Kyle's 24V Stereo Upgrade

[Stingreye]

Tower speaker conundrum!!!!

My original plan was to run 4 sets of speaker wire through the 3 inch tube of my Phat Budde Extreme tower so that I can wire up the KM8's 1 speaker per amp channel. There are already a set of wires running through the tower for tower lights and an additional small gauge set of speaker wire from the old tower speakers. The old speakers were wired parallel. My plan was to use the existing speaker wires as a fish tape and as I pulled the old speaker wire out I would pull the new speaker wire through from top to bottom.

The problem I immediately see is that the diameter of the existing holes cut in the tower are not large enough to run the existing light wire and 4 new speaker wires through. I need to widen these holes but I don't want to remove all of the existing wires from the tower in order to widen because then I would have no existing wires to use as a "fish" and I would have a really hard time re-wiring everything from scratch. The Phat tower requires the wires to zig zag through the tower and the wires must exit one tube and then go back into another before exiting into the gunnel of the boat. This is because of a hinge in the tower.

Any ideas on how to widen these holes without damaging the existing wires or having to fully remove them? Or is my only option remove the existing wires or to drill a second set of holes (which wouldn't look clean)?

Any reason you can using existing to run a single wire through. Then use a dremel is the space created to open the hole up? Then run the new sets through the larger hole.

[chpthril]

The existing holes pictured, look to be .5". Id hate to get larger then that. No easy way to drill/enlarge the holes without removing the wire from them.

Heres what I would do. Id run only 2 of your jacketed 2-conductor, one for each pair of pods. Then I wire each pair of pods in series, then bridge the amp into 2 chnl mode. Net wattage is the same, less cabling through the tower.

[kjohnson709]

Didn't think of a dermal or running in 2 Chnl mode. I will look at both of these! I thinkI may need a combination of both. I don't think there is any way to get 4 sets of 14ga wire through that tower!

[kjohnson709]

I was able to get the wire ran through the tower and also cleaned up my amp wall a bit. I had to abandon the 14awg jacketed wire. It was too rigid and would not feed through the tower. I was able to run two sets of regular speaker wire through so I will wire two cans up to each in series.

Anyone ever build a plastic or acrylic cover to cover some of the wires and distribution blocks on the amp wall? We typically use all of this storage locker when we are on the boat and often throw life jackets in here. I am worried that all of this wiring is exposed.

Also, anyone know the actual name of these little plastic grommets/sleeves used to line the 0.5 inch hols cut in the tower? I have tried to google around and I am not finding these.

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[chpthril]

Im sorry if the combo distribution block didnt work out for you. I use a couple dozen a year and never had an issue with one. For a 2 amp install, you cant beat their cleanliness.

Those are snap grommets. If you cant find any, let me know, I have them. Should be able to find them in the hardware isle at a Lowes or H/D.

Is there a space behind the wall? If so, you can run many of those cables behind the wall and then come through at the amp. Other wise, you could cut a sheet of .25 acrylic and mount on standoffs and cover the entire amp wall and cabling.

http://www.mikesliquidaudio.com/inst...#lg=1&slide=14

[Brianrzr]

I have seen them also named "snap Bushing".

[kjohnson709]

Im sorry if the combo distribution block didnt work out for you. I use a couple dozen a year and never had an issue with one. For a 2 amp install, you cant beat their cleanliness.

Not your fault at all. I over torqued the center ground set screw on my initial install and stripped out the threads.

I really like the Acrylic idea! I doubt I can make it look as clean as the photos on your website but even if I could just cover the bulk of the wiring it will look cleaner and also protect that area a bit since we use it for storage.

Pardon my ignorance but what are "standoffs?" I was thinking of using little angle brackets or something to mount "legs" of the acrylic to the amp wall and then screw a flat sheet onto the legs.

[Bamer]

Not your fault at all. I over torqued the center ground set screw on my initial install and stripped out the threads.

I really like the Acrylic idea! I doubt I can make it look as clean as the photos on your website but even if I could just cover the bulk of the wiring it will look cleaner and also protect that area a bit since we use it for storage.

Pardon my ignorance but what are "standoffs?" I was thinking of using little angle brackets or something to mount "legs" of the acrylic to the amp wall and then screw a flat sheet onto the legs.

Search standoffs on Amazon, there are a ton of options


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kjohnson709]

Search standoffs on Amazon, there are a ton of options


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep just googled them. I always just called these "feet." lol

[chpthril]

Clad you found the root cause, even if self-induced, which happens . Nothing worse then resolving an odd issue and not really knowing what fixed it.

I would look into getting 4 or 6 threaded hex adapters. If you can get them long enough to clear the amps, then put a machine bolt through the back side of the amp wall, then thread the hex adapters on. Then another machine bolt through the acrylic cover into the open side of the threaded hex adapter. Use some rubber washer to protect the acrylic. One standoff in each corner, then one on each of the longer sides of the wall.

https://www.mcmaster.com/standard-threaded-standoffs

[kjohnson709]

Got my pods mounted this evening! I am impressed with the quality given the price. The powder coat seems thin and fragile but I expected that, Each of these will house a KM8. Just enough clearance to stretch my bimini fabric under.

Should I stuff the pods with some sort of pillow or insulation before screwing in the speakers or do I want maximum air space?

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[chpthril]

Synthetic polly-fill will allow the pod to act larger then it really is. This can help a tad with the mid-bass.

[kjohnson709]

Got my tower speakers installed, wired, and the system tuned to the best of my abilities. I am going to run a small beed of silicone around where the grills/speakers mount to each pod and where my wires go into each pod from the top mount just to make sure they are water tight. I also cleaned up the amp wall a little more. I am happy with how it looks but still debating the acrylic shield idea.

Thank you to Mike especially and to everyone who has pitched in on this forum to hep me!

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[SONIC]

The tower manufacturer will have a spec for the ma hole size you can drill into it without effecting thr structure.
You may be better off to drill another hole above or below that one, that's a big bunch of wires.

[kjohnson709]

My uncle had a multimeter with a built in screen and oscilloscope. I was able to use this to tune the gains with test toons I downloaded. I was clearly able to see when the sine waves would flatten out so I am confident I have the gains set correctly. I also tuned the crossovers by ear as best I could. Man the system sounds so good compared to the old speakers and no sub.

Lastly, I used a 1/2 inch piece of acrylic and some stand offs to finish off of the install!

DONE!!!!! The boat just needs an annual service and detail and she i ready to go for spring!

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