CreativeAudio.Net

[NautiGirl]

Nauti, what crimper did you get - are those Irwin colors? I've been looking at Ancor stuff to put a digital amp in my boat (but it's not cheap), and maybe some JL speakers as well this spring. Thanks again,

John

Good eye - thats an Irwin Wire Stripper that can double as a crimper. Best wire stripper ever, I bought when we did all the in wall home theater stuff in our basement. It has a crimper built in, its not a fancy ratchet one, but it works for small stuff. https://goo.gl/6RRHmh

For speakers we went JL MX650's. I am going to do a write up with everything we picked and the rationale behind it along with pics of the install once we get there. Are you looking for just factory replacements or for an upgrade? 6.5's or larger? I spent quite a bit of time agonizing over stuff so happy to pass along my thoughts if you tell us where you are looking to go.

[jhnmdahl]

Nauti,

I'm thinking new amp power cables (probably some 6ga), a JL 6 channel digital amp (I already have this), and new speaker wires going to each speaker, driven from a new second battery. So step one will be the new battery, switch, and charging relay (already bought the switch and relay kit but not the wiring), step two will be installing the amp and power to run at least it off the second battery (and then contemplating what else to run off it).

John

[NautiGirl]

Nauti,

I'm thinking new amp power cables (probably some 6ga), a JL 6 channel digital amp (I already have this), and new speaker wires going to each speaker, driven from a new second battery. So step one will be the new battery, switch, and charging relay (already bought the switch and relay kit but not the wiring), step two will be installing the amp and power to run at least it off the second battery (and then contemplating what else to run off it).

John

Awesome -I was planning on typing up a lot of this as an install thread, but I can give you a preview.

Yes if you are running the JL M600/6 I would recommend new power cables, the stuff cobalt runs is severely undersized for basically any amp upgrade. Same with the speaker wire.

After a LOT of shopping NVX was the cheapest quality power and ground wire I could find. The wire is true to gauge – no 6GA wire wrapped in enough insulation to make it appear 4GA and is 100% Oxygen Free Copper. It is also Tinned and Certified for Marine use. Ordered 50ft of both Power and Ground. You might as well go 4GA its easier to find, isn't that much more expensive and is the minimum recommended for the M600/6. https://www.nvx.com/4-gauge-cable/

I would recommend NVX for speaker wire as well. Again cheapest I could find for quality marine grade speaker wire. The 12GA may be a bit overkill, I would have preferred 14ga but they only make 16 and 12. A general guide is you don’t want wire resistance to be more than 5% of the rated speaker impedance. In English this means that 24ft is about the longest acceptable run for a 16ga wire hooked up to a 4ohm load.

Couple of the longer runs in the boat are 20+ft. After all the money we spent on amps it didn’t make sense to skimp on wire. We ended up buying 2 75ft rolls of wire. https://www.nvx.com/12-gauge-wire/

I haven't crimped any of the power wires yet, but I am planning on going /w a hydraulic crimper. There are a ton on Amazon all for about $40, they are all made in China. Harbor Freight also sells one that gets OK reviews. I figure it has to work 10 times then it can break so why spend money on it. I really thought about doing the hammer crimper route, but the hydraulic makes a much nicer looking crimp.

Also bought a ton of Marine Grade heat shrink. Amazon was the cheapest I could find, TEMCo brand is what I ordered. Havent shrunk it yet, but it appears to be pretty good quality for a good price as well. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F2 ... UTF8&psc=1

I love dorking out over stereo stuff, buy me a beer or two at CharBar and we can have an entire boat upgrade designed in no time

[jhnmdahl]

I think I'm pretty close - I have most of the actual components, just need the wiring and mounting (i.e., the easy part). I will probably pick up some of the heat shrink you found (I was looking at a Temco crimper briefly), but will likely stick with a single family for most of the wiring, connectors, and tools. Ancor's 14ga speaker cable is about the same price as your 12ga, but Ancor has 14ga speaker double-crimp nylon speaker connectors that may be my tie breaker.

My real motivation for shopping for some of this now is filling out a Christmas list, assuming my one-year-old wants to buy his dad a battery cable crimper for Christmas (looking at https://www.northernmarineelectronics.c ... er-703050/), and a couple other little things.

John

[Big Block Power]

I was looking at that style of crimper but liked the hydraulic ones better. And like Nauti said. After this when will you use it again. Well worth 30 bucks.

[NautiGirl]

My real motivation for shopping for some of this now is filling out a Christmas list, assuming my one-year-old wants to buy his dad a battery cable crimper for Christmas

John

I understand - I asked Santa for a multimeter to properly set the gain on boat amps. Merry Christmas!

I found all the power wire connectors I needed at Amazon. They have a great selection of Ring Terminals so I was able to match the ring size with the stud size on the Cobalt OEM Fuse block - which by the way is a #10 Eye. These are marine grade and come in most wire gagues and ring sizes: https://goo.gl/ZaX8RX

For Speaker wire connections the best selection I could find was Grainger. I ordered Bare Disconnects - I think crimping insulated wire connectors is a pain and ends up looking ugly. This way I can crimp these then heat shrink after. I know they will never be seen - but I will know if they look ugly lol. Here is what I ordered. In store pickup and they were only $5/50. https://goo.gl/vdX2dr

[Ytmsn]

After I've wired something.

20180617_090102.jpg

Reality

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[jhnmdahl]

That was always the joke in engineering school - electricity is really just smoke, and the challenge is to build a circuit that doesn't let the smoke out.

[Big Block Power]

That was always the joke in engineering school - electricity is really just smoke, and the challenge is to build a circuit that doesn't let the smoke out.

Was it Vans that Cobalt let the smoke out of his boat wiring. So it just goes to show that smoke just wants to come out when Givin a chance

[NautiGirl]

After I've wired something.
20180617_090102.jpg


Reality
tenor (1).gif

Come on YT its just 12v, no way you could start a fire that large.