Add 4 Tower Speakers: How?

[LiquidForce]

I just bought 4 JL Audio OEM Tower Speaker cans and would like to hook them up to my 2006 X2. The Amp is stock which currently drives the stock sub and 4 stock inboard speakers.

Questions:

- Do I need an additional amp (I guess so) and what specs should it have? Any specific product ideas?

- The wiring seems to be tucked in a bundle below the tower attachment on the port side. Am I correct and if yes: any easy way of getting those wires to the top of the tower?

- The JL Audio website says the speakers are 4 Ohm, is the stock wiring in parallel which would make the amp need to be 2 Ohm capable?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[BoulderX45]

I have just the stock JL amp and 4 tower speakers and it sound great and gets loud. I think the tower is already wired for the speakers.

[LiquidForce]

Oh. Now that would be by far better than expected. Thanks.

My boat is currently at my dealer, I'll have it back by the end of the week and then take a closer look at that wire bundle. The wires are not yet in the tower itself because the only things I have to disconnect for winter storage on the tower are the two tower lights which run through the starboard side of the tower.

[periosurg]

What did you pay for the 4 oem cans? I'm looking for the same for my 06 x2? Where did you find them, do they have lights? Also considering just going with 4 Exile cans and amp?

[JRW160]

You will want an additional amp. There is no way the stock amp has enough to run all the interiors, the sub, and the tower speakers.

[Thrall]

For optimal performance you want to feed the speakers about 150W RMS each.
If you run 2 pr of wires then the speakers will need to be 2ea hooked in parallel and the amp will see a 2ohm load. Fine for most quality amps.
When I added 2 more JL's to my tower (4 total) I used a 2channel Boston Accoustic amp. GT28 model I believe. It is more than enough for 4 speakers, rated at over 200W/speaker at 2 ohm load. These are discontinued now, but I've seen them for sale, bargain prices too.

I ran new wires to my tower as the OE wiring looked a little small to run 2 spkrs per pr of wire.
You'll want some good 4 or 6 guage wire to supply the amp and fuse the + line even if the amp has fuses. CHeck the amp wiring in your boat first though before buying. My 06 X2 had 1 amp from the factory and when I pulled everything apart to add amps I found that the 6ga wire to my amp had an extra 20' or so coiled up and tied up in the gunnel. I could have used that rather than the wire I'd just bought.
Also consider cleaning up the connections to the battery(s) with some distribution blocks. If you X2 is like mine was from the factory it was just a mess of ring terminals stuck on the battery terminals.
It will be difficult to pull 4 pr of wire through the holes where the tower disconects, so plan on a tight fit there or enlarge the holes if you run 1 pr of wire per spkr.
Not hard to pull the wires.
I just fished a piece of rebar tie wire through teh tower and used it to pull the spkr wire.
You'll want to get some Deutsch? connectors for the plug in where the tower splits apart. Just like the ones for the lights, but for 4 wires. Can order them online, possibly get them locally as well, but they're not stock stuff at the parts store. You do not need the crimper for the pins. It helps, but if you carefully crimp the pins to the wires making sure the crimp will fit into the plug and then sloder the connection, can get by without the crimper. Make sure the pins are in the correct spot when you install them into the plug becasue you can't get them out without the specific removal tool (don't ask me how I know! haha).