Marine Amps Vs Regular Amps

I'm sure this has been talked about a bit, but some clarification is needed on my part. A winter project will be upgrading the boat stereo bit by bit. Starting at the head unit and moving from there.

While there are tons of car stereo amps out there, there are few marine amps available. The marine amps tend to be less than adequate for the most part and I am having a hard time finding what I think will best serve my needs. I want to use two amps, one for the boat, one for the tower.

Marine equipment has coated circuit boards etc, and regular stuff does not. I plan to hide everything in the clamshell anyway, so water is not really a problem. I also live in the desert and am not all that worried about moisture in general.

Would using regular car amps be alright??

If water won't be a problem a car audio amp will suit your needs just fine. If you are going to be running a sub and 4 interior speakers in the boat off one sub look for a good 5 channel amp. Something like the Crossfire vr705d or JL 500.5.

Exactly, thanks Ryan.

First part of install would be to simply upgrade the HU, amp, and all interior speakers. I like the idea of the 5 channel amps. While I have 6 + sub in the boat, the bow speakers are rarely used, so I will probably just let the HU drive those.

So much gear, it all gets confusing. I noticed that that Buywake and Wakside both have regular car amps for sale, nothing marine. The clanshell is splash free and tends to be the dryest place in the boat anyway, except for that racoon that swam out to our boat and decided to hang out in there for the night.

I spoke with the Sr. tech at Marine Audio two days ago about this.

He said that to marinise (spelling) an amp they simply spray the board and use more corrosion resistant hard wear, then they spray the housing white and charge you more.

In short, he said that unless you are near saltwater (if so he said DEFINITLY go marine) you should be fine with a standard unit.

For what its worth.

Flux you have the right idea with the bow speakers. If you're pushing the main four speakers with 50 watts RMS and the sub with 300 watts you'll have a very good sounding system.

Yeah, i really can't justify amping out the bow speakers. My goal is 2 amps total. 50 good watts per channel and a couple hundred for the sub should give me plenty for the interior.

I figure I can do the boat itself with the stock battery (2) & alternator (65Amp) setup.

Later comes the tower, which will require a bigger alternator, extra batteries, and some serious coin for the amp and speakers.

The goal is simplicity and clean sound. I will sacrafice loud for clean any day.

On the amp subject again. i had a feeling that nice car amps would do fine as long as they are sheltered. Many more options on those as well.

I plan on keeping this boat around for a long time to come, so I wanna do it right the first time with no shortcuts, thus I will do it in stages and use the goods, better wiring, line drivers, fuse blocks etc. Check the profile, you'll see why I love our boat.

Thanks all and any recomendations are appreciated.