I was asked to update my $1500 stereo system from the diytower site, it was about 4 years old, enjoy. <BR> <BR><font color="0000ff">The $1500 Simple System Challenge… <BR> <BR>Amplifiers, two 4 channel amps, one for the boat &amp; sub, one for the tower – <BR>Phoenix R5 four channel amplifier $109 X 2 = $218 woofers etc <BR>Or Clarion APX 480 $129 X 2 off E-Bay <BR>If you have a few extra bucks you can also get the Avionixx 800.4 amps I use from woofers etc, as long as they are still available. <BR> <BR>Speakers – Tower Evid 6.2 $350+/- off E-bay (they range is $250-400) <BR>Precision Machine Clamps $29 x 2 <BR>Boat – 4 Polk, Infinity or other 2 way poly cone speakers $80 x 2 e-bay <BR>Sub – Alpine Type R 12 $120 <BR>Sub box - plastic JMC box, trash the nose port $90 <BR> <BR>No head unit! Use your Ipod directly an EQ. <BR> <BR>EQ - $100? Lots of options here… Anything from $20 Pyle unit on E-bay to several hundred dollar units, look toward the PPI or ARC? The controls should include Volume, Fader, and Sub-level. <BR> <BR>Speaker wires, Amp power wires, RCA cables $200 <BR> <BR>The key to making it sound good is the quality of the installation. Inexpensive speakers mounted solidly where their mounting rings form an airtight seal will always sound better than the most expensive speakers poorly mounted. Use of big power wires is important so you do not lose any of that valuable already low voltage we experience with our idling boats. The RCA cables should be of a twisted arrangement, this will help to minimize noise introduced by power wires, they should be run no closer than 12” on parallel paths. Some boats have adequate stock speaker wires, #14 is adequate, #16 may also be OK if the runs are not too long and the power is not too high. <BR> <BR>One of the four channel amps will be strapped to two channels running the tower pushing the 8 ohm Evids. This is design load for the tower amp, please just trust me on this issue. The other four channel amp will run the four boat speakers wired in parallel (or series if you use 2 ohm Infinity speakers) off the front channels, and the 12” subwoofer off the rear channels bridged. <BR> <BR>If my math is correct you still have $160 to pay for shipping, screws, glue, tape, tie wraps, paint, or other misc. costs. The unforeseen costs really add up on a system install, you will need every bit of that and probably more. <BR> <BR>You may not end up being king of the cove when it comes to stereos but it should walk all over any stock boat stereo at twice the price. <BR> <BR>Happy Shopping and Installing, <BR>Mike <BR></font>}

Thanks Mike! <BR> <BR>I think i'm going to go with the Clarion APX480m (marine) since it's hard keeping any part of my boat dry. When you say "one of the four channel amps will be strapped to two channels," do you mean it will be bridged from 4 to 2 or do you mean that there will be two open channels not connected to anything? If so, why not bridge it?

Bridged from 4 to 2 running the tower speakers.

A quick note on the Phoenix Gold R amp's .... they are really big (in size). <BR> <BR>If you have limited space, I wouldn't choose these amp's. But if you have the space, like I did, then they are a great cost-effective choice.