What Amp to buy for KMT6

I just ordered a pair of KMT6 tower speakers and need an amp to run them off of. I would also like to add a subwoofer. I've been reading that the zx450 will do fine for the speakers, but can I run a woofer off the same amp? I'm also looking at the mx700 amp. I believe that should work for the entire set up. I don't know much at all about sound systems and combing through the other posts has helped a little. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I run the ZX450.2 for the tower KMT6 speakers and it works well.

ZX450 in either the .2 or .4 will not be enough power to run both the tower and a good sub.

Phil form Kicker recommended the ZX 450.2 with bass boost off and hi pass crossover on for the KMT6s

We just installed the set up and so far we love it!!!

We bought the amp on eBay.

(Message edited by shepsigkap on May 17, 2009)

The ZX450.2 is the perfect amp for the KTM6's and the MX700.5 is ideal for running your cabin speakers and sub. $.02

This may just out of ignorance, but do I need to put an amp to the cabin speakers? What if I just go with the MX700.5 for the tower speakers and sub? Right now the boat just has 4 cabin and 2 bow speakers. I don't think there is an amp. The boat is a 2002 SAN-not team.

We run the 4 in-boat speakers and the sub off of an Alpine PDX 5 and the tower speakers on the Kicker ZX450.2

We only have 4 in boat speakers not 6 though.

AJ,

2 issues there, (1), if you have 6 cabin speakers running off the head unit, your going to end up with a toasted head unit if they are wired in parallel to a 2ohm load. (2) the 700.5 is a 5 chnl amp. With the KTM6's powered off it, you will only be able to use 2 channels, 1 KTM6 pod per chnl, and that will result in only about 70+ watts to each pod.

You dont really need an amp to power the 3 pairs of cabin speakers, if they are wired correctly......in series. Hopefully, the 2 bow speakers are on 2 chnls of the H/U and 1 pair in the main cabin are wired in series on the 3rd chnl, and the last pair is wired in series on the 4th H/U chnl. You will really want to consider an amp for the cabin speakers, it will be a night and day difference in performance and sound quality.

Mike, do you know of an alternative for the 700.5? Just looking for something little cheaper if I am planning on buying 2 amps.

p.s. Thanks for the help! I'm a first time boat owner and really didn't know where to start when it comes to the sound system. I can assume that the cabin speakers are wired correctly sense the came from the factory, right? I sure hope so.

AJ-

If funds are an issue, it is better to slowly build a system by buying parts as you can afford them, rather than going cheap now; cheap now is just a compromise you will be unhappy with in the longer term. Remember the goofy cliche': "you gotta pay to play"

If you are adding tower speakers, that is the immediate need for an amplifier. The ZX450.2 is ideal for the KMT6 if that is what you are going to run. Don't bother messing with trying to run something else off of the Z450.2. Let it put all its effort into the tower speakers.

Use the head-unit power to run the in-boat speakers for now, and save for the amp and sub. Remember that there is a significant expense that goes along with this and it is your power wiring. Sometimes the power wiring can cost as much as an amplifier and it is the last place you want to go skimpy...

Most good audio systems these days are set up with at least two amps; one for the boat and one for the tower. Strive to set yours up similarly and you will be much happier in the long run! Use the time that you are spending saving for your next purchase to really do some research, do some listening, check out some installs in other boats, and see if you can define a logical next purchase. Decide on an amp or amps, and a good sub. Put those on a wish list and shoot for them. Most of all have fun with it and take your time to do it right.

Phil
Kicker

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the info. Definitely going to help. I am for sure not looking to do anything the wrong way with the sound system. I bought a boat w/o the factory system so I could make sure I could put everything on the boat that I wanted to. If that means buying 2 amps that's cool. I'm really just new to the entire thing and was trying to consider options.
I have the tower speakers on order and will definitely be paring them with the z450 amp. In your opinion, is the mx700 ideal for the boat and sub? How many channels do I need to look for in an amp for 6 bow speakers and 1 woofer?

AJ-

For most in-boat speakers, the MX700.5 will do a great job if you want to use a single amplifier to run all of the in-boat stuff. A typical marine coax speaker will have a power handling of 50 watts to 75 watts RMS; some a little higher. The MX700.5 will run these speakers just fine. Then on the subwoofer, you can use one or two 4-ohm subwoofers on the sub section of that amp and get a little over 200 watts to each sub. 5 channels is totally appropriate for 6 coaxes and a single subwoofer.

You will read a lot about guys running L5 and L7 subwoofers from Kicker, and I know Tim at Wetsounds has the XS-XXX subwoofer you can pour a ton of power into. There are other high power woofers out there as well... IF you decide you want to go this route and run some mega-serious subs, you will find that the MX700.5 is underpowered for these subwoofers. In this case, if you decide to go with one of the higher-powered subs, you are going to be better served using a dedicated subwoofer amplifier that can deliver the power that the sub wants, and then a separate amp for the full range speakers.

If 50 - 65 watts on each in-boat coax and 200 watts on a sub is good, the MX700.5 is a good choice.

Good luck!

Phil
Kicker