Wiring Tower Speakers and 2nd Amp

I just bought a set of tower speakers and am now looking to wire them in. I have seen the threads on the best ways to get the speakers in so that seems to be covered. What I am unsure of is how to wire the second amp in to power the speakers. I already have one amp that powers the speakers in the boat. Is it best to try to get the same amp? Does having two amp brands affect anything? How is it best to wire the second amp into the stereo, ie bridging etc?
2007 Supra 22SSV
Kenwood Head Unit
Kenwood Amp
?? new amp
Roswell R6 tower speakers, won off of Wakeworld Toys for Tots Ebay.

Thanks for any help.
Jeff

1) You do not need to get the same brand of amp that you have now, but some do just keep a uniform look.

Do you have a link to what you purchased? this will help to determine what you need amp wise i.e 2 or 4 chnl and power (watts RMS) output you need.

To wire the amp in power wise, you have a couple of options. A) obtain a cable length of the right size cable, and proper circuit protection, to run from the battery to where the amp will be installed. B) rewire the existing amp cabling with a proper sizes trunk line and circuit protection to support both amps, then split off using distrobution block. A is cheaper and easy, but B makes for a cleaner install. You will need a length of 16G wire to run from either the head-unit or the existing amp to the new amp for the turn-on signal. You will also need a set of RCA cables. If the batteries are in the bilge area, I prefer marine rated circuit breakers over fuse holders. If the batteries are in the mid-ship locker, a fuse holder is fine.

Here is the speaker data:
RSD 6.5
6.5 inch (165mm) coaxial
Impedance: 4 ohms
Frequency response: 65Hz-20kHz
Sensitivity: 88dB (1W/1M) 5W minimum RMS/120W Peak
http://www.roswellwakeair.com/r6

I got the speakers for $125/pair (new) from the Toys for Tots auction. Seemed like a great deal since they retail at $400+.
Our batteries (dual) are in the mid-ship locker on the left side, right under the stereo, right adjacent to the amp. It is a short run to power.
Thanks for your help/advice.
Jeff

Assuming your current amp is a 4 channel and you have 4 incabin speakers, you can either run a 2nd tower speaker amp off the output rca's from your first amp, or have your first amp run off just the front channel headunit output and have your tower amp run of the rear channel output. You probably want to look into a volume control for your tower amp to.

Originally Posted by lavinder

Here is the speaker data:
RSD 6.5
6.5 inch (165mm) coaxial
Impedance: 4 ohms
Frequency response: 65Hz-20kHz
Sensitivity: 88dB (1W/1M) 5W minimum RMS/120W Peak
http://www.roswellwakeair.com/r6

I got the speakers for $125/pair (new) from the Toys for Tots auction. Seemed like a great deal since they retail at $400+.
Our batteries (dual) are in the mid-ship locker on the left side, right under the stereo, right adjacent to the amp. It is a short run to power.
Thanks for your help/advice.
Jeff

I would look for a 2-chnl amp with a 4 Ohm RMS Watts in the neighborhood of 65-100. Going with a 2-chnl will also give the flexibility of adding a 2nd pair if you wanted.

What amp and stereo setup do you have in your boat currently? Head unit model, amp model, speaker model You may not even need a second amp if you just have the 1 pair of Roswells.

Otherwise you don't need same amp. Like mentioned its a keep it neat and uniform thing.. People just like seeing matching stuff.

I too recommend using distribution blocks for a dual amp install as most anyone would. It's makes things much simpler, gives it a much cleaner look, and eliminates a lot of issues that can arise when adding multiple amps to a system. ?

I am currently running 8 speakers and a sub off the existing Kenwood 4 channel amp (Kenwood head unit too). I will look at adding a second amp to power the tower speakers. I will plan for four speakers, but wire in the two.
Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by lavinder

I am currently running 8 speakers and a sub off the existing Kenwood 4 channel amp (Kenwood head unit too). I will look at adding a second amp to power the tower speakers. I will plan for four speakers, but wire in the two.
Thanks for the help.

Really? 8 in-boats and a sub running off 4 chnls What model Kenwood amp is it? At a minimum, get a 4 chnl amp. Power the sub on two chnls and the tower pair on the other two. This will give your all 4 chnls of the existing amp to run the 8 @ 2 Ohm x 4 chnls. Right now, im guessing you have 4 in-boats sharing the amps 4 ohm per/chnl power.

I was just thinking the same thing. I don't see how all 8 and the sub are on one 4 channel amp. But I am by far an expert in the matter.

I agree w mike in adding the 4 channel like he describes

So I looked at the setup. I have 6 speakers and a sub with a two channel amp. I think the speakers are running off the head unit and the sub off the amp. So know I want to do it right. What is a good setup for four back speakers, two front speakers, sub, and two tower speakers?
I was thinking of a three amp setup. Keep the two channel for the sub, a new four channel for the six in boat speakers, and another new four channel to run the tower speakers (spare capacity).
Thoughts?

Originally Posted by lavinder

So I looked at the setup. I have 6 speakers and a sub with a two channel amp. I think the speakers are running off the head unit and the sub off the amp. So know I want to do it right. What is a good setup for four back speakers, two front speakers, sub, and two tower speakers?
I was thinking of a three amp setup. Keep the two channel for the sub, a new four channel for the six in boat speakers, and another new four channel to run the tower speakers (spare capacity).
Thoughts?

You still need to look at doing a 2 amp (at a minimum) setup: Power the 6 in-boats and sub off a 5 or 6 chnl amp and the tower powered off a 2chnl (maybe the 2-chnl you already have).

I will again also go with what mike suggested.

You should be able to get by on 2amp solution. That setup you describe in your boat now is much more common and makes sense.

you should be able to get by on 2amp solution.

plus 1 for this bro.