Polk Audio MM651

[96Pirate]

I can now say that the amp makes a huge improvement. I am very happy with my setup. Just need to readjust the zone setup.

Here is my setup....
Wet sounds HT-4 with 6 Polk MM651UM. The 4 in cabins are connected to the amp using all 4 channels at 4ohms and 110w. The 2 transom speakers are connected to the Fusion HU at 28w per. My cabins are seperate zone from transom. Currently, cabins are zone 3 and transoms are zones 1&2 combined. I will be switching this to cabins zone 1, transoms zone 2 and turn off zone 3. Just a wiring mistake not understanding how the zones can be setup. You can certainly hear the difference between the cabins and the transoms. In loudness as well as sound quality. Much fuller and cleaner sound. I have the gain set almost 1/2 dial and can listen to clean music at cruise at less than 1/2 volume with absolutely no distortion that I can hear. I used some cheapo RCA cables I had lying around with the intent of replacing with better but not sure how much more it can be improved....at least for my ears. I bumped up the bass about 1/4 turn.

Post what settings you end up using.

 

[96Pirate]

@96Pirate Well....What's the verdict. My VISA card is burning a hole in my pocket.
If you say you didn't get around to it because weather was just too nice this weekend I will let you slide this time.

@Irvs I will be interested to hear your honest opinion as well once you get your wetsounds amp hooked up. I like the XC1410 for the price and the fact that it should not be as huge of a battery drain like the wetsounds amp. Trying to keep my single battery dream alive and avoid speaker upgrades leading to amp mods leading to battery additions leading to wiring mods leading to charger mods.

See my last post on the amp.

As far as battery drain...we played music about 4 hours straight yesterday with maybe 1/2 that time cruising and doing water sports. I should have checked my voltages afterwards. Next time I will do that. But the house battery charged in about 4 hours on my 5amp charger. So not sure what that equates to. And not really sure if you would be able to get by on 1 battery with the wet sounds. I also cannot comment on any improvement the wet sounds will give you over the xc1410. All I know is I saw a remarkable improvement and am very happy with my choice.

 

[cbus]

@Irvs Did your HT4 come in from creative audio? Was it a refurb?

Thanks!

 

[OperationROL]

I thank you all for posting that Creative Audio had HT-4's still. I have been looking for 1 ever since Crutchfields sold out. I had this amp in my last boat and loved it. A very good amp to power tower speakers in bridged mode. At the discontinued price, you cannot beat it. I ordered 1 today and will hold on to it until I can afford the tower speakers I want.

 

[cbus]

Ok, might be a bad place to ask this but if someone could help, I would appreciate it. I was thinking of buying the HT-4 but I want to power 2 tower speakers and the rest of the stock speakers on my boat. Can one of these handle that or would I need 2?

Thanks!

 

[OperationROL]

It's all about the number of channels and how much power you need to get to each channel. For instance, if you are using the HT-4 to power 2 tower speakers that are rated 300 watts each, you are at the limit for that amp. That amp is rated 300 watts per channel in bridged mode. In bridged mode, you combine channels, so you will no longer have 4 effective channels, but 2. With a 4 ohm load, the HT-4 is rated at 300 watts per channel.

However, many manufactures make amps with many more channels. I believe JL makes an 8 channel amp that would handle what you are describing, but it is pricey. I believe you would be able to bridge 4 of the channels down into 2 for the tower speakers and use the other 4 channels for 4 other speakers.

 

[mrmeaniemeateaterman]

@cbus The wet sounds HT4 has a very nice user manual. https://wetsounds.com/media/products/manuals/Wet_Sounds_HT4_User_Manual.pdf
And has several example wiring diagrams you may find useful if you are as clueless as me about all this. It is written with noobs like me in mind.

I ended up ordering the HT4. For $100 more bucks than the Clarion XC1410 it is twice the RMS and too good of a deal to pass up on. Of course there is that expense of wiring it in and that small expense of another battery, that combined will probably cost more than the amp, but I will ignore that minor little detail for now. But Honey, look at how much money I saved!

 

[Irvs]

@Irvs You might want to get a bigger amp but I will let you know this weekend. I plan to have the amp finally installed. I installed the speakers last weekend and they were 100 times better than the stock Seaworthy speakers. The db651's are certainly better than my Seaworthy but the MM's are great.

The clarion looks to have an rms of 50watts per channel and these Polks want more than that. I got a Wet Sounds HT-4 and right now plan to wire it at 4ohms which will give me 110 rms per channel for my 4 in cabin speakers. Then I will run the 2 transoms off my head unit.

I'm assuming you have the m502 hu. Could you elaborate how you plan on running 6 speakers off of a 4 channel output hu....at 4ohms?

I would like to add 2 subs to my existing setup.

-4 mm651um driven by the ht4

 

[96Pirate]

I'm assuming you have the m502 hu. Could you elaborate how you plan on running 6 speakers off of a 4 channel output hu....at 4ohms?

I would like to add 2 subs to my existing setup.

-4 mm651um driven by the ht4

@Irvs I have the Fusion IP600 which has 3 zones with the 3rd zone wired through an rca line out. I have paired that with a Wet Sounds HT-4 amp and the 6 mm651um Polk speakers. I specifically wanted 2 zones (1 for the 4 cabins and 1 for the 2 transoms). I wired the 4 cabins directly to the 4 channels on the HT-4. The 2 transoms were wired directly to the hu. I will be changing the connections on these to the zone 2 channels on the hu and then reassign the line out to zone 1. (This hu gives you the flexibility of assigning the line out to a specific zone) So cabins will be on zone 1 and transoms on zone 2. And I can turn off the zone 3. This gives me 110w/channel on the 4 cabins and 28w/channel on the 2 transoms. I figured the cabins would need more power for when cruising. And I wanted the 2 zones split the way I did so kids could be out back with the music louder and adults can be inside with volume lower. Will let you know how that works out as the water has not been warm enough for us to try that. I can say that the kids could hear the transoms from the tube at no wake mode at about 1/2 volume. But they could not while tubing. So that tells me that if we are in a cove playing off the transom I have enough power from those 2 speakers.

You can wire these in series though and connect 8 speakers to the 4 channels. That would give you 150 watts or 75 watts per speaker. Probably enough to run these speakers and make them sound good.

 

[OperationROL]

Ok. I got my Amp from Creative Audio today. I ordered the now discontinued HT-4. The reason it was only $199 is because it has been discontinued. To my surprise they sent the new HTX-4 which is the replacement to the HT-4. The HTX-4 is selling for $499 right now. Bonus!!!!

 

[96Pirate]

Ok. I got my Amp from Creative Audio today. I ordered the now discontinued HT-4. The reason it was only $199 is because it has been discontinued. To my surprise they sent the new HTX-4 which is the replacement to the HT-4. The HTX-4 is selling for $499 right now. Bonus!!!!

So do I get any type of commission??? Haha, happy for you and your bonus. Now if @Irvs and @mrmeaniemeateaterman come back and say they got the HTX-4 as well, well then I will be right behind you guys ordering one as well.

 

[mrmeaniemeateaterman]

@96Pirate That wonderful man with the brown truck just stopped at my house. I received the HTX4 Amp as well from Creative Audio. There was a promo code "THANKYOU10" for an additional $10 off next order.
Now for the hard part....wiring it in.

 

[96Pirate]

Wow, I might be ordering one tonight? Thanks for the promo, I will see if it works.

 

[96Pirate]

Just looked and price bumped back up to $300. Nice win for you guys! Congrats!

 

[Irvs]

So do I get any type of commission??? Haha, happy for you and your bonus. Now if @Irvs and @mrmeaniemeateaterman come back and say they got the HTX-4 as well, well then I will be right behind you guys ordering one as well.

Yay, I just checked today and got the htx4 instead of the ht4 I had ordered for $199 haha. Lucky me.

 

[OperationROL]

Awesome!

 

[96Pirate]

Yay, I just checked today and got the htx4 instead of the ht4 I had ordered for $199 haha. Lucky me.

I'm sure they figured out what was going on by now but if someone wants to take that chance for the now listed $300 price, let us know how it goes.

 

[mrmeaniemeateaterman]

Well I've been busting my butt every night this week getting new speakers, new speaker wires, Amp & "add-a-battery" kit all wired in. Stereo rocks and boat cranks, so must have done it right. Now that I am done, I will say I imagined the install would be harder than it was, but it wasn't that bad, just took 4X longer than I thought it would. And I forgot about that really bad fiberglass skin allergy I have. My only words of wisdom to anyone thinking of doing their own install is don't forget about all the hardware when budgeting for project. I think I spent just as much $$ (if not more) on cables, wire, terminals, fuses, etc as I did on the amp itself.

Thanks again for everyone's help and for the premium amp find at Creative Audio!

Now let it rain Memorial Day Weekend

 

[Trevor Shipman]

Hey @Venkman side note. I'm assuming you're a big OU fan. I share an office with the dad of your now freshman QB Austin Kendall. Root hard for him! He's a good kid!

 

[Irvs]

Alright, here is my review:

-Clarion M502
-4 Polk MM651UM
-Wet sounds HTX-4

Prior to upgrading from the Clarion xc1410 and while testing my system at home post HTX-4 install, I had never before played around with the M502's "extra bass feature". Well, while testing the system out I blew one of the MM651UM speakers as I really like to play music really loud. I couldn't believe how good these 4 speakers sounded while playing music at a loud abut yet comfortable volume level.

Overall, I like the HTX-4. It ran MUCH cooler than the Clarion XC1410 and in my opinion it sounded better...

What speakers should I replace the MM651UM Polks with?