Car Stereo guys - quick marine stereo question (probably dumb) (1 Viewer)

[Dentist]

I have a pioneer head unit on my boat a 4X50W .. so subs or anything fancy

I have 4 regular speakers hooked up to that head unit.

If I wanted to add 2 more speakers to the system (fairly low wattage speakers) can i just wire them into the same wire the other 2 front speakers are on? Or am I going to blow something up?

Is this called "bridging" speakers?

 

[johnnycakes]

Boat? Those are a notorious money pit, fwiw.

 

[[icon]]

Ohm load is what you want to look at here. I'm NOT a audio engineer nor did I stay at holiday inn express last night... however:

If your amp is rated to 4 Ohms then each channel can handle 4 Ohm resistance.

If your speakers are 4 Ohm speakers then adding another per channel would drop the resistance to 2 Ohms on that channel, greatly increasing the odds your blow everything up in a blast resembling hiroshima (or just toast your amp/speakers). If your speakers are 8Ohm speakers and your amp can handle 4 Ohm loads, then you can likely run 2 speakers per channel without issue.

Good writeup here >

BRIDGING refers to narrowing the channel focus of an amp to increase wattage output. EX bridging a 2x150W amp down to a 1x300W output for a single driver/channel.

 

[Hawks64]

I have a pioneer head unit on my boat a 4X50W .. so subs or anything fancy

I have 4 regular speakers hooked up to that head unit.

If I wanted to add 2 more speakers to the system (fairly low wattage speakers) can i just wire them into the same wire the other 2 front speakers are on? Or am I going to blow something up?

Is this called "bridging" speakers?

You'll possibly blow the head unit, it's not bridging it's running parallel IIRC in it will halve your resistance which means it will suck more wattage than your head unit can provide burning it up.

 

[johnnycakes]

I have a pioneer head unit on my boat a 4X50W .. so subs or anything fancy

I have 4 regular speakers hooked up to that head unit.

If I wanted to add 2 more speakers to the system (fairly low wattage speakers) can i just wire them into the same wire the other 2 front speakers are on? Or am I going to blow something up?

Is this called "bridging" speakers?

You'll possibly blow the head unit, it's not bridging it's running parallel IIRC in it will halve your resistance which means it will suck more wattage than your head unit can provide burning it up.

Hence, the money pit.

 

[Dentist]

Ohm load is what you want to look at here. I'm NOT a audio engineer nor did I stay at holiday inn express last night... however:

If your amp is rated to 4 Ohms then each channel can handle 4 Ohm resistance.

If your speakers are 4 Ohm speakers then adding another per channel would drop the resistance to 2 Ohms on that channel, greatly increasing the odds your blow everything up in a blast resembling hiroshima (or just toast your amp/speakers). If your speakers are 8Ohm speakers and your amp can handle 4 Ohm loads, then you can likely run 2 speakers per channel without issue.

Good writeup here >

BRIDGING refers to narrowing the channel focus of an amp to increase wattage output. EX bridging a 2x150W amp down to a 1x300W output for a single driver/channel.

OK - so basically i need to check my speakers Ohm levels. The head unit handles 4 Ohms just fine per the instruction manual.

But I haven't looked at my speakers in awhile.. I'll have to check and see what those are.

I hope they are 8Ohm so I can do this.. if they are 4ohm I think the project is dead as I'm not getting new speakers

 

[[icon]]

Ohm load is what you want to look at here. I'm NOT a audio engineer nor did I stay at holiday inn express last night... however:

If your amp is rated to 4 Ohms then each channel can handle 4 Ohm resistance.

If your speakers are 4 Ohm speakers then adding another per channel would drop the resistance to 2 Ohms on that channel, greatly increasing the odds your blow everything up in a blast resembling hiroshima (or just toast your amp/speakers). If your speakers are 8Ohm speakers and your amp can handle 4 Ohm loads, then you can likely run 2 speakers per channel without issue.

Good writeup here >

BRIDGING refers to narrowing the channel focus of an amp to increase wattage output. EX bridging a 2x150W amp down to a 1x300W output for a single driver/channel.

OK - so basically i need to check my speakers Ohm levels. The head unit handles 4 Ohms just fine per the instruction manual.

But I haven't looked at my speakers in awhile.. I'll have to check and see what those are.

I hope they are 8Ohm so I can do this.. if they are 4ohm I think the project is dead as I'm not getting new speakers

Without knowing anything else about the system, that is a reasonably safe assumption. Be sure to wire them properly too (see diagrams in link)

 

[Hawks64]

Ohm load is what you want to look at here. I'm NOT a audio engineer nor did I stay at holiday inn express last night... however:

If your amp is rated to 4 Ohms then each channel can handle 4 Ohm resistance.

If your speakers are 4 Ohm speakers then adding another per channel would drop the resistance to 2 Ohms on that channel, greatly increasing the odds your blow everything up in a blast resembling hiroshima (or just toast your amp/speakers). If your speakers are 8Ohm speakers and your amp can handle 4 Ohm loads, then you can likely run 2 speakers per channel without issue.

Good writeup here >

BRIDGING refers to narrowing the channel focus of an amp to increase wattage output. EX bridging a 2x150W amp down to a 1x300W output for a single driver/channel.

OK - so basically i need to check my speakers Ohm levels. The head unit handles 4 Ohms just fine per the instruction manual.

But I haven't looked at my speakers in awhile.. I'll have to check and see what those are.

I hope they are 8Ohm so I can do this.. if they are 4ohm I think the project is dead as I'm not getting new speakers

Without knowing anything else about the system, that is a reasonably safe assumption. Be sure to wire them properly too (see diagrams in link)

They are likely 4 as if you were running 8ohm speakers they would likely have been blown. I would assume that they are car speakers which are almost always 4.

 

[sbonomo]

You want to run the speakers in series (see here http://www.termpro.com/asp/pubs.asp?ID=124). This will increasing the ohms, which decreases the power, which should be safe for your application. Back in the day before they had expensive amps that can handle 2 ohm, 1 ohm even 1/2 ohm these days this is how we handle it. Also, why don't you just buy an amp? They are easy to wire and can run directly from your Ipod.

 

[Dentist]

Ohm load is what you want to look at here. I'm NOT a audio engineer nor did I stay at holiday inn express last night... however:

If your amp is rated to 4 Ohms then each channel can handle 4 Ohm resistance.

If your speakers are 4 Ohm speakers then adding another per channel would drop the resistance to 2 Ohms on that channel, greatly increasing the odds your blow everything up in a blast resembling hiroshima (or just toast your amp/speakers). If your speakers are 8Ohm speakers and your amp can handle 4 Ohm loads, then you can likely run 2 speakers per channel without issue.

Good writeup here >

BRIDGING refers to narrowing the channel focus of an amp to increase wattage output. EX bridging a 2x150W amp down to a 1x300W output for a single driver/channel.

OK - so basically i need to check my speakers Ohm levels. The head unit handles 4 Ohms just fine per the instruction manual.

But I haven't looked at my speakers in awhile.. I'll have to check and see what those are.

I hope they are 8Ohm so I can do this.. if they are 4ohm I think the project is dead as I'm not getting new speakers

Without knowing anything else about the system, that is a reasonably safe assumption. Be sure to wire them properly too (see diagrams in link)

They are likely 4 as if you were running 8ohm speakers they would likely have been blown. I would assume that they are car speakers which are almost always 4.

They are marine grade box speakers... enclosed because i didn't have anywhere to flush mount and they needed to be waterproof

 

[Osaurus]

Waiting for Joe to chime in before I comment

 

[Dentist]

You want to run the speakers in series (see here http://www.termpro.com/asp/pubs.asp?ID=124). This will increasing the ohms, which decreases the power, which should be safe for your application. Back in the day before they had expensive amps that can handle 2 ohm, 1 ohm even 1/2 ohm these days this is how we handle it. Also, why don't you just buy an amp? They are easy to wire and can run directly from your Ipod.

What do you mean about buying an amp? I guess i'm too dumb to know what you mean.

I basically just setup my portable xm satellite radio or android device and hook it up through the aux-in for music now.

 

[sbonomo]

You want to run the speakers in series (see here http://www.termpro.com/asp/pubs.asp?ID=124). This will increasing the ohms, which decreases the power, which should be safe for your application. Back in the day before they had expensive amps that can handle 2 ohm, 1 ohm even 1/2 ohm these days this is how we handle it. Also, why don't you just buy an amp? They are easy to wire and can run directly from your Ipod.

What do you mean about buying an amp? I guess i'm too dumb to know what you mean.

I basically just setup my portable xm satellite radio or android device and hook it up through the aux-in for music now.

you buy a seperate amp that will run the speakers rather than the head unit. You can run a cable directly from the amp that you plug your Ipod or xm into and bypass the head unit. It will put out way more power and give you a much cleaner sound. see:http://www.crutchfield.com/p_575P2002/Rockford-Fosgate-Punch-P2002.html?tp=115&awkw=75644142865&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=47697692665&awdv=c

 

[EddieSpaghetti]

Why is it that you want to add 2 more speakers? Are you needing more sound or just want it to be louder? Depending on the size of the boat the 4 speakers should be plenty if you install an amplifier...

What size are the speakers? 6.5", 5"x7", 6"x9"?

The system will run much more efficient and sound better if you get a 4 or 6 channel amp...Depending on how many speakers you decide to go with

One example of "Bridging" is when you have a 2-channel amp and one speaker or subwoofer...In order to get the most power and efficiency out of the amp you would connect the positive from the speaker to one channel's positive terminal and the negative from the speaker to the other channel's negative terminal.

 

[Dentist]

Why is it that you want to add 2 more speakers? Are you needing more sound or just want it to be louder? Depending on the size of the boat the 4 speakers should be plenty if you install an amplifier...

What size are the speakers? 6.5", 5"x7", 6"x9"?

The system will run much more efficient and sound better if you get a 4 or 6 channel amp...Depending on how many speakers you decide to go with

One example of "Bridging" is when you have a 2-channel amp and one speaker or subwoofer...In order to get the most power and efficiency out of the amp you would connect the positive from the speaker to one channel's positive terminal and the negative from the speaker to the other channel's negative terminal.

I need sound in different locations on the boat, not louder

 

[GTBilly]

To answer your question yes.