I just picked up my boat from the stereo shop which is an authorized dealer of wet sounds. Please look at the way this stuff was hooked up because I thank it is way under powered: <BR> <BR>HU Stock Kenwood <BR>Tower - 2 Pro 80's <BR>Interior - 6 xs-650's <BR>Sub - Alpine SWE-1242 Type-E 12" <BR>EQ - ws-420 <BR>HiFonics Amp - ZXI-4406 Bridged @ 4 ohms 220x2 <BR>Alpine MRP - F550 90 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms <BR>Alpine MRP - M450 220 watts x 1 at 4 ohms <BR> <BR> I expected that they would hook up the hiFonix amp to 2 pro 80's, the F550 to the 6 XS 650's and leave the sub amp on the sub but they didn't. Of course I didn't tell them how I wanted the amps run because they are the experts. They used the F550 and ran both pro 80's and the sub and used the HiFonics amp to run the XS 650's and removed the sub amp completely from the boat. I have tried to look at my manuals to see how much watts each speaker is getting and i think they are way under powered. I know that more speakers are blown by under powering then over powering and I am concerned. Not to mention I think I am losing a ton of bass with this setup. Please let me know what yall think.

What you expected is the best way IMO.

Too little power doesn't blow speakers. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm" target="_blank">http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm</a> <BR> <BR>Yes, you are correct in that the setup they used is not optimal for output based on the gear you had, but it may be for your charging system.

^^^^^ Those urban legends are somewhat correct. Many people who underpower their speakers usually compensate by constantly turning up the volume, compounded with incorrectly setting their gains, which results in the amp clipping and blowing the speaker. <BR> <BR>But you can put one watt to a speaker and have it play all day long if you want<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/crazy.gif" border=0>

Steve- too little power that eventually leads to human initiated clipping is the biggest cause of speaker failure.

gangstar is correct! People wind up setting the treble, bass up on the deck and the gains way up on the amp and just like the link above says the voice coil overheats and blows up the speaker because of the pure distortion they are pumping out.

Yes, but a blanket statement of under powering damages drivers is untrue, and I see it posted in this forum consistently. It would be better to state that boosting input to a clipped level damages drivers. It has nothing to do with the amount of power. That makes consumers think they HAVE to go out and buy a new amp or else they will damage the driver. That is not the case.

I see your point, under-powering is definitely safe.

Brad, I would take the boat to another shop, or back. <BR> <BR>Did you tell them to remove the additional Alpine amp? The way they have it wired is not best practice by any means.

I didn't tell them to remove the amp, I just told them to add the F550 and the Hifonics amp and assumed they wouldn't touch the existing sub amp. Who am I to tell the experts what to do, or at least i thought

WOW! What the hell were they thinking? My only guess is they were worried about battery power or charging system but c'mon that's any easy enough fix. They could have had that set up perfectly with minimal distortion and ohm load for the amps but chose just the opposite. Weird, did you ask them what their thought process was?

yea, I questioned the setup and they said that it had plenty of power and never mentioned why they did it. They also installed a duel battery setup so if charging was an issue it should have been addressed then.

I read this a second time, you yourself admitted your not very familar with this stuff, are you 100% sure they hooked it up the way you wrote it? Did you double check? I don't see a reputable shop wiring it like that?

I am positive this is how it is hooked up. When checking the amps to compare to the manual the f550 has one crossover set to HP and the other set to LP I also traced the sub wire back to the f550 and it has been bridged. Forget the channels but it has the positive wire, wired to one channel and the negative wired to the other channel. The other two channels only have 1 set of speaker wires to each (tower) Also the the hifonics amp has 6 set of speaker wires. <BR> <BR>This is also a repeatable wetsounds dealer in Lewisville, Texas.

Cant spell, reputable dealer<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/blush.gif" border=0>

I'd call them and tell them you want it rewired the right way or else just do it yourself.

Brad, <BR> <BR>Shoot me an email and let me know what dealer. <BR> <BR>The way you described would be the correct way to wire the system. <BR> <BR>Tim <BR>Wet Sounds

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