Malibu Ski Boat

[garytenison]

Hi all...Put small system in 2001 Malibu Sunsetter LXI which I bough new some 20 years ago now... Attached a couple pics for you. I put in 5 channel Alpine Amp, TWK88 DSP, Alpine 6.5" components up front with passive tweeter and Alpine co-axials in back. A 12" dual voice coil woofer wired to 2 Ohms in a box under the helm. All heavy gauge wire.

 

I have spent quite a bit of time now using audio control mobile tools RTA with a condenser mircophone and tuning. Always cutting...never boosted EQ. A boat tune is hard because the speakers are under the front window and there is a lot of reflection and off axis issues.

 

I am using twk88 and it really very good and fun to use. Lots of flexibility and the stereo is sounding quite good now. I have read enough posts on here to know that many of you are way beyond my knowledge and I have lots to learn. So I want to share an issue I am having now.

 

Thanks to the helpful posts above I did finally get gains set for HU, DSP, and amp. I suspect maybe I set them all too close to the max when my light went off on my DD1.  After setting gains, I set my eq separately for each speaker. Quite a bit of cutting is needed in upper frequency range 2500, 6500, 12k....those were problem spots.

 

The issue:

Now the stereo sounds awesome...however for certain songs I am getting some disturbing distortion through the (only) front left speaker at high power...its hard to describe it but kind of a higher pitched crackling buzz. It can be heard on Sia's Chandelier (piano version). This is a really beautiful high powered voice on this song and the speaker can't handle it. I am running at 4-Ohm, approx 75W RMS.  (Speaker is Alpine R-S65C.2 with passive tweeter)

• 6.5” Component 2-Way Speakers
• CTA-2031: 100W RMS/300W Peak Power
• Nominal Impedance: 4ohm
• Frequency Response: 65Hz-40kHz
• 1” CFRP Dome Tweeter
• CFRP Cone
• H.A.M.R. Surround
• 35mm Voice Coil
• Hi-Res Audio Compatible
• Sensitivity: 88 dB SPL (1W@1m)

 

I convinced myself the speaker was damaged so I bought another set and replaced left side...same noise is there.  

 

After reading here more, I have decided maybe my gains are messed up somewhere. So now I will reset gains at the eq settings I am actually running...thinking my gains are screwed up now? My Twk88 has a clipping light and its also now flickering red (clipping). 

 

I am learning lots and if I had it all to do over I probably would have bought better speakers and maybe a 10 channel output DSP. At this point, I am also tempted to move to the JLAudio C5-650 component set ($560 a pair)...I have heard that these are better speakers than the Alpines and better off axis also.

 

I also thought about moving to actively controlled JLaudio speakers, 6.5's, mids, and tweeters all actively controlled up front. Unfortunately, my twk88 only has 8 output channels so if I do this, I can't keep the  rear speaker fill. I would have only the front sets and the 12" sub. A little rear fill does sound better as the people in the rear set are pretty far from the dash.

 

SEEKING ADVICE. Thanks