Upgrading speakers and adding an amp

[chrisinslc]

I have a 2018 AR190 and am thinking about upgrading the speakers and adding an amp. It seems like the Polk DB652's get great reviews for the price. I just want good sound when we are floating swimming etc. I also have heard great things about the Clarion XC2410 amp. Would this setup be a pretty good upgrade from stock. Does anyone have any other recommendations?

 

[robert843]

The polks are nice and get loud but they are not very bass heavy at all and really I recommend a subwoofer as well if you go with the polks. If you don’t plan to add a sub I would go JL or Kicker on the speakers to get a better full range sound.

 

[swatski]

I have a 2018 AR190 and am thinking about upgrading the speakers and adding an amp. It seems like the Polk DB652's get great reviews for the price. I just want good sound when we are floating swimming etc. I also have heard great things about the Clarion XC2410 amp. Would this setup be a pretty good upgrade from stock. Does anyone have any other recommendations?

That is a major upgrade, from stock.
Many recreational users would find that setup satisfactory for a boat.

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[chrisinslc]

The polks are nice and get loud but they are not very bass heavy at all and really I recommend a subwoofer as well if you go with the polks. If you don’t plan to add a sub I would go JL or Kicker on the speakers to get a better full range sound.

I really just want simple and not having to worry if my battery will start the engine if I am listening to music all day. I am not a bass head, I was surprised at how much bass the factory system puts out. If I can get a little more than factory with better overall sound...that is what I am looking for. Are the Kickers you are talking about these https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-Repla...81&sr=8-3&keywords=kicker+marine+6.5+speakers

 

[Mainah]

I can’t speak to the kickers. As for the polks the grills may fade in direct sunlight or with salt water exposure. They do sound pretty good. When is comes to amps and moisture protection there is one clear winner in JL as they are the only ones that full seal the pots Within the chasis. Wetsounds do have great build quality with moisture resistive pots and conformal coating on the board. The clarion referneced would not leave any head room and may be just a bit under powered.

I took a chance and ordered a class D two channel from rockville to push a sub in my truck. Being skeptical I pulled off the chassis to take a look at the build quality. I was a bit surprised in that the chassis is a very good and heavy aluminum design with the top cover actaully being a well designed heat sink having a gap in the middle to not hold the heat against the main chassis which is fully complete below. The transistors are clamped to the chassis with thermal paste in between (a bit sloppy in execution but it gets the heat transfer job done). The conformal coating is not the best but it is there and in line with lower price point marine amps that have a conformal coating. My three concerns with the amp was the quality of board construction (components mounted to the board without great precison), the unseald pots (similar to all in this price range), and quality of full range sound output with the obviously cheap components they use on the board (you won’t hear distrotion/noise driving a sub if enough power but you will hear it driving full ranges if it exists and I just don’t know on these as I did not test that). On the plus side all of the components exposed thourgh the chassis are non-magnetic including the leads going to them. Everything is on par on better than marine budget amps in this proce range but with a lot more true power than any marine class D in this price range.

I don’t have long term experience but the two channel pushes the 350 watt rms sub in my truck well without even getting warm at volumes most would not be able to stand for very long. Dyno teats online prove they live up to their CEA ratings. So while still skeptical of longevtivity I can honestly say the 8 channel sister to the two channel I have I am linking below may be the best budget bang for the buck for a class D and can be used in multiple channel configurations. It even comes with on board fuses and a fuse holder for the battery side. I would be curious as to opinions from those using these for full ranges.

Rockville RXM8BTW 8 Channel 1500 Watt Marine Bluetooth Amplifier

 

[Jgorm]

I'm hooked on rockville. I have 2 jl300x4 amps, a jl x5 5 channel, kenwood 100rms x 2, and a rockville rxat1 with a kicker 8", along with a bunch of high end jl speakers in my vehicles.

In the boat i have a jl 360x2 on the tower speakers, and a rockville rxem1 pushing a jl 10.
The rockville amps are excellent bang for the buck. Unless i have lots of failure, i won't be buying jl amps in the future. The jl speakers are something I'll always consider.

 

[Mainah]

The two rockville amps I can feel good recommending based on what I have seen so far are
Rockville RXM8BTW 8 Channel 1500 Watt Marine Bluetooth Amplifier
And
Rockville RXM-T2 Micro 2400w 2 Ch Marine/Boat Class D Amplifier 2x600W CEA Rated

The caveats being I don’t know how clean the full range ouput is and don’t know how well the board components will hold up overtime.

The two channel seems to be a great option for subs without breaking the bank. In fact I am going to repower my subs with one and add jl towers to the bridged jl amp channels I had powering the subs. This way if the rockville craps out on the water I only lose the subs. I will write a review once I get it installed and tuned with a goal of clean non-clipped 40v rms output to each of the two channels at 40hz. That would push my two polk mm1040 subs close to their rated limit for cheap. The dyno test and the one in my truck powering a polk db1040 in a sealed box point to this being realistic.

Again can’t say enough good things about the extruded aluminum chassis with heat sink top beauty panel in the class D proton series. Not a fully sealed jl chassis but easily the best chassis I have seen at this price point. My feeling is eliminating the distributor and end seller is a good part of what is allowing them to get the great price points for appears to be middle of the road total quality with great power output.

 

[Bluewater272]

Of note, I think the recently sold Rockvilles have been redesigned. I think I was one of the first ones to take a plunge on them last year and had a minor hardware failure. They stopped being sold for a period of about 4-5 months, and were just re-released recently. I thought it was a great amp right up until it wasn't. Thinking about running my towers and potentially a sub off of another one.

 

[Tobes]

I upgraded to DB651 w/ an amplified Sony deck (40w RMS). They did not get very loud. At full throttle, you could hear them but not that great. I upgraded to a Polk amp I picked up on here for $100 (I think?) and put in some Kicker 8" speakers. Good sound, not audiophile but plenty for most people. Decided I wanted a bit clearer and to get slightly louder so I upgraded to an Orion amp (yeah yeah, not marine, I live in a desert) which outputs 165w x 4 (benched at 171w x 4) RMS and the Kickers take 150w RMS so it was a nice pairing. MUCH clearer and gets really loud. For the cost of the 8" Kickers and the Orion amp, you can't even get 4 JL 7.7" speakers so I am not complaining. The best sound? Nope, but for a boat, it sounds pretty good and loud for a budget system.

I personally would skip the DB651 and go with either a larger speaker (8") or go with some higher quality 6.5" that can handle some power and produce good sound.

 

[Sbrown]

I have a 2018 AR190 and am thinking about upgrading the speakers and adding an amp. It seems like the Polk DB652's get great reviews for the price. I just want good sound when we are floating swimming etc. I also have heard great things about the Clarion XC2410 amp. Would this setup be a pretty good upgrade from stock. Does anyone have any other recommendations?

I have the Clarion XC2510 amp (the extra channel is for the sub) and so far it's been a very good amp. I'm no audiophile, but my wife and daughter are and they really like it, too. 6 DB652's and a Clarion CMQ2512 10" 400w sub get it done good enough for us and no crazy power consumption issues.