Kyle's 24V Stereo Upgrade

[kjohnson709]

All my components came in from Mike awhile ago and I was finally able to carve out some time to work on the boat stereo today! I was able to swap out all 4 of the old in boat speakers for the KM65’s, remove the old tower speakers (every connection inside the enclosures was rusted!), test and catalog each amp channel so I know exactly what is powering what and I also removed both batteries to free up room to work. Next up I want to mount my additional speakers and run the 0AWG wires up from the batteries/Perko switch.

My original plan was to add two KM8’s to the boat interior to go along with the 4 KM65’s in the stock mounting locations (2 in bow and 2 in main cabin) but I am having trouble deciding where to mount the KM8’s. Any other 22v or 24v owners add additional in boat speakers? If so, where did you mount? Maybe…

1) At the mid ship locker in the walkway?
2) On the dash (probably have windshield clearance issues)
3) On the floor near the in boat cooler. I think if I carve away the foam I might have enough depth clearance but it will be close.

Lastly, I want to go with KM8’s on the tower but it is going to be tight squeeze. Based on the grill size which is also the diameter of the speaker enclosure, I will have only about 1 inch until the speaker hits my Bimini top support. Thanks for viewing and any feedback!

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[Stingreye]

I took out the under seat cooler and its now storage for Ropes, helmets, tool box, etc etc. Its a huge compartment with the cooler out. My boat had four in cabin speakers and 2 in the bow. They put one in the cooler compartment and another towards the front of the compartment behind the driver firing toward middle of main area. Not sure if thats the best areas but that's where mine are.

[kjohnson709]

I took out the under seat cooler and its now storage for Ropes, helmets, tool box, etc etc. Its a huge compartment with the cooler out. My boat had four in cabin speakers and 2 in the bow. They put one in the cooler compartment and another towards the front of the compartment behind the driver firing toward middle of main area. Not sure if thats the best areas but that's where mine are.

Thanks you for the idea on removing the cooler. I didn't think of that because underneath is unfinished fiberglass but I suppose I could coat the inside with epoxy or even paint to make it look a little nicer. We currently only use the cooler for storage so it makes since to open it up for more storage!

[chpthril]

Under the windshield would be my least favorite spot, as they tend to be dominate to the captain (when theres one under the STBD side windshield, and the observer's seat. This sometimes require them to be on their own amp chnls so they can be gained down to bring them in balance with the other main cabin speakers.

[kjohnson709]

Under the windshield would be my least favorite spot, as they tend to be dominate to the captain (when theres one under the STBD side windshield, and the observer's seat. This sometimes require them to be on their own amp chnls so they can be gained down to bring them in balance with the other main cabin speakers.

Thanks Mike. I like the idea of removing the cooler. More storage and room for speaker to mount!

[kjohnson709]

Got my two 8 inch speakers mounted today. My jigsaw skills aren't the best but the finished product came out clean. I didn't realize the boat floor would get in the way when trying to turn the saw to round the bottom. Tomorrow I plan to cut the hole and mount the subwoofer. Anyone have any tips or tool advice to do this? I will need to cut through the fiberglass and carpet. Maybe cut the carpet out first with a razor then saw the glass? For the holes I cut today I used a jig saw with a metal cutting blade (fine tooth). Any tips would be appreciated!

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[chpthril]

I like to cut the carpet and peel it off, then cut the round hole. Router with circle jug works well if you have room to swing it. Jigsaw works well, but again, you have to have room to swing. What they call a body saw, used in auto-body repair, works well. Compact, straight, reciprocating and the blades are narrow.

[kjohnson709]

I was successful in getting the subwoofer and amplifiers mounted. One trick I thought of was to trace the dimensions of the amplifiers out on cardboard so I could visualize where they would mount and where my wire runs and connections would go. I am hoping to start the wiring this weekend. below are some photos of the progress.

Also, a couple of preliminary questions on wiring?

1) There is already one amp turn on wire running from the head unit to the amp location (was connected to old amp). Now that I am running two amplifiers can I just splice this wire into two and connect one to each amp or does each amp need its own dedicated amp turn on wire?

2) the old single amp was powered by 4AWG positive and ground cables running from the Perko switch and B- up to the amps. I plan to replace these and run with 0AWG. But the B+ wires running from the batteries to the perko switch itself are also 4awg. Should I/do I need to replace these with 0AWG as well? If so I bet I will need a new Perko switch that can accept 0AWG connections?

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[kjohnson709]

P.S. - sorry for all of the sideways photos. They are not sideways on my phone or when I open up each Jpeg file on the computer. Idk why they turn out sideways on the forum.

[sandm]

personally, and I am sure Chp will be along to guide you, but if it was my install I would do the following:

1) I'd splice the remote wire to all amps. I have only ever ran a single wire and split it to all amps once at their location. no need to run a separate wire for each one. the deck typically only has 1 remote wire out and has to be split at some point.

2)I am sure you will get some other opinions on this but if it was my system I'd run a 4gauge from perko to a distribution block, fused block near the amps and then 4 or 8 depending on amps needs to each amp from there(assuming you also have a fuse just past the perko for the main lead). the manual for the alpine calls for 4 or 8 and I doubt that exile needs more than 4. that would be my opinion fwiw...... I would spend money on a good quality wire tho. some of the ebay amp wire kits claim to be 4 or 8 gauge but my experience in the past has been a lot of jacket and not a lot of wire. I'm a fan of knukoncepts wire and you can see a big difference in their 4gauge vs ebay 4gauge

good luck and looks nice. hope you really like the sound when it's done....

[chpthril]

Even easier then splicing the existing turn-on into 2 leads; If the turn-on comfortably reaches one amp, then just come out of that turn-on terminal to the 2nd amp with another small wire. Basically a daisy chain, but you eliminate that extra splice.

If you have a 1/2/BOTH switch, then you have the potential of cranking the engine off either battery bank. This can be upwards of 300W peak and 200A continuous draw while cranking. IMO, 4ga is WAY too small for my likes as a battery cable on a V8 engine. I would upgrade to 1/0, and that includes the main ground, ground jumper between the banks, main starter cable from switch to starter and B+ between batteries and switch.

As to the gauge needed for the amps; Given the length, 4ga is likely on the light side to supply those amps, and 1/0 is likely enough to upgrade-proof the install. If you did the math based on the potential summed amp draw, id bet it would call for 2ga. I dont stock 2ga, so if I was building this install, I would step up to 1/0.

[kjohnson709]

I would spend money on a good quality wire tho. some of the ebay amp wire kits claim to be 4 or 8 gauge but my experience in the past has been a lot of jacket and not a lot of wire. I'm a fan of knukoncepts wire and you can see a big difference in their 4gauge vs ebay 4gauge

Very good point. I bought all of my gear from Mike though so I trust it is good quality

[kjohnson709]

Even easier then splicing the existing turn-on into 2 leads; If the turn-on comfortably reaches one amp, then just come out of that turn-on terminal to the 2nd amp with another small wire. Basically a daisy chain, but you eliminate that extra splice.

If you have a 1/2/BOTH switch, then you have the potential of cranking the engine off either battery bank. This can be upwards of 300W peak and 200A continuous draw while cranking. IMO, 4ga is WAY too small for my likes as a battery cable on a V8 engine. I would upgrade to 1/0, and that includes the main ground, ground jumper between the banks, main starter cable from switch to starter and B+ between batteries and switch.

As to the gauge needed for the amps; Given the length, 4ga is likely on the light side to supply those amps, and 1/0 is likely enough to upgrade-proof the install. If you did the math based on the potential summed amp draw, id bet it would call for 2ga. I dont stock 2ga, so if I was building this install, I would step up to 1/0.

Thanks Mike. I like the daisy chain idea. I will either do that or the splice depending on how my other wires end up running.

As for the Perko, I have the switch that has 1, 2, and "all" settings. I will take some pics and post and I also still need to trace where each cable goes. But at first glance all look to be 4AWG. In the kit you supplied I have a large spool of 1/0 AWG and I assumed that was for the run up to the amps. But it sounds like while I am working on it all I should replace any 4AWG that I have.

[chpthril]

Yes, the 1/0 red will go from switch to breaker, breaker to amp wall area to distribution block. Black 1/0 from which ever battery is closer or has the least amount of rings on it, to the amp wall to distro. You should have enough 1/0 for that. Id run those first, then any leftover, use it to upgrade the engine/switch cables if they are indeed that small.

[kjohnson709]

Thanks Mike. With regards to the distribution block, for some reason I am looking at this thing and not sure how to split both 1/0 power and ground wires into the 4 GA jumpers for each amp. Can you help figure out which numbered connections should be the 1/O inputs and which should be the 4GA outputs? It seems clear I will run the 1/0 red power wire into #3 and then 4ga outputs to each amp from #6 and #7. But if that is the case which connections should I use for ground? All remaining connections look to be 1/0 GA so where do the 4GA ground wires come from?

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Also, what the heck are these things you included in the kit? lol

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