Public Address (PA) System

As a follow-up review to the Uniden Bearcat CB radio, I also installed a PA system during this implementation. Back in 2012 when I installed the CB in my old Jeep, I also installed a PA then; however, I just used a cheap Radio Shack PA speaker rated at 100 watts but never applied any power to it via an amplifier.  The Uniden Bearcat PA system output is only 2.5 watts @ 10% distortion (per their user’s manual).

This time around, not only did I decide to go with a much higher quality speaker, but I also hooked up some juice to the speaker via a high power amplifier.  The speaker I went with this time was an Abrams Dynamite Series 100 watt ultra low profile PA speaker.  This sucker is built like a tank, extremely durable, and probably weighs around 5-10 pounds!  In order to use this speaker to its potential, simply connecting the PA output from the Bearcat directly to the speaker would not be enough volume to really use the system.  So, in comes the SSL Evolution 1500w monoblock amplifier 🙂

Why 1500 watts you might ask?

The Abrams speaker, if you notice the fine details around its specifications, has an incredibly high ohm rating @ 11 Ohms!!  So, when you factor that in, it takes much much more than matching wattage and going with a small 100-200w amp.  I went with the monoblock because I obviously only need 1 channel, no real point in going with a two or four channel amp, as the rest of those channels would simply never be used.

This particular SSL Evolution series is rated at 563w @ 4ohm stable, which means when you crank up the ohms to match what the speaker is rated at, you are going to be somewhere around 200 watts maximum output.  This is more than enough to power this speaker, and could frankly blow it if you cranked the amp all the way up.  Luckily, this amp not only supports full-range (which you want for a PA speaker, no point in applying a crossover since you aren’t pushing lows through this), but also has an output level adjustment.  Currently, I have mine set around 1/3 of the way up, and that is more than enough volume with the CB’s volume control knob cranked all the way up.

The only downside to the SSL EVO amp is it is quite large.  I found the best place to  mount this to be under the passenger seat.  It isn’t rated for marine use, so if it ever got extremely wet, I would expect it to fail; however, that’s why I just went with a cheap amp (only $66 at the time I purchased).  No point in bringing in a Rockford Fosgate Punch, Kicker or another name brand just to power a CB’s PA speaker lol.

As far as the installation, I chose to mount the Abrams speaker right behind the factory grill.  There is a perfect mount point via the metal bar that runs parallel to the factory bumper.  Drill two small holes here after centering the speaker, use two self-tapping metal screws with some Loctite, and you’re good to go!  Super solid mounting location.

*Also, a question I had when researching this speaker was, what to do with the two wires coming out of the speaker?  The typical thought process here would be one is positive and one is negative, just like your typical speaker would have.  However, when reaching out to their support department and reviewing the Q&A on Amazon, it would appear, due to the nature of the type of speaker, these really aren’t +/-; so you can attach them in either orientation and have it work just fine.  I chose to attach the black wire coming from the speaker to the negative terminal on the amp, and the white wire I used for the positive terminal.  Although I didn’t try the opposite configuration, I have been told it should work in either orientation.  Mine works flawlessly with white (+) and black (-).

THIS COMBINATION IS LOUD!!!!!

…If you’re going to do it, do it right…

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Abrams Dynamite PA Speaker	SSL Evolution 1500w Monoblock Amp

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