Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

On my Harris cruiser I upgraded to a Kenwood HU with 4 Polk DB651. Night and day difference between this and the factory Seaworthy 2 speaker setup.

I am in the process of buying a second battery for my pontoon to isolate all electronics. Was curious if buying a amp and/or sub would help much? I listen mostly to classic rock and blues (no rap on my boat!). Hear good things about the Clarion Xc-1410 50RMSx4 amp. I don't listen loud much but was curious if an amp would bring out more highs and clarity to the music. I don't need thumping bass but was curious if adding a sub and running an amp on lowpass would help overall.

Unable to find specs on your new radio but our Kenwood marine radio benefited nicely with the addition of http://www.amazon.com/Sony-XM604M-Marin ... B000N3VFN0

The only way an amp would help is if the speakers are rated for 50% more power than the head unit can deliver. I would advise against it. If you added separates with mids and tweeters and a crossover then yes. you don't really need a second battery, just a good interstate high reserve single battery will do. I have 3 amps 8 speakers and a 12" sub running on 1 battery and we park for 8hrs on a sat with the music on all day. Add a solar charger on the anchor pole and connect it to the battery so it fills it with free power while the boat is sitting all week.

An amp helps a ton, I actually JUST run an amp and connect it directly to my IPhone with a headphone to RCA Y cable. I have a pair of those Polk 6.5" and feed them with 60wrms from an old MTX (USA built) car amp in the console. Previously I had a Kenwood marine deck and it had nowhere near enough power for CLEAN FULL sound at cruising speed. I'd say no on a Subwoofer though, bass travels a long way on water and it takes a ton of power to get meaningful bass in an open air environment.

Thanks for all the good info. I couldn't find much info on subs and see why now. Will try a small amp to see if it brings the speakers to life. Speakers are rated for 60RMS and HU is only providing 22 RMS.

I installed the Polk PAD 5005-5 amp on my Harris pontoon with the Polk speakers. Its a marine amp and has a sub woofer output I bought it on ebay for $255. It has great sound and I put one of my sons extra sub woofer speaker box under the helm its not very loud under the helm but has a nice bass if you want it. Whats nice about the amp is it has a volume control switch that I mounted on the dash with 2 sided tape and I can adjust the sub woofer bass as desired.

When I ordered mine I upgraded to 6 speaker system with a built in amp. I assumed I would still have to tinker with it, but it's sweet. the loader it gets the more clear it is. I'm going to skip the sub even though my kids want it for jungle thumpin.

Amp will make a world of difference especially when running.
Kicker 1100 rms on mine and I use a honda 1000eu generator when i'm parked thats keeps the three bank battery charger going. Its like 35 amps per bank so the stereo don't run the battery down.
If your into music, i'd always run a amp. If its not that important don't. Simple answer to that equation.

I added the MB Quart 710.5 and a 10 inch sub from them as well. BEST THING EVER!! Really brought life to my Sony 5's and my Bazooka tubbies mounted on my ski bar. Sooo much less distortion. Improved clarity especially when running. Even sounds better at lower volumes. Do it!