Amp/Speaker help

[ajhamzehpour]

I recently had a tower replacement on my 2017 R21. I gained two new Rev-8 tower speakers as a part of replacing the tower. From the factory, I only had 2 tower speakers (Icon-8). Below is a list of what came stock.

I'm at a loss to understand if I'm under powering all of the speakers with the addition of the Rev8s with the MA300 head unit, HT2 and HT6 amps. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

R-Icon 8 Tower of Power System

• R-Premium Sound System = MA300 Bluetooth Head Unit+ 4 Wetsounds SS-65i Coaxial Speakers
• R- Power Premium Sound System = R-Premium Sound System+ 2 SS-65i Coaxial Speakers + HT 6 Amp + XS-1 OF A 1 O" Subwoofer
• R-Icon Tower of Power System = R-Power Premium Sound+ HT 2 AMP+ Icon Tower Speakers

[chpthril]

IMO, the in-boats is powered nicely. Can the 65ic handle more then 75W rms? Sure. Can the 10fa handle more then 300W rms? Sure. But I would not categorize the in-boat setup as under powered.

The tower pods are powered by 150W rms to each, from the HTX-2DPS. Will the Icon-8 handle more power? Sure. Will the Rev-8 handle more? Sure, about double.

My concern is the mix of coaxial and HLCD on the tower as well as wired together on the same amp chnls. The do not share the available wattage equally, like like size and type speakers do and they do not play the same frequencies at the same amplitude. You are better off with a 2nd pair of icon-8 or 2 pair of rev-8.

[ajhamzehpour]

Thanks for information. When I said under powering, I was referring to the fact that we added 2 additional tower speaks without adding an amp. It's running off what I had stock. I was just making sure that by adding two additional speakers it wasn't putting too much on the amp. To you point of mixed coaxial and HLCD, if that's just a sound quality issue, I might need to live with it as I can't justify buying additional ones just to match. Now, if you think it may cause issues with the amp or the speakers over the long run, that's a different story and I wouldn't want to shorten the life of each.

[chpthril]

In theory, the original pair was receiving 150w rms to each. With the addition of the 2nd pair, as long as they are wired in parallel, they are all, in theory, receiving 150W rms each. The amp's specs are 150 x 2 @ 4 ohm and 300 x 2 @ 2 ohm. So rather then state they are under powered, id say that the coaxials are getting decent wattage and HLCD are not pushed to their potential.

That 2 chnl is perfectly content powering 2 pair of speakers.

[ajhamzehpour]

Perfect. Thanks for explaining that. I've looked at a few diagrams of parallel wiring, so I'll confirm that when I get a chance. Appreciate the help.

[chpthril]

The rms output of the HTX-2 is, 150W to each speaker. The RMS rating of the icon-8 is 150W. So as stated above, the HTX-2 is a perfect match for 1 or 2 pair of icon-8. In order to make an audible difference, you need to almost double the wattage to the speaker. Now we are pushing the 300W range, the speakers peak or thermal power handling.

The unique scenario here, is there are two vastly different speakers wired together on the same amp. Different type, different power handling, different efficiency.

As noted above, both speakers could handle more wattage, but thats not the best solution here. I would check my expectations before making that $750 + labor investment on another amp.

[ajhamzehpour]

Up2plane, I only had my original Diamond tower for two days before it got crushed by a 3600lb tree branch, so I wasn't able to notice if there was flex in the tower when I was pulling people. The new M2 they replaced it with will be tested today and I'll keep an eye on it.

I am also eager to give the new speakers a test run today.

[ajhamzehpour]

I’ve noticed after a few hours with the new speakers installed on the tower that one of them has a low high pitched noise that it makes as well as one of my bow speakers makes very little noise. The 10” sub also barely hits. Also the Bluetooth disconnects all the time and won’t reconnect. Are these common issues for folks?

[chpthril]

Contact your Tige dealer regarding the service bulletin on the OEM installed DSP amps.

If they do replace the tower amp, make sure you get one tuned for 2 pair.

With that said, im guess that the speaker you hear the noise from, is the new Rev-8? Its so much more sensitive then the coaxial tweeter. I would also expect the paired icon-8 to also be omitting the same noise, just might not be as audible.

I would also check the head unit fro FADE and BALANCE settings for the bow speaker issue. next, id likely want the latest/greatest tune from Tige for the in-boat woofer amp.

[ajhamzehpour]

All great advice. I’ll check the things I can and bring the rest of up the dealer when I bring it for the break in service in the coming weeks.

[Tigehaynes]

So, I own a 2017 R23 myself. Boat came with 2 icon 8’s. Idded two more upon purchase. The boat also has 6 6-1/2” coax and a 10” free air sub with the ma 300 head unit and transform remote. All of them are powered by the same amps you have.

First off, the ma300 is absolute garbage!!!! That is the root of all your problems. You are basically running 3 separate “zones” from a single rca output from the head unit. The single output has been split 3 ways to provide input signal to the amps for the separate zones. Therefore reducing the input voltage “signal strength” to a point that the amps are not getting what they need to produce a clear signal.

To fix this, shitcan the ma300 and buy another marine unit with the appropriate amount of preouts. You really want one that provides a sub preout as well

Secondly, the amps have a stock tune that configured the amps to provide the zones the appropriate power and tuning required for the different speakers that are in the boat in various locations

With that being said, I just redid my whole system and kept most of what came with the boat intact. Only had to custom tune the dsp amps. I added 2 rev 10’s on the outside, moving tow of my icon 8’s firthernin and on swivel clamps. This allows me to turn them toward the front when I want to.... people can hear me coming and going now ... I then changed the free air 10” to a 12’ hp custom built ported box per the spec on wet sounds website.

In order to do this, I only had to add one amplifier for the rev 10’s. I changed my htx-2 to my be my sub amp. The htx -6 Power’s the 4 icon 8’s and the in boat speakers.

Oh and I changed the head unit to the wetsounds mc1 with total zone control and awesomeness!!!

This thing freaking rocks now! If anyone wants any additional info on specific details, feel free to reach out to me haynesc78@yahoo.com