speaker volume too low

[noelex]

In that case it sounds as if all is well. It's what can be expected for what you are running .

I still think there is a problem.
18W RMS is still plenty to make lots of noise. With 1w the speakers will produce 90DB at 1m that’s very loud.
My Alpine unit is very similar and even with moderately inefficient speaks it will produce "uncomfortable levels" in the saloon. As expected, with the limited output, the sound quality suffers at these high volumes, but this does not fit in with the description of the problem in the OP.

 

[gasdave]

Update time!

I took a quick run to the boat today having memorised the relevant pages from the manual (damn printer wasn't working this morning ) and had another check of all wiring, etc.. I can now confirm that there is definitely no shorting going on, settings on the base unit are correct.

On checking the little slide switch on the underside of the unit again (difficult to see properly in my installation position) I discovered that this wasn't quite all the way towards the "normal" position - where it should be without any external device. When I corrected this - bingo, with proper sound

So although I feel slightly fraudulent at having exercised all your brains I am now happy and have also learnt some more about electronics. Thankyou all once again

 

[Pete In The East]

Glad that got sorted it out by the flick of a switch!

I was reading this thinking how misleading and irrelevant the following comments were:

"To put things into perspective I am running 180w RMS just into the front 10cm speakers to deal with the top end, you are running 1/10 of the output to deal with the whole system."

A 180w RMS amplifier for 10cm speakers providing just high frequency is ridiculous overkill! Totally uneccessary! A continuous 1w amplifier with a sturdy power supply would be very loud, but wattage versus measured decibel output is not linear.

Big speakers make bass and these large drivers require a lot more energy to "move air" than small speakers do. If you did want deep bass (and lots of it), you might want an amplifier with an hefty RMS/Continuous output rating to drive a large subwoofer, but most people would not want that on a boat (or in a car).

"Most head units will be giving out at least 50w per channel, your unit really was designed to run multiple amplifiers...."

Most head units these days come with a decent power output, more than enough to drive an average set of four car/marine audio speakers.

In the case of this Alpine unit, the internal amplifiers can be disabled when not in use. This would prevent any damage to the amplifiers when not connected with any load and allow the rest of the electronics in the head unit to function better due to decreased current demand from the disabled output stage. The benefit would be the reduced tendency for clipping on musical transients - which put simply will equate to a less distorted, cleaner sound.

Frankly, this would make negligible sonic difference in a noisy environment (in a boat, or a car). There's way too much meaningless babble associated with car audio and people get sucked in by all the hype.

Speaker impedance for car audio equipment is usually 4ohms, but an 8 ohm speaker will work, albeit slightly less loud for any given power output.

Reversing speaker polarity on one speaker would result in a reduction in bass output, but the overall volume would barely be affected.

Sorry, just had to throw my 2p worth in.