Marine Amp - Which Brand would you get?

[audiophile831 10+ year member]

I'm sure the power that your head unit will provide will not cut it for u .. lol. All 2ch or 4ch amps ive seen on boats get warm/hot since most guys have at least 4 6x9's.

The amp will STILL need ventilation. An amp with a fan will render useless if there is no airflow for that fan to pull cool air to the amp. A fan is a plus but doesn't necessarily mean it will solve your problem.

 

[bugflipper 10+ year member]

A tube amp gets it's power from glass vacuum tubes like in my avatar. The little bastards are not terrible to go out but will burn out from time to time, usually caused by excessively driving them to thermal overload, or more aptly in a mobile application from vibration/shock.

The best spot on an open boat is usually as Sic stated, under the wheel. But yours doesn't seem to have the normal little cubby under there. I would go in the back near the steering cables on the right side of picture. As high as it could go. Personally I would build a storage shelf in that spot and mount the amp horizontally with a 4 inch or so gap for space from the top for airflow. Horizontal allows better efficiency for the heat sinks to do their job. Also bear in mind most good comps are treated for water since they may be in a door exposed to rain. On that subject you may want to look into ones with higher sensitivity since outboard's alternators usually aren't that high of output. For instance a 94 db sensitivity comp at 50 watts would be as loud as a 91 db comp at 100 watts in theory.

You didn't really list a budget that I saw. But anyway. DIAMOND AUDIO 300.2 300W Two Channel Car Audio Amp - eBay (item 390243568821 end time Feb-20-11 04:23:58 PST) Imagine I61-2 Component / Coaxial Speaker Set - 12v Electronics The amp is a refurb. Over at DIYMA a lot of folks are running them from this guy selling them. They are great sounding sq amps comparable to products in the $500 range. The Imagines are better than most $450 comp sets.

As for the vibration. Most of the refurb shops will state that vibration is the leading cause of amp failure. On the bottom I have always put a sound deadener to reduce vibration. So I am guessing that's why my 15-20 year old amps are still chugging. The HCCA amps have been running at .5 ohms for all that time. I started doing it because orions had a loose *** bottom and if you messed with it much the lifetime warranty sticker would tear. So standard back in the day was to scotch tape the flimsy little sticker and deaden the back cover. As for deadener if you can't find it locally, this will work as a substitute. Shop Peel & Seal 6" X 25' Aluminum Roof Repair at Lowes.com

 

[SmokinBarrel 10+ year member]

Bugflipper,

Actually, I just made an offer on this amp before I read your post. What do you think about this pick?

SoundStream Reference 2.370

If my offer isn't accepted, then it will be between the following:

SoundStream Tarantula TX2.350

Diamond Audio 300.2 (as you mentioned below)

I think the Diamond Audio is slightly better than the SoundStream based on specs, right?

Regarding the mount:

I agree, I keep going back to the transom or battery compartment. I have to take my boat into a welder to get a C-Channel welded for a ladder. So, I plan to have them look at that space back there to see if they can weld something up high with a good support. Or, I could mount the amp as depicted below?

 

[bugflipper 10+ year member]

I honestly don't know about soundstream good or bad these days. A few years back they were bad(small power supply sending a dirty clipped signal below rated power). There is supposed to be a line that is still good, but I have no idea which one, just guessing their top line. Years ago they were a great sound quality brand, over time they fell to just a so so brand. As did Orion and most of the other bigger names. What makes an amp good is not really specs, instead the internals. Just an easy way to explain it is this. If they have a large power supply which is the copper and green donut in the pic. And the circuit board is also pretty full of capacitors and diodes and such it is usually a good amp. There is more to it than that. But a lot of cheaper amps will have a small ps and have about 1/4 of the internals pictured here. http://www.caraudio.com/forums/car-audio-classifieds-old-replies-only/497990-6ch-old-school-usa-made-quality-cheap-p-tt4200-p200-2s.html BTW old school American made is better sq in most cases than the new amps which in most cases are made in Korean build houses. I bought these two by the way if you need one hit me up pm and see if we can work out a deal. I ended up not using either. But it's always good to hang on to super clean amps because they are becoming rarer and rarer. Back in the day they were all that good. Now there is just a handful that stay above the rest. In most cases you have to pay dearly for sq these days unless going used or refurbs.