Wet Sounds Amp Cutting Off ... continued

All-

This is a continuation of a thread I post a few weeks ago. I have been out of town and just now had time to do all the diagnostics to figure out my problem. Turns out my amp was indicating I have a short somewhere in the system. I ran new temporary speaker wires just to test and found that my short is somewhere in the wiring I ran in the tower tubes. Speakers worked amazingly with the new wires hooked up outside tower tubes temporarily. Probably managed to scratch the insulation off some of the wire the first time I pulled these speaker wires. Therefore looks like I will be running new speaker wires. What gauge do you all recommend for Pro 60s and Pro80s with SNY2 pushing them? I had twelve gauge previously.

Additionally, I am considering hooking up another SYN2 amp to double the tower's power. Wanted more power originally but my pocketbook was not that deep! How would you all recommend setting this up? Pro80s on one 60s on the other? Or, single 60 and single 80 on one and vice versa?

If you're stripping the coating off your speaker wire, you want to make sure you don't use that stuff again. Get some nice wire with better protection. If you have a decent ear it does make a difference. For what you spent on the components you shouldn't be cheap with the speaker wire since that's a pretty small % of your total stereo expense anyway.

Glad you found your short, but a 2nd Syn2 will not be doubling the output to the tower. The 4 ohm output of the Syn2 is 200 watts to a single pair. The 2 ohm output, such as 2 pair wired parallel, is 175 watts to each pair. That's only a 12% increase at a cost of $549.00 $.02

So then how would you suggest increasing the power to the speaker system I have in place?
Additionally, what gauge wire is optimal for these speakers?

To add to what tigemike said...in theroy, it takes twice the amount of power to increase SPL by 3db. 3db is just enough of an increase for the human ear to tell a difference. Anything less than 3db is not really noticeable. a 10db increase in therory is a doubling of voulme.

Originally Posted by chpthril

Glad you found your short, but a 2nd Syn2 will not be doubling the output to the tower. The 4 ohm output of the Syn2 is 200 watts to a single pair. The 2 ohm output, such as 2 pair wired parallel, is 175 watts to each speaker. That's only a 12% increase at a cost of $549.00 $.02

*EDIT* Sorry, just noticed a typo. It should read "175 watts to each speaker" not "pair" as I originally typed.

14 ga wire is fine, 12 ga if you can fish 4 pairs of it.

Brandon,

I am glad that the SYN amp helped you find the short. The micro processor is pretty cool. Since it tells you what is going on and helps you find problems like your short.

When running new speaker wire. I would try for 12 ga if you can.

I would stick with the single SYN-2 and see how that does for you once you get them re wired

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim -

In theory my stereo is optimally set up with single SYN2 pushing the tower. However, it seems I have room to increase the power to my speaker with no danger of hurting them. Would increasing the power not appreciably change the volume level? If I was going to get the most out of my speakers, what is the amp set up I should be running?

Brandon,

If you want to increase your output then replace your Pro60s with a second pair of Pro80s and stick with the amplifier thah you have.

Normally when you double your speakers and double the power you would expect a 3 dB increase which is definitely noticeable. However, dissimilar speakers do not sum as efficienctly as indentical spekers. In your case, when you apply identical power to both speakers the Pro80s dominate and the contribiution of the Pro60s is comparetively minimal even though they're consuming equal power).

You need four conductors of 12-gauge. WIth four channels you would need a minimum of eight conductors of 14-gauge. The Syn2 is very good power and at this point could be a stronger link it the cabin. Before you increase amplification make certain that you've first eliminated any other inherent bottlenecks that are compromising the system efficiency.

David
Earmark Marine