Islandia audio advice

[mnoble871]

So I got my 2004 Islandia yesterday and ever since I looked at it a week or so ago I have been thinking about doing a new system and reading a few of the threads here sorta made me drool.
The factory head unit is shot so I picked up a Sony DSXMS60 on sale at best buy, I really liked the built in iPod tray. While I was there they had a 10" 800 watt Sony sub on clearance for $26 so that left with me as well. I may not use it but for that price I grabbed it anyway.
So the question I have is more of a planning and design and requesting recommendations
What I have now is the replacement head-unit above and the sub plus the four factory speakers.
What I would like to do is add tower speakers, the sub above or possibly something different, replacement speakers in factory locations and an amp.
I have been scanning eBay but I'm just not sure on sizing, specifically for the amp.
Thoughts?

 

[RFoster130]

I really dont know the islandia's at all, but there should be a ton of room for speakers, amps and anything else you wanna add. Wish you were closer, id like to help someone with a bigger boat just for the learning experience. Ipods are definitely the way to go. But make sure its the nano. I use an old school 1st generation nano. They work like a flash drive, the full size ipod has a spinning hard drive and will skip like a cd.

Make sure to use marine rated stuff. The wiring is the most crucial. Even if the water doesnt directly get things wet, there is always moisture and condensation. The wiring and speakers will fail if not marine rated. Post up some interior pictures and maybe can give you more tips.

 

[biffdotorg]

You have a tower on your Islandia? I would love to see pics of that setup! I would have to say that speakers on our tower was a great investment just for floating around and hanging out off the back of our boat.

We don't Ski/Board, so I actually tipped the our Kicker tower speakers down a bit so that we can enjoy them on the swimdeck or in the water! You are probably to the point that a marine grade amp is going to be needed.

Most high-powered head units will drive 4 stocker speakers. But once you add in that sub, and possibly some tower speakers, an amp should be in the plans as well. The next thing would be the second battery (deep cycle) and isolator. There are plenty of guys on here that know the technical details on how to do that. I recognized my limitations and let the local stereo shop do mine up right.

Good luck!

 

[mnoble871]

Well I got the new head unit in tonight, no major snags but I did find out the stereo will not clear the steering wheel when removing so I had to pull it out through the back. Great thing about the Islandia is I discovered that if you pop up the changing room/head and unsnap the curtain and you can sit on the throne while you work on the audio:thumbsup: Too dark for pics of the install but here's some random interior.

The seat bottoms are in the garage for cleaning. I'm thinking that the sub may end up on the opposite side of the console firing directly into the changing area but my only concern would be that it may be muffled too much. All kinds of room for an amp there too, any recommendations on an amp to power a couple tower speakers and the sub?

 

[454spyder]

Amp suggestion

If your budget permits, I'd suggest a Wetsounds Syn-6A. Cool thing is it has internal RCA splitters, so you can run one set of RCA's to it and all the channels can get the signal OR run separate RCA's if your head unit has them. The amps are polished STAINLESS STEEL chassis with built in variable cooling fans, coated boards, and use VERY low power/run cooler than most other amps. I also like the JL's and Alpines, but the Wetsounds stuff is just a cut above the rest for Marine grade stuff. The alpines are cool for space limited installs since the amps are stackable with all wiring from one side.

This is from the manufacturer:The SYN6 is a universal hybrid amplifier that allows you to configure it to power any combination of speaker systems. There are two different power sections that consist of a 4 channel section with a higher power 2 channel section all on one chassis. The SYN6 gives you enormous power in one simple to install package. It has high pass crossover capability on channels 1 through 4. While adding high pass or low pass crossover capability on channels 5 and 6. Channels 5 and 6 also have the higher power output. Adding to the feature set is rca summing that allows you to attach one set of rca’s to drive all channels, separate the amp into 2 rca inputs or use all 3 rca inputs. This makes it very simple to wire and configure the amplifier without the need to rca y adapters. The SYN6 can run in boat speakers and subwoofers, in boat speakers and tower speakers, tower speakers and subwoofers or just tower speakers.

Stereo @ 4 Ohms 60 x 4 watts and 155 x 2 watts RMS
Stereo @ 2 Ohms 105 x 4 watts and 305 x 2 watts RMS
Mono @ 4 Ohms 200 x 2 watts and 600 x 1 watts RMS
s/n ratio @ 1 watt > 77 dB
Frequency Response 10 Hz - 50 KHz
Transient Distortion < .01% @ 4 Ohms
Input Sensitivity 0.6 V - 3.3 V
Input Impedance 20K Ohms
Bass Boost +15 dB @ 45 Hz
Crossover Channel 1,2,3,4 HP 30Hz -400 Hz
Crossover Channel 5,6 HP/LP 45 Hz - 500 Hz
Dimensions Inches ( L x W x H ) 19 1/2" x 8" x 2 3/8"

 

[ranchand]

Did you ever end up finishing this install? I'm curious to where/how you mounted your sub.