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New Stereo Installation Help Needed

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psalm333

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Installing a new head unit, amp and powered subwoofer in a 2014 20SLM. Need some guidance on wiring the amps.

Boat has two batteries one is dedicated to the motor and the other handles accessories. 

New components to be added:

Head unit - Kenwood KMRD765BT (replacing the stock Sony that came from the factory)

Amplifier - Wet Sounds SD4 (to power the 4 Wet Sounds xs 650's)

Powered Sub - HT-AS10

Blue Sea Systems fuse block (5025)

Amp & Sub will be located in the helm storage area

What is the proper wiring layout and AWG's? Does anyone have a schematic of a similar layout?

Is the best location for the fuse block in the helm next to the amp & sub?

Are other fuses needed along the electrical path?

Thanks for the help!
 
you need to get ahold of Bulldog's Cadillac. He is the Stereo GURU.

However, I'm sure there are some other guys on here that can lead you in the right direction.
 
There should be a wiring diagram with each piece you bought. There was with my system. I got the wiring for the base, the amp and the speakers. I'm still using the stock sony head.
 
I've done a bunch of both car and boat stereos.  Here's an example of how I wired my Malibu boat with 3 amps.  1 JL Audio mono amp for 2 10" Focal subs, I JL Audio amp (bridged) for a pair of Wetsounds Pro 80 tower speakers and 1 JL Audio 4 channel amp for the in-boat Focal speakers.  I ran 1 GA KnuKonceptz power and ground cables from my battery location to the helm area.  The ground cable was connected to one of the negative battery posts and the positive to the Perko common post.  That way the stereo worked with either battery selected.  Very close to the battery on the positive cable was a 200 amp circuit breaker.  The reason for the 200 amp breaker was because each individual amp had it's own 50 amp breaker and I had a couple of other accessories (bass module, Wetsounds 420SQ, relay).  The power/ground cables terminated to individual distribution blocks (1 GA in with 4 4 or 8 GA outs) under the helm.  The amps were mounted under the helm with 50 amp circuit breakers between each amp and the positive distribution block using 4 GA cable.  I installed a relay to take the amp turn-on lead strain off the stereo deck since I was running three amps.  The bass module, Wetsounds 420SQ and the relay were all powered by the fourth output on the distribution blocks.  You can use either circuit breakers or fuse blocks, I personally like the breakers.  This was a bit more involved than what you're probably doing but I wanted to show an example of where the circuit breakers go, the cable sizes and how it's wired up.  The benefit of running large power and ground cables is so you only do it once and have plenty of power at the helm.  The drawback is they are quite large in diameter, heavy and certainly not cheap if you're running some distance.  Not sure this helps or not but my .02 anyways.
 
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Thanks Randy this does help a lot. How do I calculate the required breaker needed in the battery compartment? I only have the two amps.

I plan to use the Blue Sea System fuse block in the helm and wire in the amp & sub. Same question here, what fuse amp to use in this location.

Finally (probably not) - The head unit wiring is already installed, was not planning on changing this other than re-routing the speaker wires to the amp. Will the head unit control the power on for the amp & sub through the RCA connections?

Really appreciate your help.
 
The breaker at the battery should be be about the size of your entire system.  That's why in the above scenario I used a 200 amp breaker.  If you've just got the Wetsounds amp and the WS sub (with built-in amp) then something around 100 amps would probably be fine.  You'll have to look at the draw of each amp and determine the size(s) from there.  Most likely, you'll need breakers at the amps rated at somewhere around 35-50 amps.  Also, if any of the amps have fuses already onboard (many do) then you wouldn't need a breaker between the amp and distribution block.  I'd have to look at those amps and see, I don't remember off the top of my head.  Generally, the amps turn on from the turn-on lead from the deck.  Usually a blue wire.  Basically, it's just a 12v trigger that tells the amps when to turn on and off.  Some amps do have a turn-on from the stereo deck RCA's.  They sense the audio and then turn on.  Only problem I've had with that is sometimes the voltage from the deck isn't quite enough and there's a delay turning on the amps. You'll sometimes get that amp "pop" when they finally turn on.  If you use the blue wire from the deck to turn the amps on, they always turn on and off together and usually the pop isn't noticed.  Also, running just two amps from the blue lead is fine.  I used a relay above because I had more then three items turning on from the deck and it can put a strain on it.  Wire up your deck like you plan on doing and just split the blue wire from it to each input on the amps.  They have designated turn-on input just for that so it's simple.
 
OK, I looked at the Wetsounds site, both the AS-10 and the SD-4 have onboard fuses.  So, you really don't need circuit breakers or fuses inline between the amp and distribution block.  The only extra protection needed would be at the battery.  I'd probably put a 100 amp breaker there as both of those amps pull about 75 amps or so.  The Stinger Marine breakers are quite nice and run about $40.  That's what I've always used and have never had an issue with them.
 
Randy's suggestions all sound great! Sorry, haven't been around for a while. That SD4 is a heck of an amp for just 4 650's! I love that thing, wish I could sell my amps and get a few of those, don't really need them, but it sure would be nice!

As for wire gauge, I am also of the mindset do it once, do it big, but if you really have no desire to add more later, you could reduce the main power gauge from 1/0 to 4, you could even go with 8g. I think that is what the factory runs for the tower models running 2 amps and the AS-10. I personally wanted bigger, but if only powering 2 amps, you CAN. BUT be sure you think long and hard about your future wants!! I would hate to run 8g, then have to redo it in a year and run heavier cable.
 
Guys, thank you so much for the feedback. I feel like I have a much better understanding. I'll do the install in a couple months and hopefully come back with some pics and positive report.
 
Was in your situation last week and just went to a installer and had my new Kenwood with 400w amp plus 4 Led Kicker speakers installed 4 hours. Sounds awesome. Have 2275 RL poseing a wire issue due to clad underneath but he was able to snake successfully with min effort.
 
I have one more shout out for some help. Do I connect the RCA rear and front outputs on the head unit to the SD4 amp? Or, do I just tie in the speaker wires from the head unit to the speaker inputs on the amp?

Thanks
 
Use the RCA's.  Those are referred to a line level inputs vs. speaker level inputs.  You won't even be using the speaker wires from the deck.  Much cleaner install, super easy to adjust the deck output voltage (typically 4 volts) to the amp input (gain) and usually sounds a bit better.
 
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Thanks Randy. More dumb questions -

The head unit has 3 RCA's - Rear, Front, SW. I'll connect RCA from the Sub to the head unit SW. Do I connect both Rear & Front to the SD4 AMP?

SD4 labeled RCA's as CH1 (white), CH2 (red), CH3 (white), CH4 (red). Are these pairs that I plug the Front and Rear into?

Speaker wire connections - my pontoon already has speaker wires running into the stereo through the wiring harness. Do I fish these out of the harness, cut and add more wire as needed to plug directly into the AMP?

Thanks again for all the help.
 
On the RCA's, you've already got the SW part figured out.  On the deck to the amp, you can do it a couple of ways.  If you just run one pair of RCA's to the channels 1 & 2 of the amp, 3 & 4 will be active from that input and will duplicate the same output.  The only issue with that is there is no fade capability.  Even though I typically don't mess with the fade of the deck very much, it's nice to be able to just in the event you want to.  For example, you might want the fronts to be slightly louder than the rears or vice versa.  So, I usually do run the extra RCA cable.  They are short runs so it's easy and not much more expensive.  In a nutshell, yes deck front RCA red & white to amp input 1 & 2 and deck rear RCA red & white to amp input 3 & 4.

On the individual speaker wires, yeah you're going to have to sort each wire from the deck and plug it into the appropriate amp output.  Sometimes this takes a bit of time figuring out which speaker is which.  Take your time doing it and make sure they are wired right.  If you have the deck manual it should tell you which color wire goes where.  If not, I'm sure you can find a copy online.  Or, you can just work with each speaker wire pairs and figure out which wire goes to which speaker.  The speaker wires are usually all different colors to make things easier but I always end up double-checking everything just in case.  Looking at the speaker wires coming from the back of the speaker themselves can sometimes also show you the appropriate color matchings.  I would also suggest that as you're figuring out each speaker pairs (+ & -), wrap a piece of masking tape or something similar and label them.  Makes life much easier if you have to do this again in the future.  Also, take a few snapshots as well once everything is all wired up for reference.

Hope I didn't confuse you too much but I was trying to be as specific as possible.  Don't ever hesitate to ask questions.
 
Randy, Thanks again for the clarity. I get it.

I'm going to mount the amp to Starboard and attach it inside the helm wall. Any suggestions on thickness of the Starboard? Probably going with a 12"x24" sheet.
 
Thickness isn't a big deal.  Thick enough to be able to drive some screws into it to support the amp.  I've never used Starboard like that before but it shouldn't be anything difficult.  What I have done in the past is to mount a smaller piece of MDF using HD construction adhesive.  Then, mount a larger piece of MDF with screws where the amp will sit. Once the amp is mounted those screws obviously are hidden.  Comes out pretty clean that way.
 
MDF looks like a less expensive route for sure. Did you seal the board with paint? Any issues with it absorbing water over time?
 
If it's under the helm it's pretty protected from the elements.  I've never had any issues with it.  I wouldn't use it in a very wet environment or SW but under the helm should be fine.  Shoot, the amp is more fragile than the MDF.  I've never sealed it with anything other than putting cloth material over it for good looks.
 
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I just used pieces of 1x PVC trim from Home Depot for my battery backup installation. No worries on moisture and very inexpensive compared to Starboard.
 
I cut down some 2x4's to the angle I wanted and glued and screwed them to the front wall of the helm. There is actually a piece of plywood on the other side of the fiberglass in part of it. This way I was able to run all my wiring behind my amp rack for a cleaner install. I used plywood to mount the amps to since it has more bite for screws than mdf or starboard and was able to put a stain on it for looks. That PL premium stuff is amazing! So far it's held up well. Obviously I also used all stainless screws as well.


Oh and if you look on here there is a topic that has wiring diagrams from Bennington, that is an easy way to get a good idea as to which wires are for which speakers. Although probably not a bad idea to just check like Randy said. The guy knows this stuff better than me I'm sure. Good luck! Take pictures!!
 
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