Pre-amp EQ? Gain adjustments?

[imhoff]

I'll be honest, I'm not an audiophile whatsoever, but after being in some other boats I knew my system wasn't living up to it's full potential (2015 G23 with polk 4amp/zone control setup). I had a stereo guy come out to look at my system and he agreed. I know that he's done a lot of work on other Nautiques at a marina nearby.

He's planning to come back with a pre-amp eq to try on one of the channels/amps and if it works we'll do the others. He said the head unit simply isn't powerful enough (or something is wrong with it) and adding these EQs will allow us to fine tune each one.

Is adding these pre-amp equalizer's a good idea? He seemed to imply that it wouldn't cost much and isn't a big deal.

Also, I was expecting for him to use an ohm meter to dial in the amps at different mHz levels. Is this something that I should push for, or does the right person simply know what they're listening for? He made some quick adjustments on the head unit and on the amps themselves and it did sound noticeably better. When he's "dialing it in", what volume level should I have it on? I think the system redlines at 38ish?

Should I ensure the boat's in the water during this whole process, or does it not matter?

Lastly, what else don't I know that I should be asking with a stereo guy on my boat? :-)

Thanks in advance!

[David Analog]

He could use a meter to dial to in the amplifiers if he knew what the maximum pre-clipping output voltage at the given impedance would be. And this can only be determined by first testing under load, and not via a meter, and not via the specs. You won't find that data on a Polk amplifier. Beyond that, the multimeter/output-voltage method is initially fine to determine the maximum level, but this remains unbalanced and is only the first step. In a professional tune, the final levels are always set by ear. Many pros armed with an educated ear and a complex thought process will not need a measurement tool and will go strictly by ear. If you have the right person you can trust him.

[scottb7]

In my opinion you have to figure out what stock in boat speakers you have? I have a g21 2014 and they were the bottom of the line polk. I actually like polk but NOT those speakers. So there was no way I could ever get enough volume (with decent sound) while on the lake wakeboarding. They were fine in the garage or boat lift, which is probably how they sell them (showroom).

The head unit is fine, and frankly the amps are fine for the volume I need. I realize if I want more volume I need more powerful amps.

I replaced all 6 cabin speakers and the sub with wetsounds

xs-10fa-s2v2

1

$169.00 USD

xs-650-s (3 pairs )

1

$419.95 USD

But what I did is I removed my tower speakers, and re-purposed the existing polk amp that ran the tower speakers to just run the bow speakers bridging 4 channels to 2. Then replaced the polk sub with wetsounds 2 ohm instead of 4 ohm. So the other amp powers the 4 main cabin speakers and the sub.

Sounds pretty **** good. Now I have enough clear good sound and volume while riding. Like I said any louder and you need more powerful amps. I believe I am getting as much bass as possible out of a sub in a free air setup.

Thanks to MLA for all his help along the way...And to Wetsounds over the phone.

P.S. I have to agree with David that going by ear is sufficient. I have seen my buddy who reps for Rockford Fosgate tune multiple systems by ear.

[imhoff]

He's suggesting that we install a dsp matrix processor, specifically this model http://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audi...essors/dm-810/ Any suggestions as to just how much something like this would help the system?