Novice Speaker/Stereo Question

[22ba]

I just had two Wetsounds pro 60's and a kicker amp added to the 4 "in-boat" Wetsounds and stock Clarion head unit. My question is: What do I need to do to be able to shut off the in-boat speakers and just run the tower speakers?

[philwsailz]

Are the in-boat speakers being driven by their own amp? If so, you can install a simple switch on the in-boat amp's power-turn-on lead.

If the in-boat speakers are being driven by the radio, it is a lot tougher, but doable. We would use 4 relays, one for each of the radio's speaker outputs. The relays would be installed on the "+" lead of each speaker wire pair. Then the 4 relays would be connected so that a switch would drive all 4 relays. flip the switch, and you disconnect all four corners of head unit speaker output.


Hopefully you have an amp...


Phil
Kicker

[22ba]

Unfortunately the in-boat speakers are running of the head unit.

[philwsailz]

Let me draw a schematic.

Can you follow schematics okay?

[philwsailz]

Below is a picture that describes the relay rig for turning the speakers off.

You want to use the 5-lug relays for this in my opinion. I assume the in-boat speakers will be on more than off, and using a 5-lug relay allows this setup to pull zero current during normal use, when the in-boats and the towers are running.

Right near the back of the radio, you want to cut one lead each of the speaker wire pairs. There is a white pair, a gray pair, a green pair, and a purple pair. For each pair there is a solid colored wire, and one with a black stripe or black dashes... I show cutting the solid colored wire, but it doesn't really matter if you cut the black striped wires. ONLY MAKE 4 CUTS, NOT 8

Connect the freshly cut wire ends between terminal 30 and terminal 87A on the relay for each of the four speaker wire pairs. I only show green for clarity, as the pic would get real crowded if I showed all four.

The power for the relays is easy. Tap the red powere wire going into the radio. run a new powerwire off of that tap to a switch. The connect another piece of wire on the other side of the switch and run it daisy-chain style to all four relays and connect to terminal 85. Connect all terminal 86 lugs to a ground wire and run that to the ground wire on the back of the radio.


When it is all done, you can flip the switch, and it will energize all four relays, opening the switches inside, and your speakers will turn off! Sweet huh?

Be sure to make solid connections for all of this and insulate your finished work well, to prevent accidental shorting.

Good luck with it!

Phil
Kicker

[Duncan]

I just had two Wetsounds pro 60's and a kicker amp added to the 4 "in-boat" Wetsounds and stock Clarion head unit. My question is: What do I need to do to be able to shut off the in-boat speakers and just run the tower speakers?

While it would not shut the in-boat speakers "off", you can use a WS420EQ to adjust relative volume between in-boat and tower speakers.

[22ba]

Thanks philwsailz! Even I can fololow that!