Stereo Schematic - Waddaya think?

[sybrmike]

Played around at lunch today & threw together a sketch for a new stereo system. Clarion CMD6 head unit, one 4 x 60W amp, one 2 x 180W + 1 x 360W amp, four in-boat speakers, two tower speakers, one sub (speakers TBD). Amps are Pyle (pyle of junk I know, but hey I picked em up for 50 bucks total) and above outputs are probably more realistic than the claimed 1000W and 2000W respectively. On a budget, but it'll be better than what's in there now (aka - nothing) and want to make this as "clean" as possible.

Receiver has power, memory power, illumination power, and ground inputs. Outputs are remote turn-on, 4 RCA line outs for in-boat speakers, a set of RCA L/R no-fade (level can be adjusted from head unit), and a set of RCA L/R fixed output. The four in-boat speakers are pretty straightforward - line outs from the head to an amp to the speakers. For the sub, take one channel of the no-fade outputs to the amp to the sub. I can use the audio control of the head unit to adjust sub volume instead of bass boost knob of the amp (cleaner signal?). For the tower speakers, take the L/R fixed output channels through a PAC LC-1 to the amp to the speakers. Make sense?

I know I should wire the amps directly to the deep cycle battery, but here come the questions:
1. Should I wire the head unit directly as well?
2. Should I pass the head unit power through the "Stereo" switch on the dash or is that a potential source of noise?
3. Same with the "Nav Lights" switch for the illumination?
4. Ground the head unit straight to the battery?
5. Can I take just the L or R channel of the no-fade output to drive the sub or do I need to somehow combine the channels so I don't lose any audio signal?
6. How much volume does a 12" sub enclosure need?
7. Recommended power & speaker wire gauge?
8. Do I need special waterproof connectors or will standard automotive crimps do?

As usual, thanks in advance for the input...

[zalamander]

Played around at lunch today & threw together a sketch for a new stereo system. Clarion CMD6 head unit, one 4 x 60W amp, one 2 x 180W + 1 x 360W amp, four in-boat speakers, two tower speakers, one sub (speakers TBD). Amps are Pyle (pyle of junk I know, but hey I picked em up for 50 bucks total) and above outputs are probably more realistic than the claimed 1000W and 2000W respectively. On a budget, but it'll be better than what's in there now (aka - nothing) and want to make this as "clean" as possible.

Receiver has power, memory power, illumination power, and ground inputs. Outputs are remote turn-on, 4 RCA line outs for in-boat speakers, a set of RCA L/R no-fade (level can be adjusted from head unit), and a set of RCA L/R fixed output. The four in-boat speakers are pretty straightforward - line outs from the head to an amp to the speakers. For the sub, take one channel of the no-fade outputs to the amp to the sub. I can use the audio control of the head unit to adjust sub volume instead of bass boost knob of the amp (cleaner signal?). For the tower speakers, take the L/R fixed output channels through a PAC LC-1 to the amp to the speakers. Make sense?

I know I should wire the amps directly to the deep cycle battery, but here come the questions:
1. Should I wire the head unit directly as well? I would wire it directly unless switch on dash. Just make sure to have inline fuse
2. Should I pass the head unit power through the "Stereo" switch on the dash or is that a potential source of noise? Umm... see above. As long as you have good grounding, it should not have noise. The switch prob. has breaker or fuse built into it.
3. Same with the "Nav Lights" switch for the illumination? Kinda confused on illumination... your head unit should have a memory wire that you will want hard wired into battery, I don't know if this is the illumination wire you are referring to.
4. Ground the head unit straight to the battery? I did this on mine and it worked fine. I think a better option would be to ground it to the engine block. Same with your amps.
5. Can I take just the L or R channel of the no-fade output to drive the sub or do I need to somehow combine the channels so I don't lose any audio signal?This one I'm not sure on... I think you can, but you should get another opinion.
6. How much volume does a 12" sub enclosure need? I think you will need at least one (1) cubic foot of volume for a 12" sub.
7. Recommended power & speaker wire gauge? The thicker the gauge the better.
8. Do I need special waterproof connectors or will standard automotive crimps do? I always solder my connections and then use waterproof shrink-wrap over them.

As usual, thanks in advance for the input... No problem... hope this helps.

[saltare inverts]

Nicely answered cybermike.

[Okie Boarder]

1. I wired mine directly and it seems to work well.
2. I agree with zalamander.
3. I'm confused also. Does the deck have a seperate "illumination" wire? If so, I think that is normally connected up to dash illumination in a car so you can use the dimmer to adjust along with the rest of the dash illumination.
4. This is what I did, as well.
5. Why are you wanting to only use one output? I'd combine them if I was you. It won't happen too often but occassionally you might have sound only on one channel in certain songs. You wouldn't have signal to that channel for that moment which means your sub puts out nothing. Not sure how often this would happen, but it's a possibility. Does your head unit have a sub out?
6. yeah, 1-1.5 cf. Check around online or with the mfg of the sub and you can find out exactly what size you need.
7. I agree with the thicker the better. I'm going 12 ga all around on mine.
8. You can solder or crimp and then heat shrink. There are schools of thought for both methods.

[saltare inverts]

Illumination is for the radio lights, positive is for memory internal amp etc.

[zalamander]

If it has seperate illumination, I'd plug it in with your dash/nav lights for sure.

[sybrmike]

Thanks guys. Pretty consistant messages. Yeah, the unit has a separate illumination power lead that' I'll just tie to the dash/nav lights. Guess it would work with a guage light dimmer if I had one.

Still looking for an answer on #5. The unit does not have a dedicated sub output. Besides the standard line level RCA outputs for LF, RF, LR, and RR, the unit has a pair of "no fade" Left and Right RCA line outs. These are not affected by the fader control, but instead have a separate level adjustment in the audio control menu. I'm afraid if I just grab the L or R channel, I might lose the bass from the unused channel. Can they just be Y'd together?

The last pair of outputs are "fixed". Plan to put a PAC LC-1 inline to the tower speakers. Figured since these will probably be adjusted more frequently and independent of the boat volume, a dedicated adjustment knob would be better than fumbling through audio control menus.

Thanks again.

[Okie Boarder]

I'm not sure which amp you're going to use for your sub, but you have a lot of options. Definitely use L/R of whatever output you choose. I think the adjustable output would be best for the sub. If you use the one channel amp, just run the L/R into it. If it only has one input, use a "Y". If you use the two channel, use the L/R and bridge the outputs. I would assume you're probably going to use the 1 channel amp for the sub, right?

[sybrmike]

I've installed a few car stereos & HT before, but never bridged an amp, so please excuse my ingnorance with this. It's a 6 channel amp & the manual says it can be bridged into a 2 + 1 ( Tower L/R + Sub) configuration, but the manual doesn't have any diagrams for this setup. I emailed the mfg, but haven't gotten a reply yet.

I've got four total low level RCA outputs from the head unit to drive these three speakers:

L and R Tower Speakers - FIXED output Left, Fixed output Right
Subwoofer - NO-FADE Left, NO-FADE Right

4 RCA's in and 6 speaker wires out -something's gotta be Y'ed somewhere???

[Okie Boarder]

I haven't ever done a multi-channel like that so I'm not sure either.

[sybrmike]

Still no reply from the mfg to my email inquiry - probaby waiting for a Chinese translation.

Anybody know how this should be wired?