2009 210 Stereo

[gsh762]

I just bought my 210 and it has the tower speaker option.
They have two polk pa500.4 amps in it, pretty good equipment. The towers were miswired from the factory and clipped so i rewired them. My question is can i get the bullet hollow points in the factory roswell cans? How much work is involved? What are my options for keeping the roswell cans and getting hlcd speakers in there place. Is wetsounds making something to replace the factory tower speakers?

The stereo is clean after being tuned but i had 4 pro 60's on my 211 and a ws 420, and am looking for something similar.

[lion90]

My 230 also has that problem. The tower speakers clip when the volume is turned up to any reasonable level that can be heard from behind the boat.

Being an stereo novice, what did you change around to make it work? I see that you bought your 210 from the same place I did on Lanier.

[airhuck]

mine is clipping too (2009 SANTE).....seems like CC should recall the new polk tower wiring......anyone else have a 2009 w/ clipping problems?

[EarmarkMarine]

I wish I had something more conclusive and easier for you.

As I understand it, initially Polk was going to produce specially for Nautiques a marine coaxial (silver MM651um, 4-ohm) with a black grill (a MM651, 2.7 ohm lookalike). But who knows what really ends up in the manufacturing pipeline and when.

For now I would assume you can't determine with certainty which speaker you actually have in an '09 judging only by the grill. Its also possible that the in-boat and tower speakers could be different even though they appear identical. So, I would check each individual speaker's impedance with a multimeter. As measured the DCR (DC resistance) will typically be lower than the rated nominal impedance. For example, a 4-ohm speaker might read 3.5 ohms while a 2.7ohm speaker will also read a little less than its rating.

If you have 4-ohm rated speakers then you should be able to safely parallel two speakers per each channel for a resulting 2-ohm load. But if you have 2.7ohm rated speakers then you'll have to wire two speaker in series per channel for a resulting load of 5.4 ohms.

Acceptable loads are:

• A single 2.7ohm speaker per channel.

• Two 4-ohm speakers in parallel per channel (2-ohm load).

• A single 4-ohm speaker per channel.

• Two 2.7 ohm speakers in series per channel (5.4 ohm load).

• Two 2.7 ohm speakers in series per pair of bridged channels (a 5.4 ohm bridged load that is effectively equal to a 2.7ohm stereo load).

In the grand scheme, if you have 2.7 ohm speakers, adding another two or four-channel amplifier could rectify the impedance load and also fortify some needed power.

Hope this helps.

David
Earmark Marine

[gsh762]

david,
is installing a one ohm stable amplifier not an option like a Boston amp? That would allow one four channel amp to operate all of the cabin speakers right? Any recomendations? Also from the factory on mine they have the four rear cabin speakers paralleled into the amp i assume the cabins are a four ohm and the tower are a two ohm due to the clipping. Correct Craft states they can fix the clipping on the tower by this factory recall:
http://www.planetnautique.com/Correc.../SB2008-04.pdf

Essentially this does not correct the problem in my opinion. What do you think?

[airhuck]

gsh762, my hull# is not included in that recall and mine are still clipping.

[EarmarkMarine]

gsh762 & airhuck,

Even though it deals with audio, that service bulletin appears to address a separate and unrelated issue.

gsh762, A Boston amplifier is rated at one-ohm stereo so it should safely accept a 1.35 ohm per channel load. Keep in mind that the GT-42 only has highpass on two of its four channels. A better approach would be to reconfigure the existing power for in-boat speakers and add a new amplifier to specifically power the tower speakers which eventually are likely to be upgraded.

Again, there's no shortcut. You're going to have to verify the individual speaker's actual load with a multimeter before arriving at a prescription.

The Polk MM series are great in-boat speakers but poor tower speakers if you're expecting long range projection with good SPL and good articulation. Without hearing your system, I have no way to interpret whether "clipping" means an inherent system design and set-up flaw or more of an issue of failing your expectations. The Roswell pods are relatively small so you might try bringing the tower speaker's highpass up to 120 Hz. Narrowing the bandwidth will clean things up and yield more volume before clipping. While maybe not the final solution its a start.

David
Earmark Marine

[lion90]

Amazing how I can be so technical and mechanical at some many things from computers to working on engines but yet car/boat audio makes my head spin. I can definitely go and check my speakers to see if they are 2.7ohm or 4ohm when I get down there next and report back. After that, it's greek to me.

With that said, it does sound like Correct Craft should do something to make this right. My expectations are far from unrealistic as all I want is to be able to somewhat hear the system while riding. I am not an audiophile and I don't expect these speakers to be crisp and detailed. I know a wetsounds or NVS HLCD setup would be idea for that... however, I do expect to be able to hear some noise coming out of them at rider length. I have owned quite a few boats now with standard tower speaker setups and while they are not crisp and clean from the riders perspective, you could hear them with out them dropping out.

[gsh762]

David,
I am looking for a solution for my cabin. I am going to replace my towers with something. Do you think the GT42 is a good solution for all 6 cabins and a sub? Is that possible?

[EarmarkMarine]

gsh762,

In the case of the B.A. GT-42 you can run six 4-ohm cabin speakers highpass (collective 1.33 ohm load) plus a single 4-ohm sub in bridged mode (equal to a 2-ohm stereo load) but don't push it further. And, it would not work with six 2.7 ohm speakers. I would still feel better if you added a very small two-channel amp for the bow, like a B.A. GT-20 for example.

That which burns twice as bright burns half as long and the southern heat compounds the stress. How aggressively you use your equipment will determine how conservative your system design should be.

Let me know when you're ready to do something with your tower speakers.

David
Earmark Marine

[Laptom]

I don't get it... Yesterday I played around with a '09 210 with FCT3 cans...
The inner amp was fried (the amp was attached to a 20 Amp fuse holder, from the old Clarion 280 amp I think. And the wires to the amp from the amp plate where so thin!!).

But I saw that the upper amp (for the tower speakers) where attached bridged and in parallel. No problem when they are 4ohm, but now I hear they could be less. This amp is getting much, much hotter then the lower amp, so I'm gonna check the impedance on these speakers..
I would really think CC would make this right..

Does anybody know where the bow speakers are attached to on a '09 system? I know on a <'08 they where attached on the headunit.

[KatyTX]

Westsounds 485's and a 420. Problem solved. It's nice to be able to split the tower speakers from the boat speakers. And the mike comes in very handy.

[lion90]

The tower speakers are 2.7ohm.

So do I have any options that don't require swapping amps?

Here are two options that I have heard that may work that don't require getting another amp.
1) Rewire speakers to amps so each tower speaker is on separate channel.
2) Replace tower speakers with 4 speakers that are 4ohm. Someone here stated that Bullet can put their HLCD speakers in these cans. However, I assume that would need more power to drive them effectively!?

The problem with the Wetsound 485s is while there is a way to get them up there on a FCT3 with Z5, the *just* fit and then pretty much render the top of the cargo rack useless for carrying cargo (since the boards and what-not would hit the speakers).

[NautiqueJeff]

I had the 485's and a Z5 on my 230, and I carried boards up there all the time. They do not hit the speakers. See how far forward the boards would sit?

[lion90]

With the new FCT3 tower? They barely fit up there with the stock speakers and looking at Chattwake's setup, there seems like there is no way as the ends of the boards would hit.