Help with stereo upgrades on my 2009 SANTE 230

[wakefan]

Just brought home my new(to me) 2009 230. I think it's all pretty stock in audio department. I'd like to upgrade some, but I'm not looking to be the loudest or coolest system on the lake. Modest budget for a 50 something Dad, pulling his high school age kids and their friends around the lake. We will mostly be surfing, so projecting back to wakeboard distances is not as big a player. I'd like to use as much of the existing is reasonable, but two of the tower speakers are not working, so I'm looking at replacing or repairing those anyway. I'll post some pics, of what is there, and then I'm very open to suggestions! Thank you!

Stock CMD5



Amps are Polk 500-4's



These are the two tower speakers that aren't working. Is it possible to reuse the can part and just get new speakers?





These are in the bow. I don't know what they are. Does anyone know?




I guess these are the stock 6.5" speakers. These are in the cabin.



The sub sitting behind driver seat. Again I'm assuming stock.



Thanks for any feedback!

[MLA]

The bow speakers are a Kicker Marine, Look to be the OEM grade Km601 or KM604. Quality built, but not their best sounding speaker. Id bet they are driven off the head unit.

With 2 blown 6.5" tower speakers, id consider pulling all 4 and going back with just a single pair of 8", 9", 10" or 11" pods. Dedicate one 4 chnl to just the tower speaker pair.

Blue tooth can be added to the CMD5, like the Wet Sound BT-UR.

[wakefan]

Thanks MLA. I hoped you'd respond. I have enjoyed reading your posts. What are some of the pods you recommend that hit on the value curve. I''m not looking for the cheapest possible, nor am I looking for the best you can get.

So with the existing amps, I could power the inboats and the sub on one amp, and use the other amp to power 2 tower pods, is that correct? Would this sound decent? I have heard many, including you, suggest that 2 good 8's would sound better than 4 6.5".

If I were to change out the in boat speakers, what would be your suggestion? Would there be much difference, in going say with some new JL's? Are those kickers different specs than the polks? Why wouldn't Nautique just put in a couple more polks there? Sorry if that's a dumb question. I'm new to inboards, nautique and marine audio. :-)

I already purchased the Fusion BT-100 bluetooth adapter, but can send it back if it's not a good one. It seemed to get good reviews.

Thanks again!

[AirNautiquer]

Before you replace the tower speakers that are not working I would take a look at the connections on the amp mounting board that are grey and square in shape. The wires have a tendency to back out of those connections and not make contact. Find the connection that goes to the tower speakers, should be the wire bundle that runs down the port side of the boat. Unplug the connection from the amp mounting board and verify no wires have backed out. Try pushing in the wires on each connection then reconnect.
I have found this to be the case on 2 boats so far both 2009 - 230's.

[MLA]

For a budget friendly yet great sounding and quality build, the Kicker KMTC8 8" coaxial is hard to beat. While four 6.5" might be louder, two 8" are going to sound better due to the larger mid-bass drivers.

Although not the most ideal, one 4 chnl can power the 4 main cabin in-boats and woofer. Bow pair on head unit. This frees up the 2nd four chnl to run a new pair of larger speakers bridged in 2 chnl mode.

A better option would be to replace one of the 4 chnl with a 5 or 6 chnl that would power all the in-boats and woofer.

Id bet that the bow speakers were either replaced years later or not there to begin with, as the reason for those Kickers now.

The Bt-100 works, but its a Blackberry to todays smart phone.

[wakefan]

AirNautiquer, thanks, I've appreciated your 2009 build thread! I will most definitely check those connections. We are leaving on vacation, but that will be the first thing I do when I get back.

MLA, I'll look at a good 5/6 channel option. Do you have a recommendation for my use case? I'll also check out those KMTC8's.

Would it be noticeable to upgrade the in-boats given the same amp, or are they likely sufficient? Hard to answer I know. If you'd upgrade them, what to?

I will return the BT-100. Purchased the Exile BT adapter for the better range and BT 4.0.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

[MLA]

Purchased the Exile BT adapter

The Metra IBR64 is the exact same unit, for 1/3 the price. Theres about 6 labels all using the same one.

https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...UaAi3REALw_wcB

[wakefan]

The Metra IBR64 is the exact same unit, for 1/3 the price. Theres about 6 labels all using the same one.

https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...UaAi3REALw_wcB

Thanks MLA! That's quite a price markup. I guess I should check with you before I buy anything else, if you've got the patience for it! :-)

[wakefan]

I was looking at maybe replacing in boat speakers with these:

https://www.kicker.com/km-6-5-inch-4-ohm-coaxial

Amp specs for Polk 500.4:

* 125 watts x 4 continuous, 200 x 4 dynamic power (2 ohm load), 4 channel mode.
* 250 watts x 2 (4 ohm) continuous power, 2 channel mode.
* CEA-2006 Compliant specifications for true, accurate power ratings.
* 4-channel, dual bridge-mono (2-channel), or dual simultaneous stereo/mono operation provide a variety of configurations and setups: 4-channel for front and rear speakers; 2 speakers and a sub; 2 subwoofers; or 2 subs and 4-channels in passive-tri mode.
* 2 ohm stable 4-channel operation.

I'm not sure I understand it all correctly, but it looks like my amp may be a little too much for these speakers?

I also thought doing the install would be fairly straight forward, unscrew the old ones, screw in the new ones. After reading all the posts about front loaded and back loaded, pulling panels etc, would this be plug and play on 2009 230? or is it going to be a beat down? I'm not a great mechanic or DIYer.

Thanks for the help!

[MLA]

Thats a great speaker and will be a good match with the amp. They come with a white and charcoal grill, You could use the charcoal grill for the main cabin and the white for the bow. If you wanted to add some bling, get the model with an "L" on the end for LEDs.

IIRC, those polks have an external cross over that needs to be removed/bypassed when you wire up the new speakers.

[wakefan]

IIRC, those polks have an external cross over that needs to be removed/bypassed when you wire up the new speakers.

Thanks MLA. You've already lost me.

Once I figure the crossover thing out, will I be able to just unscrew/screw in, plug and play the new speakers in the existing spot, or is there likely more to it than that?

Thanks again!

[srock]

I wanted the same thing as you and went with a Fusion head unit and remote. I am very happy with the ease of use of the fusion remote interface having a volume knob, easy volume adjustments from boat to tower speakers. The square remote was mounted in the stock round location. I was able to fab my own filler plate from 1/4 inch black starboard using the stock trim as a template and it looks great.

I ditched one of the Clarion amps for a Wetsounds amp with more available channels because the stock Clarion fills all the available amp channels and runs the front speakers from the head unit fader...screwy indeed. The Wetsounds runs the in boats and the Clarion strictly the tower speakers.

Other posts on the subject suggested to ditch all the existing wiring under the passenger seat and I thought keeping simple and being smarter... that was not necessary. Once I got into it I found that to be very true. I used the existing speaker and power wires but eliminated all the other cross connections and started fresh. If you want to take it one step further, add a separate amp sub or powered subwoofer under the passenger seat. The stock sub is very weak and the location creates rattles.

[wakefan]

Well, I got the Exile BT adapter installed correctly on the first attempt yesterday. Pretty impressed with my mad DIY audio skillz. The BT adapter works really well!

As suggested I tried unplugging and plugging in the connections, and got the 2 inop tower speakers back. But, I think one of them is really shot. So I'll be looking at taking the advice here and adding a new amp and some new speakers this fall.

As a short term bandaid budget fix, would it be possible to add new 6.5" speakers to the tower using the *existing* cans? I know that's not ideal, but it would get me through the Summer, and I could relocate the new 6.5's for use as in-boats later, so their purchase would not really be a waste either.

Thank you!

[nautiques4life]

Going budget... that's exactly what I'd do. Check the connections (which you did), and replace the bad tower speakers. If you're not looking to throw audio to wakeboarder at full line distance those 6.5's will be fine, and reusing the cans will save you money. Plus in all honesty, the rotating ones you have work better than the real expensive wetsounds swivels (which require a 6mm every time you want to reposition them). Word to the wise, that can housing can be a bit of a pain in the ***... especially reassembly, but it can be done. Honestly at that point you might be good for summer. I've changed/upgraded cabin speakers on previous boats and not found the improvement to justify the cost, but maybe that's just me. Lastly one other suggestion, if you're pretty happy as is after fixing your tower, you might consider a sub upgrade. I swapped my stock polk for a free air wetsounds and not changing anything else (same wires, same amp, etc) got a noticeable improvement... found that speaker for ~120 and added a separate bass control knob, very happy with little $ invested. (You will likely need to change your hole and screw position next to the driver seat tho, not a huge deal, but thought I should warn you it isnt exactly plug and play. Good luck!

[wakefan]

Thank you for the feedback and suggestions! What is it about the housing that makes it difficult? I'm known for getting into projects, breaking stuff or coming up with missing pieces at the end...

I think I agree with you on the in boat speakers, as I don't think they sound all that bad. And they all work. Thanks for the sub suggestion, I'll look at that!