three amps is alot of current, at the very least i would reccomend you get 2 optima blue tops to replace your current batteries, many people with large car stereos run thier sister batteries (yellow top) with multi amp setups. I also might try and talk you into only running a simpler system, one amp for the tower speakers. A pair, ecspecially 4 5.25 or 6.5 speakers that are decent can sound really, really nice. Just make sure you get something that can handle 100ish RMS and put 100-150 watts into them and they would sound awesome. Also, do you really think you need a sub on a boat? If you have your mind set, I would reccomend a good 10in sub in a small sealed enclosure and around 300-350RMS. Then just leave the remaining 4 speakers hooked to your headunit.

Also you may want to check, does your HU have a front, rear, and subwoofer RCA output? To run twin 4channel amps as well as a sub would require some creative use of RCA spliters and cables.

One more thing, dont waste money on Capacitors, thier bennefits are marginal, and some say they can even cause more strain on an electrical system. Your money would be best spent on optima batteries and possibly even a third one with an isolator.

-Tim

 

Tim can you explain this in greater detail as to why this is? Don't worry about loosing me in the techical jargon as I have a degree in Electroncis Engineering and have been doing high end auto stereos since 1989 on a competition level. It's just that I have never heard this before and I'm interested in learning more as to why they are a waste of money. I can understand the statement that they harder/more strain on the electrical system because they (caps) charge at an accel'd rate compared to a battery, but they also discharge faster as well - hence the reason most of us run them...

 

Honestly I have no technical jargon to back up my statement with. I have just read several posts on Sounddomain (www.sounddomain.com), where there has been lots of controversey about whether or not they hurt more than help or visa versa....

The way several "posts" described it, if you dont also install a higher output alternator, along with more battery reserve capacity, it is merely a bandaid for a problem and will hurt your system. Another argument they had is that these .5 and 1 mega-farad capacitors really dont help. They say you need the larger, 5+ mega farads to even make a noticeable difference.

Since I probably rambled a lot in there, to sum it up honestly I have no first hand expirience with capacitors, just some semi-reliable info i have read on the internet that I could see logic in that I agreed with. Either way, I will try and dig up some of the posts i was talking about.

-Tim

Edit: I couldn't find the perticular threads i read (6months+ old) but here is one that had a decent amount of info including two links to read on...

http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubb/ult...=023191#000002

 

Tim

Very good reading over there. I seen where Richard Clark (he's a legend in auto sound) did a voltage comparision with no cap vs with cap that pretty much debunks the use of a stiffing cap.

I wonder though if it's just the design of the amplifiers that Richard uses because inside the amp they will have stiffing caps on the incoming voltage to set up a smoother transiet for the amp to work with. My thought pattern behind this is that some amps I'm sure have more stiffing to them than another brand. Say for example a Rockford Fosgate Power (higher end stuff) vs Kenwood Excleon (upper mid range) vs a Pyriamd (bottom of the barrel - about as low as you can go quality wise).

I have actually met Richard years ago and got a chance to chew the fat with him (probably close to 10+ years by now), he has probably forgotten more about this stuff then I will ever know... I'll have to do some more digging on this.