G23 stereo upgrade

[Jeeper92]

I have 2 questions in regards to my 2014 G23. What is the easiest way to increase the amount of bass on the boat, and how are the factory amps wired in regards to which amp is driving what speakers. I have the factory 4000.4 and the 5000.5 polk amps and the 4 factory compression horn tower speakers.

[MLA]

I'll answer the easy question first. The 5000.5 is a 5 chnl amp. The chnl 5 is driving the sub woofer and the 4 full range are driving the in-boat speakers. The 4000.4 is dedicated to the tower speakers.

Now for the bass question. There is no easy or simple way to improve the bass in that boat. Can is be done, sure, but its going to require a fairly involved modification. More wattage to a sub can increase output, but that sub will not handle the wattage needed to make a real difference. Going with a larger sub is the easiest way to produce more output. Down side is, thats an open cavity so you would need to go with a true IB woofer for best output. Another route, and most ideal, is to vent that locker so the bass has a chance to radiate out into the cabin. This can be simulated by opening and closing the locker door.

[NautiqueJeff]

Roswell makes a sub box for their 12" sub that fits the G perfectly. They perfected it on my G23 last year, and it is now available to anyone. The kit also includes a vent that gets installed under the passenger seat. It is a VAST improvement over the stock setup. If you're ever over toward Lake Norman, you're welcome to check it out.

There are other companies that make better subs than the stock Polk, but this is the cleanest execution I have seen in a G, and it sounds great.

[JoeA]

Jeff, is the box and sub sold together as a kit? Or can you buy just the box and put any sub in it?

[nyryan2001]

I dont have anything to gain from this reccomendation. The easiest way to increase the most bass without extending your footprint with an extra box and sub and to keep costs down is to put the biggest legit IB sub in the existing sub location.

Use a rotary or jig saw, and widen out the factory sub opening and put a 15" Fi IB3 on 750w at 2ohm. $250 for the sub and as cheap as $125 for a small legit ~750w at 2ohm amp. Fi hand builds their subs, so it can take 4-6 weeks FYI. If you are really strapped for cash you CAN use your Polk PA 5000.5 for that sub, tho it'd only get 400w at 2 ohm, or would allow you to upgrade in phases, it would be roughly x2 the factory 10" due to size, proper IB and x2 the OEM power.


IB3 Sounds very good, does not sound like a weazy weak IB sub at all. I would describe it as x3 to x5 the OEM sub output, tho much lower, deeper and better sq.


I did this ^^^ and have an additional 12"... but was able to hear them back to back from the weak 200w OEM 10".

[trip33]

Ryan - do you have any pics of your sub setup?

[a0128]

If I was a Nautique employee I would offer to develop, market and run a high-end sound department that would work with buyers at order time to create a custom system as part of their build. I realize Nautique partners with Polk, but it seems like many owners are pulling out the Polk system and replacing it with Wet Sounds, JL Audio or others in order to create a system more tailored to their personal tastes.

I think you could partner with a couple of high end manufacturers, create a menu of options for the individual components (i.e sub-woofer, in-boats, tower and amps) to give the buyers the system they want at the time of delivery. You would up-charge for this service to cover administrative costs.

I think this would be the icing on the cake for a high-end manufacturer like Nautique.

[Tallredrider]

If I was a Nautique employee I would offer to develop, market and run a high-end sound department that would work with buyers at order time to create a custom system as part of their build. I realize Nautique partners with Polk, but it seems like many owners are pulling out the Polk system and replacing it with Wet Sounds, JL Audio or others in order to create a system more tailored to their personal tastes.

I think you could partner with a couple of high end manufacturers, create a menu of options for the individual components (i.e sub-woofer, in-boats, tower and amps) to give the buyers the system they want at the time of delivery. You would up-charge for this service to cover administrative costs.

I think this would be the icing on the cake for a high-end manufacturer like Nautique.

They already up charge out the booty for the better Polk system. I think the 4 amp setup was $5300. I elected not to do that because for about half of that I can have a better system that I install myself. I would guess that they make bacon with the current sound system and its upgrades, so why change? To get a really good system, they would upcharge 7-8K to make the same profit margin; would anyone buy it?

[a0128]

Tallredrider - based on what I've seen on this site and others there are owners out there spending $7-8k at a custom sound shop to rip and replace their Polk system with Wet Sounds or other brands. While not an option for everyone, there will be those buyers who would pay for a system tailored to their specific requirements.

While I can't speak to Nautique's profit margins I'd bet there is room for improvement through more efficient buying, partnerships, manufacturing floor efficiency analysis, etc.

In any event I think a high-end sound department would be a great value add proposition for certain customers.

[nauty220]

I just wish they would give you the option for larger interior speakers with 8" instead of just 6.5. That would be a game changer. As far as a high end sound department, I think some dealers have taken on this responsibility and have been able to generate more revenue with Roswell and handle the service side more efficiently. At least I know Buxton has done this

[MLA]

If I was a Nautique employee I would offer to develop, market and run a high-end sound department that would work with buyers at order time to create a custom system as part of their build. I realize Nautique partners with Polk, but it seems like many owners are pulling out the Polk system and replacing it with Wet Sounds, JL Audio or others in order to create a system more tailored to their personal tastes.

I think you could partner with a couple of high end manufacturers, create a menu of options for the individual components (i.e sub-woofer, in-boats, tower and amps) to give the buyers the system they want at the time of delivery. You would up-charge for this service to cover administrative costs.

I think this would be the icing on the cake for a high-end manufacturer like Nautique.

Funny you say that. I know one high end tow boat manufacturer that put their foot down hard a couple model years ago. They will in no way shape or form, do any one-off or partial options. Its by the book all or non. Reason being is i guess it slows the build procces down for that boat and everyone in line behind it.

[a0128]

Funny you say that. I know one high end tow boat manufacturer that put their foot down hard a couple model years ago. They will in no way shape or form, do any one-off or partial options. Its by the book all or non. Reason being is i guess it slows the build procces down for that boat and everyone in line behind it.

I suspect many manufacturers treat the sound system as sort of an afterthought verses a critical assembly piece. You would need to treat the sound components just as you would any other item on the BOM or you would end up in the exact situation you point out. In order for this to work it would need to be fully integrated into the manufacturing process.

[Jeb1974]

It's a little surprising to me that Nautique uses Polk given how expensive the boats are. Focals have always been great speakers but don't cut it in the marine world. Wetsounds seems to be the favored manufacturer for speakers (and a lot like their amps) so you'd think it would be a no-brainer to use them. I guess it's possible that the majority of boat owners don't care about audio and they are happy with whatever comes from factory.

In my last boat I put in a Wetsounds system with Exile tower speakers and it cost me about $2500. It sounds way better and louder than the G23 (which had an invoice price for the stereo of around $10K). I should make the caveat that I did get all my equipment at dealer cost and did the install myself. We also didn't pay full invoice on the boat. In any case I'm sure I could have done much better on my own.

I guess anyone ordering from the factory has the option to not take the stereo upgrades but it's a bit of a pain to get the stereo installed after the fact or they're like us and buy one off the lot.