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.

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

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,

You are set up optimal as far as close to the RMS ratings. When you run more power for instance a SYN-4 bridged on a pair of 80's would be 400x2 so twice the RMS ratings. You will gain a lot of headroom. You need to be a bit more careful as you will have a ton of power.

But when running more power you gain headroom. Which results in cleaner output as the amp is not having to work very hard to get the volume level to where you want it. The amp will also run cooler.

So think of it as putting a big v8 in a small car. That engine will barely need to work to get the car to cruising speed. So it will run cool and easily.

On our new demo boat we are running a SYN-4 on the pair of 80's and a SYN-4 on the pair of MB-8. It is a ton of power but set to a safe and super clean level.

If you want to add to your system, you could keep the SYN-2 on the PRO 60's and the SYN-4 on the 80's. And have tons of power. But as mentioned, be careful with tuning.

Most of the time you are more likely to blow a speaker with too little power than too much. But too much can be bad as well. It is a fine balance. With too little power, the gains are turned passed the level they should be and too much volume send the amp into clipping mode. Causing the amp to clip, sends a square wave to the speakers can damage a speakers. With more power the gains are not up as much so the clipping is less likely but can still happen. When you have so much power, if the speakers are over driven, then you can get into thermal failure issues etc...

Hope this helps.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim -

Tons of helpful insight... thank you for taking time to respond.
Brandon

Brandon, hows the ballast install going? Good to hear you figured out the prob with the amp.

Steve -

Still waiting on fitting from Fly High....
Hey where did you purchase your green impellers? My local wake shop cannot get them

Local MC dealer over here in AZ. Try this http://www.fairfieldsupply.com/servl...03-0107/Detail