Bought an 09 212x w/wetsounds. Having some problems

[RXBoost]

My new to me boat has a wetsounds ws-420BT 'headunit' and an HTX-6 amp. The previous owner took his wake tower speakers with him, so right now I have 4 speakers (2 in front, 2 in back) plus 2 10" JL subwoofer type speakers under the back seats.

I am thinking the previous owner had 3 total amps, and removed 2 of them.

The back of the 420BT has 3 sets of RCA cables coming out the back of it and over by where the amp is. The amp has 1 set of RCAs plugged in the back of it and all 4 speakers plus the 2 10" JLs also plugged in. This means that 2 sets of RCAs coming out of the back of the 420 are not plugged into anything.

Now, all 6 speakers are plugged into the 1 amp and work, but the 10" hardly do anything at all.

So, my question:

Do I need to have 1 amp for the 4 speakers, another amp for the 10" JL sub type, and another for the wake tower speakers (once I get some)? Would this help the 10" give off more power? I have 3 +/- leads from the batteries in the area where the amp is as well.

The link here, shows a setup just like what I have mentioned above (with 3 amps): https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/wetsounds-72871.appspot.com/o/flamelink/media/1560357931787_Wet-Sounds-WS-420BT-Manual.pdf?alt=media&token=a309c4f3-c117-4b68-9cfd-55a16f3fb2c3

EDIT: It also appears that with all the adjustability knobs on the 420BT, that I need to be able to utilize all 3 RCA outputs, and while the amp has 3 sets of RCA inputs, plugging all of them in appears to do nothing.

 

[Hoyt]

The HTX6 amplifier is 100 watts x 6 rms power. Being you have 4 cabin speakers and 2 subwoofers im guessing they are all hooked up one speaker per channel. This will allow the cabin speakers to sound great, but the subs will be lacking for sure. The previous owner probably was running 3 amps. One for cabin, one for subs, and one for towers. You could easily add 1 SYNDX6 amplifier and power both subs (300 watts each), and 2 tower speakers (400 watts each)

 

[RXBoost]

I think you hit the nail on the head with the number of amps. And yes, each speaker is hooked into its own channel on the amp. Is there a way to set it up with the single amp I currently have and still have the subs sound good? I dont have any tower speakers yet, so I dont have a need for ALL the power just yet. Or do I really need another amp in order to have the subs sound good? Thanks for your reply!

 

[Hoyt]

The HTX6 doesn't have alot of configurations to run. Just single channel x 6, or bridged x 3.
You could run the 4 cabin speakers single to the front 4 channels. Then bridge 1 sub to channels 5&6. That will give you 100x4 to cabin, and 300x1 to 1 sub. Will sound better then current, but still leaves one sub not powered.

 

[RXBoost]

I definitely dont want to spend that much money on an amp (the syndx is $1100). As long as it has enough wattage, the brand shouldnt make a huge difference should it?

 

[Hoyt]

I definitely dont want to spend that much money on an amp (the syndx is $1100). As long as it has enough wattage, the brand shouldnt make a huge difference should it?

Nah won't matter at all. Just as long as your pushing enough power to them. I think your JL subs are good for 250 watts each rms. So a 400-500 watt amp should be plenty

 

[RXBoost]

Thanks for all your advice. One last question - would it make sense to get an amp that can power the subs AND the tower speakers? Or do I get a separate amp for those when the time comes?

 

[Hoyt]

Thanks for all your advice. One last question - would it make sense to get an amp that can power the subs AND the tower speakers? Or do I get a separate amp for those when the time comes?

The syndx6 would power towers and subs. Otherwise yes you'll need a separate amp for your towers as well, or an amp that can push subs and towers. Depend on what tower speakers you go with to figure out what size amp

 

[Compatico]

I concur, the subs are no doubt working, but the deep bass is harder to hear so they sound dull. Depending on the subs, if they're 4 ohms each, @RXBoost could hook up both in parallel to the 5-6 channels in bridged mode as long as the HTX-6 is 2 ohm capable when bridged (I'm guessing it is). That would get about 1.5x power to the subs so about 450+ watts and then tune the gain on the HTX-6 so as not to overdrive them or clip the source signal. The larger and thicker diaphragms of the subs need some power to get them moving and pumping air, so 300 watts should get things thumping, even if only one sub can be bridged, that's 300w to drive it.

 

[redthumper9]

Do you know if your subs are 8ohm or 4ohm?

 

[RXBoost]

I *believe* they are 4.

 

[RXBoost]

@Compatico , when you say run them in parallel on channels 5 and 6 what exactly do you mean? I currently have one sub in channel 5 and the other in channel 6.

 

[redthumper9]

If they were 8 ohm, you could "Bridge" channels 5 and 6(see below) , run the two subs in parallel giving it a 4ohm load and probably squeeze more power out of the amp. If they are 4 ohm subs, you would be giving the amp a 2ohm load while bridged..... Pretty sure those amps are not made to run 2ohm (mono) loads.

 

[Hoyt]

The HTX6 is 2ohm stable in stereo according to the site. Doesn't say it's 2ohm mono stable though.

 

[redthumper9]

The HTX6 is 2ohm stable in stereo according to the site. Doesn't say it's 2ohm mono stable though.
View attachment 105695

That's what I was thinking..... 2 ohm mono (bridged) is the equivalent of 1 ohm stereo so I'm pretty sure it would be overloading the amp.

 

[Compatico]

That's what I was thinking..... 2 ohm mono (bridged) is the equivalent of 1 ohm stereo so I'm pretty sure it would be overloading the amp.

Ok if the amp can't handle 2 ohm loads when bridged, just run one sub bridged which should be plenty of power to see if you need or want more power for the second sub. If you need more power, you can always add an amp just for the subs and use the 5&6 channels for other speakers, like towers or whatever else you want.

@RXBoost parallel means two speakers on the same channel, + and - connections together. This runs both speakers from the same channel which drops the impedence to 2 ohms but with more power and sound output, roughly 1.5x more versus runing normal at 4 ohms. As an example, you can have 6 speakers at 4 ohms each on a 4 channel amp that is rated for 2 ohms. You run 1+3 and 2+4 on channels 1/2 at 2 ohms load, then run 5+6 on channels 3/4 at 4 ohms. If the amp is rated to handle the loads ok, then you get more power out of 4 speakers, and the other 2 run at nominal output. Not all amps can do this, but generally the good quality ones can do it just fine.

If you don't follow, try googling "series and parallel speaker wiring" to see diagrams of the wiring examples. It's really not complex to do it, just sounds harder than it is.