Powering Rev8s

[agarabaghi]

its full range AB not the newest full range class d that has been coming out. I already order the audiopipe... $117 and like ive said ive had great luck with them in the past.

Ill keep everyone posted

[EarmarkMarine]

Think it through.
There is no governing body that dictates the specs are accurate.
2 X 200 bridged watts will be a challenge for a Class AB amplifier that has 50 amps total fusing.
Look at the size of the primary power terminals.
At least you know that the bridged four channels of the Wetsounds Syn6 will deliver an honest 2 X 200 watts.

David

[Cincylaunch]

Willyt: the MHD with my pair of Rev 8s do sound pretty sick. Have my JL marine digital amp 600 x 4 with two sets of bridged channels. I'm starting to think I could propell my rig using WetSounds alone. Hehe.

[willyt]

dave,
i'm probably going to bite the bullet and buy a SD-2 at the boat show.... rewire everything with much thicker gauge wire (stock wiring is kind of a joke) and give them the power they need...

[Cincylaunch]

Yeah WetSounds rates there speakers very conservatively. I'd say somewhere around 300 watts is what these speakers do their best at. Their rated max is 400 so you should be good.

[Tristarboarder]

There are so many threads on this subject...people need to remember that if you have a high quality speaker such as a Rev 8 that not only is under rated on paper for what it can take for power, and something that has longevity over time for taking lots of power, you need to have the right amp to get the potential. Simply putting a car amp that says it has RMS of say 300 watts does not guarantee that is what is actually put out. In addition, that rating is based on a vehicle (car/truck) electrical system output of 13.8 to 14.4 volts, and a boat does not provide that. So, what you get, if you are lucky, is 80% of the published RMS. In addition, if you run a cheaper amp that states it can put out say, 300 RMS for example, you would have to run that amp with near max gain, which over time, possibly a short time, due to overheating etc, result in amp failure and ultimately replacement. IMHO, if you are going to use a high dollar, quality speaker, you should spend the extra money and buy a quality amp that has reliable, proven success in the field (in our case, repeated uses on the water often exposed to moisture). Willy, that DS-2 is gonna kill....You should be the only boy on the block with that setup for a bit...should rock.......my .02

[EarmarkMarine]

Yes, constantly running an amplifier on the ragged edge isn't doing the speaker any favor either.
A speaker cannot necessarily differentiate between a clean signal and a dirty signal....however, it does make a major difference in its thermal capacity whether or not the signal is compressed when the amplifier is driven into clipping. Why? Because the signal shape changes creating a longer under-power duration with less transition time. So, the speaker has less time to dissipate heat. A speaker is less than 5 percent efficient to begin with.

David

[GT500 MC]

Originally Posted by EarmarkMarine

Yes, constantly running an amplifier on the ragged edge isn't doing the speaker any favor either.
A speaker cannot necessarily differentiate between a clean signal and a dirty signal....however, it does make a major difference in its thermal capacity whether or not the signal is compressed when the amplifier is driven into clipping. Why? Because the signal shape changes creating a longer under-power duration with less transition time. So, the speaker has less time to dissipate heat. A speaker is less than 5 percent efficient to begin with. David

5%? That's crazy. Why so inefficient?

[EarmarkMarine]

Originally Posted by GT500 MC

5%? That's crazy. Why so inefficient?

Because the speaker motor is an electromagnet. Consider an energized voice coil driven by the amplifier within the air gap of a permanently charged magnet. The losses in this magnetic medium are signifigant. The resistance of the voice coil wire is a necessity to create a magnetic field. That resistance is automatically a little toaster oven. Then you have the mass and inertia of the speaker's moving parts plus other inherent resistances. Compare the mass (weight) of a moving diaphragm and all its attachments to that of air. You are transitioning from electrical power to mechanical motion and then to acoustic energy and speakers do not couple to air all that efficiently. A transducer transforms through three mediums. And much of that remaining 95 % loss is heat.
It's a bit of a shocker when you consider that a highly efficient Class D amplifier may be 80 percent efficient.

David

[agarabaghi]

I understand the wet sounds are top of the line marine amps ... They syn series to me seems to just be rebranded arc audio amp...

Our boats have car engines and at times bigger alternators than some cars... We are able to a get 12-13v easy, and while idling my battery terminal meters show closer to 14v. So I'm not sure the reasoning behind saying putting a car audio amp in the boat is not gonna power the speakers.

Also, I realize the wetsounds syn4 uses a more efficient power system but saying an amp with 50amp fuses can't do 460watts rms bridges (turns out the manual states its 230x2 bridged) and the syn 4 can do 800watts bridged on 75amp seems odd?

I have had serveral audio pipe amps and they all have benched close to their rated power and to my ears and others sound great.

He