Wetsounds Install

[bchesley]

Well I have to say that I was really skeptical about all the hype. I bought some Pro 485's after a buddy got some. I only heard his once before the season ended and he only had a factory amp pushing them. I went ahead and ordered a 420 and a syn4 to power them. I finished the install this weekend and started to tune it this afternoon.

All I can say is HOLY CRAP. They are absolutely unreal. I have not really gotten them totaly tuned yet and they will freekin scream. Every one my lake probably heard my music today while I started setting gains. I got the sub set first, and then the interior set up just right. I am still working on the tower though. I keep turning up the gain to find the spot it starts to give and have not gotten there yet. I am only at about a third on the gain so far and it just sounds so perfect. It feels like a rock concert it has so much power. Here are a few pictures of my install. They are crappy phone pics. I will take some more next week when I go back to finish it.

[SuperSquirt]

Congrats, you are going to love those speakers. Just be prepared to show them off, cause everyone is going to scream crank it up!

I worked on my radio all day long today gutting the factory crap out of my boat, and I'm still not done. I mounted the new radio and plan on running the 420 mic under the floor around to the driver side. I haven't configured anything yet because my batteries are out of the boat.

Question for the WS guys:
What advantages will I have from hooking up the subwoofer amp directly to the receiver and using Bass Engine vs. using the 420EQ? (I want to use the Alpine for volume control and leave the 420 vol up)

[wetsounds1]

Bchesley, great post, looks great!!

Super,


You would lose the line voltage from the 420 into that sub amp.

You mention the bass engine. But I looked on the alpine site and do not see that feature for this unit. I also remember that feature was a bass boost processing deal that enhanced the regular speakers and not the sub.

So looking at that unit. Do not see any benefit to go direct. But of course you can always try it both ways and see what you prefer

You will have faster control over the sub with the 420 as well. So you can still leave the 420 up and set and the main volume on the radio as up and down. But if you want more or less bass, a twist of the knob on the 420 etc..

Tim
Wet Sounds

[bchesley]

Tim,

Thanks for such a great product. I just hope that people who are in doubt will go listen to a set. Especially one that is powered right. Mine are so much more powerful than my buddy with his factory amp.

Brad

[SuperSquirt]

Sorry for the confusion Tim, you're right about the bass engine. I've had so many Alpine units over the years and I just assumed this one had it. It does make sense to use the 420 on all amps for voltage and volume reasons. I am just curious about the gains and crossovers on my amps, should they be set to normal? I haven't played around with it just yet. Knowing what i'm working with, what would u recommend setting everything at first, before adjustments.

[wetsounds1]

http://www.wetsounds.com/pages/products/WS-420.html

Download the Settings and Install document

As you can see in the document. Have everything flat on the head unit and if using an ipod. Set the eq on that to flat as well.

Then tune the system from there. Since the 420 is now your eq for both the towers and in boats. You will not need to use anything on the head unit or ipod so they will always stay flat.

You will use the built in crossovers on the amps so you will not need the ones on the head unit so those are off or full range. Also, since you are taking the one output from the head unit to the 420. You want to make sure to never use any built in crossovers on the head unit as you would be sending a crossed over signal to the 420 and you need full range since it is also going to the sub output.

Then set your crossovers on the amps and set the gains and you will be good to go. The set up guide gives you a good baseline to start with and then you can adjust from there. Turning the gain up on the 420 and re adjusting the amps. Going up or down on the crossover points etc...

Leave the 420 flat as well. To set the gains. Get it to where you want it. And then fine tune and tweak from there

Tim
Wet Sounds

[bchesley]

Tim

I copied this from one of your post from I think the Supra forum and used it to set mine up. I hope this helps.

WS420 Setup Instructions
Here is a step by step.

1) Unplug all the RCA’s from your amps. Turn all the amp gains down.

2) Turn the radio up to find the maximum volume. Set the system with the head unit volume at 85% of max. This is the loudest the radio should ever go. Radios will create distortion the higher the volume is turned up. Which will create distortion on the output signal before reaching the amps. So find a safe easy to remember volume. If the head unit is 35. Max should be 30. If the head unit is 40. Maximum should be 30 to 35 and so on.

3) Once you have found the maximum volume set point. Turn the radio back down. Use a test CD that you are familiar with for tuning. Something that has highs and lows and vocals.

4) Make sure the settings on the radio are flat. You should not tune a system with the treble or bass up.

5) On the top of the WS 420. Set the gains at the mid level. Make sure to adjust both the main gain and the aux gain. Set them both to this mid level. This is the level where most systems will be. The WS 420 has the ability to provide more voltage if there are long rca runs but most boats will be in the middle as this is a safe setting.

6) Make sure all the eq adjustments are flat. Right in the middle. Plug in all the rcas from the eq to the amps.

7) Plug in just the RCA’s for the in boat speakers amp. Set the high pass crossover at around 80HZ to 100HZ.

8) Turn the radio up to the max safe level found in step 2. Turn the eq up to about ¾ of max volume.

9) Slowly turn the gain up until you hear the speakers distort. Slowly back off the gain from that point a small amount until you hear the speakers play as loud as they can with no distortion.

10) Unplug the RCA’s from that amp and plug the RCA’s into the amp running the tower speakers. Set the high pass crossover on the amp for the tower speakers at 80HZ to 100HZ.

11) Slowly turn the gain up until you hear the speakers distort. Slowly back off the gain from that point a small amount until you hear the speakers play as loud as they can with no distortion.

12) Unplug the RCA’s from that amp and plug the RCA’s into the amp running the subwoofer. Set the low pass crossover on the amp for the subwoofer at 80HZ. On the WS 420. Turn the bass level to max. The ring is a frequency adjustment. All the way down to the left is 30 HZ. You will want to put this around 60 to 80HZ. So about ¼ of the way up.

13) Slowly turn the gain up until you hear the speakers distort. Slowly back off the gain from that point a small amount until you hear the speakers play as loud as they can with no distortion.

14) Turn the radio back down and plug in all RCA’s and do a final check with everything playing. You should now have the gains set at “unity” Meaning they are all at the same level and you are matched across the board.

15) Note that you can adjust the high pass and low pass filters to tailor the sound to each boat. As you can set the high pass higher to get more volume but at the expense of losing some low end mid bass.

16) You can then fine tune the sound on the eq as well. Using the knobs and rings. Most systems will not need much in terms of boost.

17) You can then leave the eq volume set and use the radio as the main volume. And then turn the in boats down with the towers up or vice versa depending on you goals.

[SuperSquirt]

Thanks for all the info, this will help out a lot.

[skiking]

Love the install so far bchesley!!!

I was trying to decide whether to add the Wetsounds 420 to my upgrade plans as well. Couldn't decide if all I would be doing is adding a microphone to mix since the Alpine head units can pretty much do all the other pieces ie,... fade between tower (front) and interior (rear), boost sub up and down, add treble or bass..... yadda yadda yadda.

I am sure I am missing the benefits of the 420. I wanna make sure it is worth adding.

[bchesley]

After playing with it I think its as vital to system as is the speakers. I am so glad I installed it. It really makes music adjustments on the fly so easy, and being able to seperate the tower and inboat speakers is so nice. The pro485s can handle much more bass and mid bass than the inboat and you have that freeedom of adjusment with the 420. when I took my wife for a ride the other day I could just reach down quickly and kill the tower speakers so we would not be jamming the whole lake. Just that feature alone is way to cool. Well worth the money.

Brad

[SuperSquirt]

Skiking, I was in a dilemma with my previous Clarion head unit. I didn't like the 2volt preamps that it came with, and I really hated that it had a front,rear, and only one non-fader input (when i need two). So I basically had the tower amp on the non-fader input and my sub was on a regular rear input. I had to do it this way so i could lower the output on the tower when I wasn't riding, but the sub suffered under normal knob adjustments.

The Alpine head unit is basically the same as the Clarion, except it has 4volt preamps and has it does have a front,rear,sub input. Since i want both the tower amp and the sub amp on non-fading inputs, i added the WS 420 eq so i could adjust both individually without having to use the "typical" fader on the Alpine (which is the worst case scenario).

So, I am excited to have both and I will let you guys know how bad it kicks the Clarions butt. Anyone who owns Alpine knows what i'm talking about. Oh yeah, the microphone is just an added bonus!

[wetsounds1]

skiking,

When just using the head unit. Whatever bass and treble adjustments you do. Go for all speakers the same. And when fading, it just gives the ability to have an either in boat or tower only type deal. So it doesn't offer independent volumes.

So with the 420. You get an eq for the in boats and a eq for the towers. So you can dial in the in boats on their own. as super put it. Take some bass of the in boats. maybe bump up the tweeters. And then bump the bass on the towers and maybe tone down the highs etc..

And with the dual volumes. You can have all in boats and no towers, all towers and no inboat. Half volume on the in boats with towers all the way etc...All at the driver.

So you dont have to get into a menu system on a head unit and try to fade when you dont want towers etc...

Plus you get the line driver functions and the microphone.

So the best way to describe the 420. It is Two EQ's in one chassis. One complete EQ for the in boats and one complete eq for the towers, plus a line driver, plus a microphone.

Plus you get Boat Link so you can link up to your buddies boat and one source to multiple boats.

Tim
Wet Sounds

[ZANDERSANTE]

Tim just helped me make up my mind! I'm sold.

[bchesley]

I can't say enough about it. For the price you get so much.

[skiking]

Sold! PDT_001