Hmm, well, with the top end of the budget at $1000, that will leave you short if you go the 770 route with either the MX or M line. And those drivers just require more power. The good news is that you can indeed get music you can hear clearly at cruising speeds with the 650's as well. Your parameters and objectives sound very similar to my initial desires. I didn't want a sub either, but in order to get the most out of system, I went with it. I don't know what the savings would be to go up to 770's with no sub vs 650's with a sub. And you could certainly go 650's without a sub and still get clear music, but the difference in a sound system with and without is eye opening with any speaker setup and any manufacturer.
Hearing music at cruise vs hearing the words and the music are two very different things, and you have to have the power behind as well as a speaker that can compete with the wind and engine noise. One thing I have noticed, if I am standing and leaning against the bolster cushion, which I do at cruise much of the time, my head is up in the wind, and if I turn the music up to hear it clearly, then the inside of the boat is getting blown away! So there is a balance to how and what you have to do to please everyone. The clarity and true reproduction you get from a JL system will not be topped in the marine environment or car. But you may be low on the budget to get there.
And as Odin said yesterday, when you reach for the M series, the power requirements go up. The M770 will want north of 100w per speaker to be happy, and 150 is better. The MX770 is going to want at least 70W, and the MX650 will need 60W. All of these being +/- of those, and you can drive them all a little harder, but you may waisting money, IMO, if you go with less power, and might as well go with a lesser speaker if you don't get your money out of what you buy.
My first install, I did 4 - MX650's in the boat, two on the transom, and a M10iB5 infinite baffle sub, powered by the M700/5 amp. You don't use 100% of these amps, yet they deliver far greater than the numbers they test and publish. The setup to my system only used 530W of that amp at 12.2V. It delivered 50W to each of the in boat speakers, 75 to each transom speaker, and 180 to the sub. I could hear detail, lyrics, highs and lows with good range...even at cruise. In the new boat, I have purchased just about the same with the exceptions of an acoustic suspension sub in a sealed enclosure, designed to optimum parameters, as well as two extra speakers in the cockpit. So I am north of $2K a good deal with all the stuff to install it. With 4 speakers and an amp, you may be able to get close to your budget if you don't go too big.
The amp you listed, the MRX F65, is rated at 14.4V. Our boats don't put out 14.4V. The stator magneto charging system and electrical system run around 13.3V at cruise, and of course 12V at anchor or at rest. So the numbers are a bit skewed to the 14.4V end and they don't rate the amp at 12V. Keep us posted...we all love these audio upgrades!
