2nd opinion plz: New Clarion/JL Marine setup on '04 226

[MuertoMike]

Hi everyone, looking for a few more opinions on a setup that has been presented to me by my boat audio guy:

boat is a 2004 air nautique 226 Limited Edition, factory flight control tower. has the existing factory clarion deck w/ 2 remotes (next to steering wheel & rear transom)

here's the list of what the guy wants to do. i originally told him i had a 4k-5k budget, but i'm a big fan of doing things right the first time and paying more for quality. this part list + labor is definitely over my budget, but it's still within my tolerance.

Clarion m606 (or cms2 if we can't get the m606 since it's so new)
Clarion mw4 (next to steering wheel)
Clarion mw1 (rear transom)

JL Audio marine m12 (infinite baffle) (1 total) mounted under the steering wheel where the false panel is (fuse panel piece)
JL Audio marine m8.8 tower speakers with fixed brackets (4 total)
JL Audio marine m6.5 coaxial speakers to replace the 6 factory speakers in the boat
JL Audio marine m1000 & m800 to power everything

Balmar alternator (165amp or 200amp depending on what i can bolt to the factory 5.7)
Balmar battery isolator switch so i can ditch the perko switch and make the system idiot-proof

Shuriken batteries (4 in addition to 2 brand new optima blue tops)

misc rca cables, heavy gauge speaker wire, ground wire, blocks, y cables for the remotes from the deck, etc...
custom plate for mw4 remote & custom speaker box/enclosure for sub


My biggest goal is I want to be able to sit in a cove and kick back while not having to worry about killing my batteries after having my system on for 20 min. if i need to start the boat once an hour or every other hour, i'm fine with that. i also want everything to sound good in & out of the boat. i'm purposely staying away from wet sounds because i've heard they sound great 50+ feet behind the boat, but not so great in the boat...that and they're severely over priced!

i'll take any & all opinions, i've been out of the car audio scene for a long time so everything has changed for me.

[ski4evr]

Looks to be very loud, clear, and durable to me. Big fan of JL, wasn't sure if it was worth it when I installed, but quickly lost all doubt. Only thing I would add is some sort of zone control or the ability to turn the tower speakers down. Sometimes it is valuable to turn the towers down----especially when 5 O is in the area.

[core-rider]

Personally I think the 4 batteries are overkill for your system. I only run 2 - Group 27 Interstates and have ran make system cranked for 6-8 hours a day with good battery charge. Based on your proposed components I draw more amps than you will. Is that battery isolator an automatic switching kind? If so I'd delete it and just put in a simple Perko "All, 1, 2, Off" switch. It's what I run and is as simple as you can possibly get. My starting battery is on "1", stereo bank on "2" and if I ever have a dead starting battery I can switch to "All" and run off the stereo bank to get back to the dock. That has never been an issue in 4 seasons on this system though.

Also, I not waste money on the alternator, but invest in a good on-board shore charging system. No matter the size of the alternator it will never properly charge and maintain the stereo bank at that size or even half that size.

As far as stereo components go... You can't go wrong with JL! The only possible weak link would be the IB sub instead of a sealed or ported sub, but that is all personal preference and how much bass you desire. I would also suggest a zone controller like WS420SQ or Exile.

[azeus17]

I think it depends on how you listen to music. Are you a "play music in the cove for everyone, whether they like it or not" full volume kind of guy, or "listen at a normal volume so you can hear while you are swimming", etc., kind of guy?

If its the latter, 4 additional batteries, bigger alternator, etc seems kind of excessive to me. If its the former, then maybe its what you need. I am far from the audio expert though.

As for the component selection, I don't think you can go wrong with JL, but at those prices I also think you could go all Wet Sounds if you wanted. Add an EQ like ski4evr said. Remember, the point of tower speakers is so you CAN hear the music at 50+ ft while boarding, not just to look cool. Your in boats should handle the rest. With an EQ you can control that when and how you want.

Aren't infinite baffle subs designed to be used without an enclosure? I would check to make sure he exactly what he is using.

[MuertoMike]

thanks for the replies!

not looking to play "stereo wars" with everyone else on the water, i'm really after something that sounds really good, clean, and is completely reliable. i'm a huge fan of paying extra for quality whether it's a brand or service.

music preference is a lot of reggae (iration, pepper, rebelution, etc...), rock (tool, linkin park, deftones, etc), and rap (drake, dre, top 40)

[MLA]

"JL Audio marine m12 (infinite baffle) (1 total) mounted under the steering wheel where the false panel is"

Wrong choice here. That false wall wont support an IB woofer. go with something like the 12W3 in a sealed or ported enclosure.

" i'm purposely staying away from wet sounds because i've heard they sound great 50+ feet behind the boat, but not so great in the boat...that and they're severely over priced!"

Your are labeling an entire brand based on something someone else has stated about a particular model, possible a model that long been retired? Further, Compare a Wet sounds model to a similar JL, and I can show you which one cost more, and it might surprise you.

[Guntersville230]

What interstates are you running? Is it this "dual purpose" setup and not just a pure deep cycle. Are you happy so far? Just wondering because wanting to change out some batteries on our 230. Thanks man......we will have to get together on the lake sometime when you are around this year!

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/...ategoryid=true

Personally I think the 4 batteries are overkill for your system. I only run 2 - Group 27 Interstates and have ran make system cranked for 6-8 hours a day with good battery charge. Based on your proposed components I draw more amps than you will. Is that battery isolator an automatic switching kind? If so I'd delete it and just put in a simple Perko "All, 1, 2, Off" switch. It's what I run and is as simple as you can possibly get. My starting battery is on "1", stereo bank on "2" and if I ever have a dead starting battery I can switch to "All" and run off the stereo bank to get back to the dock. That has never been an issue in 4 seasons on this system though.

Also, I not waste money on the alternator, but invest in a good on-board shore charging system. No matter the size of the alternator it will never properly charge and maintain the stereo bank at that size or even half that size.

As far as stereo components go... You can't go wrong with JL! The only possible weak link would be the IB sub instead of a sealed or ported sub, but that is all personal preference and how much bass you desire. I would also suggest a zone controller like WS420SQ or Exile.

[MuertoMike]

I ended up going with a little different setup than I originally posted.

went with a w7 ported enclosure, custom box & vent under the passenger flip up seat. And went with 3 JL amps, 1 for the Sub, 1 for the internal boat speakers, and 1 more for the tower speakers. There's an arc audio eq that controls everything that was custom fitted right under the shift lever.

Clarion m606
Clarion mw4 (next to steering wheel)
Clarion mw1 (rear transom)

JL Audio marine m8.8 tower speakers with swivel brackets (4 total)
JL Audio marine m6.5 coaxial speakers to replace the 6 factory speakers in the boat
all blue lit LED's on the speakers

4x optima blue tops (1 for the starter, 3 for the system) w/ a perko switch

If I had it to do over, I wouldn't get that MW4, it lags really bad, and the screen is pretty small. the one on the back transom would have been fine next to the wheel.

The quality of the install was good; the system sounds amazing. I'd plug the shop, but they had horrible customer service. The went out of business shortly after.

[distinguishedmotorsports]

if you ever get rid of the clarion, just french the JL media master 100 into where the helm remote is and be done with it. you sure you went with M650s? because the MX650s are much cheaper and its hard to tell the difference for most people.

[ROCKer]

I just replaced my CMD8 with a M606. I like the unit and the Bluetooth. My only complaint is volume control from the helm using the MW1. You can control the volume per zone using the up and down buttons, but quick overall volume control is tough. I’ve been using my phones for the master columns and tuning the zones with the MW1. I guess 4 Long sets of RCA cables and a Wetsounds EQ are in my future. How are you handling remote columns control with the M606?