Tower speaker help

Hey guys getting first pair of speakers for boat. Looking at this:

-Arial Tower speakers

-MTX TM452 2 channel amp

now comes the fun part.

I was looking at

http://www.onlyinboards.com/ski-boat-accessories/krypt-dyi.html

at the bottom the wiring harness..

And I was wondering where to get an amp install kit?

and what kind of connectors for the speakers would I need?

I know I have lots of questions but wanna make sure I get everything I need when I order it...

Thanks guys!

The Airial tower cans come with some sort of binding post included. Most are either spring-loaded or thumb screws and do not require any kind of connector on the end of the wire.

An amp install kit for an automobile will not help you with a boat install. The auto kits will have about a 3' length of ground cable and 15' of power cable. What you need are two equal lengths of ground and power cable to reach from the battery to the amp install location. The best solution is to just by the power and ground wire in bulk, cut to the length you need.

If your batteries are near the amp install location, you can just take the long length of power cable and cut it to length and use it for both the power and ground. You dont really need two different color wires, it just make the install look better and helps keep the polarity correct.

Auto amp install kits also come with a fuse/fuse holder. I prefer to use marine rated manual-reset circuit breakers......especially if the battery is located in the engine/bilge area.

Here is a pic

^^^That's just for the cans, and no speakers.

Correct! But still a good deal to get some HLCD's.

check e bay they have an online store j's right hlcd's are 175 a pair mine came yesterday.though you will still need cans.diy wake sell's them cheap,and they are sturdy enoughf to carry the extra weight cause these things are heavy

Well I had my mind made up on the Arial speakers.Thanks for your opinion. But all I wanted to know was what do I need for wiring? If I were to get 4 speakers how would the wiring work? TigeMike I know you are the man to talk to about electronics...Help me out a little more....Thanks!

The wiring kit in your link is 4x14ga, which means it's 4 lengths of 14 gauge wire in a sheath. So, you will have 2 positives (+) and 2 negatives (-). In order to wire 4 speakers, you will need to wire each pair in parallel (speaker's + to +/- to - of one pair, then repeat with other) and then use 2 of the wires (1 for + and 1 for -) of the 4 wires to run down the tower to the amp. You will then need to repeat with the other pair that's wired in parallel.

I think the easiest way will be to just run a short section of wire from the + and - of one can to the + and - of the can next to it, then from that can, connect 2 wires of the tower wire harness. Do the same for the other 2 speakers. Just keep track of the polarity (+'s and -'s), it does matter.

From the underside of the bulk-head pass-thru, you will need to run 2 pair of 2 conductor speaker wire to the amp.

Yup tigemike has always had answers for my questions. He's the man

TigeMike is definitely the boat electronics guru!!! Mike you are the man! Thanks to both of ya'll for your help!!!

not seeing any for $175 anywhere?

Yeah I had to use a code. Somebody posted the same code up on "themalibucrew.com" It's "6.5 HLCD" just use that as the discount code.

just got a pair. I have read all the bad/good reviews of the owner of bulletlines, and his business practices, but $198.57 to my door is unbeatable + they will fit into my stock cans. Win/Win. Ill be sure to post my experience doing business with him.

Are these the speakers you guys are talking about?
http://cgi.ebay.com/WAKEBOARD-TOWER-HLCD-TOWER-SPEAKERS-SPEAKER_W0QQitemZ230421340026QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a62e9f7a

Yup. or you can just go to bulletlines.com

i just got a pair and some underwater led's shipped items quick have not installed them yet but look to be a nice product.

What was the code? I don't see the discount anywhere.

^ COuple of posts up. "6.5 HLCD"

duff if you cant find the code drop him a line on his ebay store im shure he will give you that price i paid a little less than price above

Duffy from the CC forums?

@ h20king what price did you get them at? During auction or on sale?

I still say $200 to my door for a pair HLCD's is a deal!

Ha! The Ebay seller "boarding007" Must be Ken doin playing games again. The pic on the bottom left of this auction is my boat & wife.... notice the Comptech SkySki racks.
And those are stock Malibu 6 LED lights!

smitty got them at auction price match for 185.00 delivered.Bill not shure what games you refer to once pics are posted on the internet they are public domain.to me it was clear pics were just an example of mounting location.Yes it is ken's sight i read evreything and decided to form my own opinion.he was great to deal with shipped quick and the products are nice at the right price.smitty when install is done ill post pics on cc

@h20king I didnt even realize you were from CC as well.

nice ill be looking for the post. you putting them in stock cans as well?

not stock cans but will be putting them in the cans i allready have. the diywake winged light bar speaker combo.installed it last summer fits the space on the double up tower perfect.

Thats interesting that you see it that way, Harold. I understand that the pic was on the net & accessible. But it is being used to advertise a product that it clearly is NOT. This company did this in the past (showing fiberglass repair work that was not his to advertise his own repair work) & it didn't go over well at all.
Now he's doing it again.

And be aware that the location of those lights are not going to work for the average Malibu owner/wakeboarder. Your more than welcome to use my install location, but you will have problems.

bill it was just obviouse to me that they were not the lights advertised as they were oval not round to me it just looked like an example.if all you do is sell product and dont install any of it you have to get example photos from somewhere and what better place than the web jmo.

Tell that to G.

ok tigemike, i have been doin my research...have gotten most everything...What gauge wire should i get for ground and power? also was looking at the circuit breakers and what should I get IYO....I'm just steps away from having my tower hooked up

Did the Amp come with an external fuse or does it have couple fuses plugged in the end? What ever amperage the external fuse is or the sum of the fuses plugged into the end of the amp is what amperage the breaker needs to be.

For wire, my gut says 4 gauge for the power and ground, but what is the distance from the battery to the amp just to be sure.

the battery is back near the motor....amp will be right there near the cd player...just for convenience. so maybe 10-12 ft?

Yep, 4Ga and probably a 60A breaker.

okay man i definitely appreciate it!

excited to get and hear my speakers!

(Message edited by smitty1258 on January 15, 2010)

(Message edited by smitty1258 on January 15, 2010)

Sorry to be so late to thread. I got the bullet tower speaker kit. It did the job nicely, but in retrospect I would not use it again. First the quick connecter is not needed IMO. It also gets corroded easily and is poor quality plastic.

In addition, like was said above, that particular wire only has 4 wires inside it. That is enough for tower speakers only but not a tower-top nav light or anything else. I heard halogen lights should be wired on the opposite side of the tower though so that may not be an issue. Good luck.

Also dont get a car amp wiring kit. They are not long enough or that great of quality.

For anyone considering Krypt Audio products you might want to first read this thread:

Caveat-Emptor-specials

How would those bullett lines hlcd's in a pair compare to a set of the kicker ktm6's? And be honest!! Just curious because I am really close to getting a set of the kickers. I would be hooking them up to an ARC audio 1000•2. Just curious.

Arc 1000. 1 or .2? Dont know of a 1000.2 from Arc audio yet.

Steve, do you have cans to drop in the bulletlines or were you needing to buy loaded cans? if you have cans, check out Kicker's new KM6500.2 system. http://www.kicker.com/km65002

I'll have to check the arc amp again, I know it is an older 1000 watt amp that was used for a sub that I picked up for about $80. I havnt bought anything yet, but have heard good and bad about both. Just seems around $190 for hlcd's seems like a great deal on a budget. Still leaning toward the kickers though. I just want something that will reach the rider.
I just checked and it is an ARC Kar series 1000.2. I also looked at the kicker 6500.2 and didn't know if they were available yet.

(Message edited by skongolf on January 21, 2010)

I havent heard the bulletlined hlcd's, so I cant give you a fair comparison but based on the info in the link posted by Dave @ Earmark, i'd be a little nervous to invest in them. Looks like their back-door source may dry up.

What I can tell you is that the KTM6's are my favorite budget tower speaker setup. When driven with a good 150+ watts (4 Ohm specs) from a 2 chnl amp, they are impressive. They will project to the rider. I only know of 3 guys that were not pleased: 1 had the wrong amp, 1 had a bad amp and was impressed once an amp change was done, and the other set his expectations too high, IMO, and wanted the volume of Pro80's for the price of of the Kickers. In the end, he swapped them out for the 80's. I still dont think he had them amp'd or set right anyway. $.02

The KM6500.2's should be available by March. They will require a 4-can setup, or 6 if you add on an additional set of mids.

Ok, found the specs on the Kar 1000.2T. It will deliver 240 X 2 @ 4ohm. That more then enough to power whatever you want!

hate to say any thing good after what i know now but the truth is the bullet lines hlcd's rock they are loud clear and put out some nice bass.my wife got me a set for christmas so i will run them till they die then replace with bullet hollowpoint hlcd's but for the price they are hard to beat