2011 Sunsport 242 Stereo upgrades

I have a few questions for you stereo guys who may have worked on the 242s.

First of all I have the factory system with the kicker 6.5s everywhere, the Roswell light/speaker bar, and 12" kicker sub. Of course the sub is not build into an enclosure, but just into the cockpit kickboard, free air into the front seating area.

The stereo sounds very mediocre, is underpowered, and I'd like some upgraded sound. Not looking to be the loudest on the lake or anything like that. I eventually go with a couple sound projecting speakers on the towers, but that's for a later date on down the road.

The sub is quite pathetic to me (I'm sure due mostly to the factory just slapping it on the kick panel with no enclosure). I have some components that I got some killer deals on, and I plan on trying to use them if at all possible.

Here is what I have: I know it's not JL or Wetsounds, but I don't want to spend that kind of coin at this point, and like I said... I got this stuff brand new and super cheap.

I have 2X POLK DXI 12" DVC subs
I have 2X Kicker DX400.4 amps (car audio)

The amps are 4X50 @4ohm and 4X100 @2ohm.

First thing is, can I (edit someone) build an enclosure which will allow me to run the 2 12"s above in a sort of diagonal arrangement on the kickpanel. I know it is tight, but I think it should be able to be done. Any input here?

Next... I have decided I want to replace all of the factory 6.5 kicker coax speakers with Polk mm651UM 6.5s.

Does anyone know if I can install these Polk 6.5s in the Roswell cans on the light bar as well?

Also, if everything above sounds like it will work... do you think replacing and or adding to the factory amps with the 2 kicker amps above will do the trick to power the polk subs and the polk coax speakers throughout the boat?

I am also probably going to add a third battery to the existing two.

Any suggestions recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

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I have 2X POLK DXI 12" DVC subs

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Those are 4 ohm DVC subs, so your wiring options are either 1 ohm or 4 ohm. You are going to need a mono amp thats 1 ohm stable or will deliver the needed power @ 4 ohm. I would suggest running at 4 ohm as opposed to 1 ohm. You will need to shoot for between 600W rms and 1000W rms for that pair.

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I have 2X Kicker DX400.4 amps (car audio)

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Im not sure what amps are currently driving your in-boats, but with these amps, you are not likely to hear an audible difference in volume out of the in-boats or towers. You will need to either double the number of speakers or double the wattage to them. Changing speakers will certainly change how it sounds, as each speaker designer has their own sound signature. Only your ears will determine if its an improvement or not.

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12" kicker sub. Of course the sub is not build into an enclosure, but just into the cockpit kickboard, free air into the front seating area.

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Build a 1.0 ft3 enclosure, feed it a solid 400-500 watts rms and you would not know it was the same sub. One sub done correctly will trump 2 in a compromised enclosure. So giving those 2 12" polks ample volume is important.

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The stereo sounds very mediocre, is under powered

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Not uncommon at all for a manufacturer to use quality gear, but typically poorly tuned and minimum amperage to the speakers.

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do you think replacing and or adding to the factory amps with the 2 kicker amps above will do the trick to power the polk subs and the polk coax speakers throughout the boat?

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Hard to answer without knowing exactly what amps you have and how many speakers.

if you are going to expand the existing house bank, I would suggest installing 2 new matching batteries as opposed to just wiring a new one in parallel to an older used battery. It will greatly reduce its life and performance. If your plan is to spend time playing the system at anchor, it might be worth looking into using a shore charger to replenish that house bank and not rely on the alternator.

Thanks mike, so you are saying I can't add a third battery? I need to add 2 for a total of 4? The two I have right now are relatively new. Could I not just move both of them to the house and use a new battery for starting purposes?



On using the polk subs, Are you saying one sub would wire up with the DVC would total to 1ohm, or are you saying the two wired together to a single amp would total 1ohm. I would have thought one speaker wired with DVC would be 2ohm.?

Current Factory amps are kicker ZXM700.5 and kicker dx300.2

The speakers in the boat I believe there are are 8 X 6.5 coax and 4 X 6.5 in the roswell tower. Boat is not accessible at the moment, stored at the lake.

Thanks for all of your input. Greatly appreciated!

"Dual 4-ohm Voice Coils: This woofer features dual 4-ohm voice coils, offering wiring flexibility. When the voice coils are wired in parallel, the woofer presents a 2-ohm load. When the voice coils are wired in series, the woofer presents an 8-ohm load. Additionally, the coils can be connected to different amplifier channels and each channel will see a 4-ohm load."

This is from the documentation on the subs. So am I not reading this correctly?... If I used one of these amplifiers per sub, could I not just bridge each amp (2X200 @4ohm per the amp docs) , then wire the 2 channels of each amp to the 2 coil connections on each sub... in effect giving each sub 400 watts@ 4ohm? in this manner, each amp should be delivering a full 400W @4ohm to each sub. Sorry, this may be totally wrong.

Would this not be wiring them "independent" so that each amp is delivering max 2X200 @4ohm to each sub?

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Thanks mike, so you are saying I can't add a third battery? I need to add 2 for a total of 4? The two I have right now are relatively new. Could I not just move both of them to the house and use a new battery for starting purposes?

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I am suggesting that its not best for a new battery to be wired to an older, used battery. So if you want to have a 2-battery house bank for the stereo, it is best to use 2 new batteries that are the same type, brand and size. If you current 2 batteries are the same type, brand and size and are the same age and have had relatively the same use, then yes, you can wire them in parallel for the house bank, then purchase a new cranking for the primary starting bank. But, this would hinge on if your current batteries are deep-cycles or cranking.

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Are you saying one sub would wire up with the DVC would total to 1ohm, or are you saying the two wired together to a single amp would total 1ohm. I would have thought one speaker wired with DVC would be 2ohm.?

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Both 4 ohm DVC subs wired together would be either a 1 ohm or 4 ohm load at the amp.

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Current Factory amps are kicker ZXM700.5 and kicker dx300.2

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So these are staying as is and the pair of DX400.4 amps are just for the 2 subs?

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Would this not be wiring them "independent" so that each amp is delivering max 2X200 @4ohm to each sub?

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Wire each of the 4 voice coils to its own amp is doable, but its a tuning challenge.

Michael,

Yes, both of the current batteries are deep cycle batteries... indentical. This is why I was thinking of wiring them in parallel and buying a new cranking battery.

Now that I have thought about it, I am leaning towards using the factory amps as they are but only on all of the coax speakers . I was thinking I would then remove the current sub and replace with the polks each powered by a bridged dx400.4 amp.

The plan would eventually be to then upgrade the coax speakers in the entire boat, then buy a higher quality/beefier amp to run them all...

and finally... and this is eventually ... add a couple hlcd speakers to the tower (guess I'd need an amp to push them as well).

I really appreciate your advice. Can you explain the tuning challenge in using one amp for each sub, wired so they get a true 400 watts rms at 4ohms with each driver?

Don't think I mentioned, I have the factory option onboard charger and intend to use it when the boat is out of the water at the lake.

Thanks again!

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I really appreciate your advice. Can you explain the tuning challenge in using one amp for each sub, wired so they get a true 400 watts rms at 4ohms with each driver?

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Technically, those 4 chnl amps are two 2 chnl amps in one chassis, so you will have an independent set of controls for each sub voice coil. Thats 4 gains to set/match and 4 cross-overs to set/match.

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Originally Posted by Wylietunes

I am suggesting that its not best for a new battery to be wired to an older, used battery. So if you want to have a 2-battery house bank for the stereo, it is best to use 2 new batteries that are the same type, brand and size. If you current 2 batteries are the same type, brand and size and are the same age and have had relatively the same use, then yes, you can wire them in parallel for the house bank, then purchase a new cranking for the primary starting bank. But, this would hinge on if your current batteries are deep-cycles or cranking.



Both 4 ohm DVC subs wired together would be either a 1 ohm or 4 ohm load at the amp.



So these are staying as is and the pair of DX400.4 amps are just for the 2 subs?



Wire each of the 4 voice coils to its own amp is doable, but its a tuning challenge.

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So I finally had the custom box built into the kick area where the factory location is. The very modest airspace requirement of the Polks... allowed my builder to only use about 1 inch of additional leg space from factory for the sealed enclosure. The dual 12 setup looks and fits great. He is still fabbing up some aluminum grills for me.

FYI, the subs were dual 4ohm dvc drivers, so I did as I initially wanted, I bridged each sub and ran left channel to one coil and right channel to the other coil with each amp driving a sub. 400 rms of class d power to each sub (actually 472 if the handwritten test cert doc that came with the amp is to be believed)

So running each channel at 4ohm across the board. This setup absolutely pounds and the sound quality is amazing. I don't say this lightly because I have some very high end home stereo gear.

I'm very happy with my result. He build a custom mounting for the amps. Amps run nice and cool.

My next order of business is to add that third battery.


Then the next dilemma...

I want to get a couple HLCD tower speakers. I really like my roswell tower, and would like to keep it and add a couple Exhile xm9 HLCDs.

Is there a way I can add 2 of these and keep the Roswell light/speaker bar and the cargo rack together?

THoughts?

THanks,

J