For reference I have a JL 400/4 for my my 4 cabin speakers so 100 watts per speaker. and JL 700/5 bridged 2 channels to put 200 watts per speaker on the towers and 300 watts to the sub. So to break it down further each speaker should be on its own channel, and if you really want to push power one speaker bridged on two channels.

I love JL and how my system sounds but I understand how pricy it all gets and I did my whole system myself, probably saved a couple grand.

 

[84rzv500r]

i agree with Mr Gump Kickers are good JBL is better... I have 6 x 6.5 Kickers and 2x 6.5 Kickers on the tower so 8x 100W channels (Zoned by AMP cabin front and tower bench rear) and 2 x 10" kicker free air Low amidships 2x200W and a JVC marine head... im very pleased the subs are what everyone comments on wow that bass is crisp and clear and just the right mix... if i made any changes it would have been 8" on the towers but im getting space limited on the boat... I'll add that i was building for in the cabin sound and added the towers just to balance out the sundeck and swim platform...

 

[TimW451]

I like Kicker, but I would not buy the model that is ~$50/speaker. They are insufficient/incomparable with a good amp and sub setup that you are looking to implement. Get the ones that are $75-100/speaker, if you don’t get the JLs.
@adrianp89 knows Kicker well.

 

[calebj06]

I like Kicker, but I would not buy the model that is ~$50/speaker. They are insufficient/incomparable with a good amp and sub setup that you are looking to implement. Get the ones that are $75-100/speaker, if you don’t get the JLs.
@adrianp89 knows Kicker well.

after reading more I noticed that those were the REALLY cheap one and most people recommended the better ones.

wish I could find a deal on 6 JL’s cuz that what I really want but don’t wanna spend the $$

 

[calebj06]

Little update for anyone following.
I was able to find a good deal on some speakers a guy was taking out of a 1 year old boat.
6- JL m3 6.5
10’ jl sub.

so then it was really down to figuring out an amp.
After really looking at the Rockford amp I decided to look into the JL stuff a little deeper.
Was considering a JL 800x8 but then realized it wouldn’t play nice with the single 4 ohm JL sub.
So we started looking at the jl 1000/5.
it would push like 300w to the sub at 4ohms and also run 3 sets of 6.5’s. With one channel to spare if we choose to do them all parallel.

He starts talking to me about how the 1000/5 was on sale for like $770 down from the original $1000 or so.
I told him I wanna see it for size and he goes and grabbed it off the shelf. It had a Black Friday sticker on it for $550!!! SCORE!
said he probably labeled it wrong but oh well.

so i should be ready to start the process!