Newbie Question

[weekendboater]

As I am considering all of the winter time boat projects . . . I have a few newbie stereo questions. I have a 22i with the standard stock kicker stereo system. I would like to add a little bit of bass to the system and have looked at some of the subwoofers that are on the market. I am leaning towards getting one that is in a box (or tube). What are the best ones? Where is the best place to mount it? Will it sound ok to put it in the passenger side compartment? Or under one of the front seats? Also, I am guessing that I would need another amp. I have seen that some of the bazooka base tubes include an amp. Does anyone have any experience with those?

Sorry for all of the questions. . . I dont really know where I am going exactly, so any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Best.

[skippabcool]

What year is your 22i? The best guy to ask is Chpthril.

[weekendboater]

2006

[chpthril]

1st - Stay away from your standard off-the-shelf sub box. They are just carpet covered naked MDF and will fall apart in a season or two. You need to build a custom plywood enclosure that resin coated or go with a pre-made molded polyethylene enclosure, such as Kicker's SKM-10, or a fiber glass enclosure.

2nd - For single sub system, I recommend you avoid placing the sub in an enclosed compartment. This needs to be a last resort, and if its done, your best results will be to vent the compartment. A closed up sub will make the boat rumble, but its musical properties will be stifled. It also takes 2x the power to gain what you get with a sub that is radiating out into the boats seating area.

3rd - If you current in-boats are not amplified, they need to be. This not only allows them to keep pace with sub, but also allows for proper tuning.

Now, if it were me, I would place the sub under the helm. I would look first to do a sealed enclosure (either method mentioned above) or possibly going with an Infinite-Baffle sub placed right through the bulkhead wall, depending on the construction of your boat.

[weekendboater]

Thanks chpthril.

1. Yes, I was looking at the SKM-10 or a bazooka tube. I was leaning towards the tube because it comes with an amp . . . which seemed easier to me.

2. I have an amp for the other speakers. I just figured that I would need to power the amp with another one. Am I wrong? I guess it would depend on the amp that I have . . . it looks pretty big but I dont know much about them.

3. Is there enough room under the helm to fit the SKM-10?

Thanks again.

[chpthril]

1. Yes, I was looking at the SKM-10 or a bazooka tube. I was leaning towards the tube because it comes with an amp . . . which seemed easier to me.

They do give the appearance of being easier. The powered Tubes still require the proper sized power and ground cables to be run from the battery to the amp. You will need to run a set of RCA cables and a remote turn-on wire from the head-unit to the amp. The Tube needs to fit the area where you want to place it. So dont discount an external amp and sub type setup.

I have an amp for the other speakers. I just figured that I would need to power the sub with another one. Am I wrong? I guess it would depend on the amp that I have . . . it looks pretty big but I dont know much about them.

It will depend on some factors. How many in-boats you currently have, what amp you currently have and how much bass you want. Unless you have a super tight budget, then I would leave the in-boats as is and do a sub/amp setup.

Is there enough room under the helm to fit the SKM-10?

That I cant answer, but the dimensions are roughly 24 x 16 x 8