Recent Stereo Upgrades w/Pics

[Quick VR-4]

Got my "new to me" boat back in April and started to upgrade stereo almost immediately. Wanted to start off budget minded and will adjust some things as time goes on. So far this is what I have done.

Upgraded my interior speakers because the 2005 factory Polk's were a little tired.



Upgraded from stock tower 6 1/2 Polks to some Wetsounds Pro60's and will look to step up to some Rev's at a later point.



Built an amp wall, added 0 ga wire to some distribution blocks, and finally some amps.

Interior: Soundstream Rubicon 4.600 powering 6 Polk Audio 6 1/2's
Sub: Soundstream Rubicon 1.1000 powering Alpine Type R 12" under observer seat
Sub: Clarion APX280M powering 10" Bazooka under dash
Tower: Exile 800.4 powering Pro60's





Still have some wires to hide and plan on building another box for a second 12" and installing under dash for winter project.

Installed an Exile ZLD for EQ duties and controlling sound (love this thing)



Lastly, needed to get some more sound and air out of the sub under the observer seat. Decided to use some imagination and thought about using a speaker grill of some kind. Found some Jeep speaker grills with a good gray color and deside to use it as a vent. Really happy with the way it turned out and has a nice factory look to it.






No pics, but also upgraded all interior lights with waterproof LED's all around the boat in pure white. My friend had a 03 SANTE and I have missed it ever since he sold it. Could not be happier with this boat so far.

[Kmayotte]

Nice work. I've done a lot of the same stuff. How did you build and mount the amp board. I can't figure out a good way to attach it to the sidewall.

[Quick VR-4]

Nice work. I've done a lot of the same stuff. How did you build and mount the amp board. I can't figure out a good way to attach it to the sidewall.

Mine had two raised areas built in where the Clarion amps were mounted from the factory. I used a single piece of MDF for my amp rack and screwed it into the factory raised areas. Not rock solid, but it has held fine for a month.

[Kmayotte]

Ok, that was my thought, just wanted to know if other people had gone the same route.

One other questions, I'm still learning about custom stereo components. Does an equalizer just wired to the head unit? What's involved with installing one?

[Quick VR-4]

Does an equalizer just wired to the head unit? What's involved with installing one?

The main reason for the Exile ZLD is the ability to control 3 zones independently (interior speakers, tower speakers, and subs). If you are hanging out after dark, you might want to turn your towers off so you are not rocking the whole cove or turn down your subs when anchored up. It does have EQ functions (bass, mid bass, mid, high) as well to fine tune your sound.

As for installing, it is super easy. All you need to do is hook up power & ground to the same points all your other audio is hooked to so that it will prevent noise or feedback. I hooked the remote into the radio so they would both get power at the same time. Then you take one RCA out from your radio and that goes into your ZLD input. From there you hook your RCA's from the ZLD into your amps such as tower amp, interior amp, and sub amp. This is what allows you to fade the sound to each and you are done. It also has a AUX input which is what I use for my Ipod so I do not have to worry about wires hanging around. I have mine hardwired coming up from behind the dash next to the cupholder for a cleaner look and right beside the driver for easy song changes when riding.

Hope this answers your question.

[Kmayotte]

Cool, thanks for the info. Obviously you chose the Exile over the wetsounds WS-420. Any opinion on that?

[Quick VR-4]

Cool, thanks for the info. Obviously you chose the Exile over the wetsounds WS-420. Any opinion on that?

The reason I went with Exile is because it is a true "3 Zone" line driver. With the Wetsounds your sub is tied in with either your interior or tower speakers so if you turn down your towers your sub would turn down also. I did not like that as I wanted to ajdust all three components seperately. I also like the large knobs and the fact they are easy to adjust. With a friends Wetsounds, it was hard to adjust towers/interiors since they are on the same knob with one slightly larger wrapped around the other. A couple things the Wetsounds does offer that the Exile does not is the mic (I would never use) and the ability to change the EQ settings on the tower speakers and interiors independently. Both are great products so it depends on what you want for your needs.

[motosno963]

exile is where its at haha..i myself have a moomba (sorry i want to upgrade to a SANTE ) and alot of people on the moomba site are going exile and that have some nice set ups..every once and a while Exile will also put up there demo speakers,amps, and subs for sale too so you can get a nice deal on them

[Twrandall]

What kind of LEDs did you use? Pics yet? System is sweet!

[Quick VR-4]

What kind of LEDs did you use? Pics yet? System is sweet!

Sorry, keep forgeting to take pics. I just bought a 30 ft. roll of hyper white waterproof LED's off of Flea-bay from an american seller as most are Hong Kong and have a 3-4 week ship time. You can cut every 3rd LED so you can make your strings as long as you need. I removed all the factory lights and wired them into the existing connection so my interior light switch contorls the LED's. Going to do cupholders soon and wire them into the shower button since my boat does not have one.

[Cam003]

So the clarion amp powering the Bazooka, Factory wiring for power??? just wondering looking to add a fourth amp to my boat and did not think an 0/1 gaige could be split into four 4 gauge power leads. thanks looks good keep us posted with updates

[Quick VR-4]

So the clarion amp powering the Bazooka, Factory wiring for power??? just wondering looking to add a fourth amp to my boat and did not think an 0/1 gaige could be split into four 4 gauge power leads. thanks looks good keep us posted with updates

Correct on the Clarion powering the bazooka. I plan on removing those when I go with a second 12" under the driver helm and both will be powered by the Soundstream 1000. I tried running the bazooka of the 1000 along with the Alpine 12" just to see and it was WAY overpowered (factory bazooka sub replaced with Infinity Kappa rated at 500w). As for the 0/1 gauge wire being split, that is how mine is set-up with the Rockford Fosgate distribution blocks. 0/1 coming from batteries into the distribution blocks and splitting to 4 ga to the amps.