high level vs low level on an amplifier

[durbyta]

I have a 19 ft open bow With a pioneer 50x4 stereo. The stereo has only one set of preamp outputs and this is going to a 1600 watt amp powering 1 12" sub. I bought another amp to power my four 6.5 component speakers and 1" tweeters. So nothing will be running directly to the head unit. Would it be better to buy a high/low pass adapter or use the high level on the amp to power the 4 components and tweeters? If it makes a difference when i had the speakers wired directly to the head unit it would get hot and clip out at high volumes. Already ran new ground and power to the stereo. Components speakers are infinity marine 2 way with rms at 75 watts. Amp is rated at 120 per channel

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[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

You could probably use a set of y-adapters and possibly the pass through rca's of one amp or the other and make everything work ok. The only thing you'd give up is the ability to fade front/rear.

If you want to be able to fade you could do that with a 2 ch LOC on the front speaker outputs. You'd still need y-cables for the sub amp.

Honestly though, if you can afford $100 or so a decent HU with front/rear/sub outputs would be the best solution.

That would allow you to control the front and rear speakers independently as well as adjust the volume of the sub.

 

[durbyta]

The hu is fine i really like the adjustability of it. It has high mid and bass adjustments along with a seperate sub adjustment. Before i got carried away with y adapters i could use a high pass to low pass adapter and still be able to adjust f/r/l/r. But the amp has high level outputs that i could wire direct to the hu. Out of those two options which would be best. High/low adapter or running direct to high level om the amp