theprolineguy.com

The boat I just bought has no radio, so the wife insists that it be an upgrade of primary importance (by making it her idea, the expense is excused, he he.) That said, I never listen to the "Radio" I only listen to what is on my ipod. I decided to run an AMP and speaker setup, skip the radio all together (Leaves more room on my center console for other goodies) My question to the experts is, where/how is it best to set up an amp? I have a 17' Proline sport with a Center console. I was thinking of putting inside there, but know nothing about running power to it (would I have to run a cable off the battery?) Also, I hate drilling holes into things. Speaking of which, I am also entertaining suggestions for the speaker install. Should I do this myself or take it to a pro?

electrical-drawing-pdfs-t127.html

Look in there for drawings...and do some research on boat wiring in google.

Generally, electronics are run off a switch panel, and the panel is fed by the battery positive lead. You set up a negative bus terminal strip, and that goes back to the battery neg terminal. The main panel has a main fuse near the battery, and each load, including the stereo is individually switched and fused at the panel. If your stereo has a clock and memory, it will require an 'always on' lead from the battery or you'll lose station memory.

For now, if you want instant tunes and don't have a spare slot on your panel, wire it to the battery with a fuse of the proper size to protect the wiring.

AMP goes in the center console, away from spray and rain. Get a marine amp with conformal coated circuit boards or the salt air will kill it dead in no time.

Do speakers yourself. You can also buy a radio that has an IPod accessory hook-in and buy a wired remote control panel, so you can keep the radio, I pod and amp in the console, and just have a wired remote, about a 3" diam circle, to cut out for radio/Ipod controls.

Look into the Fusion brand of radios...or just buy some over the counter disposable 12v powered speakers and stuff to get your Ipod blasting on the boat. When they rot away, toss and replace.

hey run,
i got the fusion ipod deck. got it cause its rated at 70 watts peak per channel and i wouldnt need to have an amp to worry about but still have blaring music. it slams and is water tight. shoot it down with my ipod in it at the wash rack and still dry. not sure how much more power you wanted but i would think an amp is just another thing to worry about. needs space to keep cool, keep it dry, etc. maybe just a deck will be sufficent. just a thought, hope it helps. kor

If you want more thump than you get from the Fusion, they make an amp:

http://www.thefind.com/electronics/brow ... -amplifier

I ended up putting in a couple of infinity reference marine speakers and a pyle marine amp. NO head unit. I am running straight from an iPod to the AMP. So far, it is working out great. I worked the settings in the iPod so the sound level would max out at an acceptable level, and set the input settings on the amp so that even at max volume, the speakers sound great and aren't getting too much juice. Regardless, they are very capable of handling the wattage.

I used your suggestions and the AMAZING wiring charts on the forum to guide me through setup. THANK YOU! I have the amp inside the center console, but I am still trying to figure out a good way to mount it so that it is safe, secure, and out of the way of anything else I might want or need to stuff in the center console. I dont like drilling holes in things, so I've been racking my brain on how to use existing hardware to set it up.

Thanks for all the suggestions, keep them coming

Don't be too afraid to drill mounting holes. You can always fill and buff if you goof. Just make sure they are water tight, won't interfere with existing gear, and have a big enough washer so they don't pull through or damage the gel coat.