2004 Ski Nautique 206 Tower speakers, amp, wet sounds 420 Install!

[dski]

After lots of reading on the forum, I decided to tackle some upgrades to my 206. This forum has been so good to me so I figured I would post some pictures and info if anyone else tries this install.

Objective: Install tower speakers and Wet sounds 420 for zone control. I had already removed the old clarion system and replaced with a Kicker 700.5 amp to power the cabin speakers and used a Clarion GR10BT and installed it where the old remote keypad was on the dash. Kicker 10" Sub under the doghouse. I wanted the surfers or people in the back of the boat to be able to be jamming out while not making me go deaf in the boat.

Added an Wet sounds HTX-2 amp and Wet sounds Icon 8's. We are either skiing or surfing (very little wakeboard) so opted not to go with the Rev's. Guys at creativeaudio.net were awesome to work with.

First order of business.... Wire up the tower. I used a step drill bit and drill bit extenders to drill from the back of the tower through the tube, cross bar and then into the tube in the front without having the bit exit the front. Holes under the tower that would go directing down into the speakers.

I then used dental floss and a vacuum to thread from spot to spot and then tied that to paracord. Then used the paracord to thread the speaker wire. I used 14 gauge wire.

Can't figure out how to rotate the photos.





Only 1 extra hole was needed in the back of the tower. Here is looking through the hole (the two holes that you see are the tube and then the cross brace. This is the dental floss used to make the bends. Be patient and cover the other holes for best suction while feeding it through.






Drilled hole through base of leg and then to the bottom section of the tower. The cord will then run right into the boat. The black plate that sits under the tower to protect the boat has a punch out that must be removed. Just unbolt the tower, lift slightly and remove the plate and remove the punch out and reinstall. You may just be able to do this from below, but I didn't know what I was up against so I unbolted the leg.





All in all, really happy. Finished product!








I went with the side mount since the under the dash seemed to be possibly hitting my knees and boy (6' 3" and 6'5")

Still need to clean up and bundle up cords and such but sounds really good. Also thinking of moving from the kicker 10" tube sub that I have in the doghouse to a 10" wetsounds infinite baffle and have it exposed in the walk through.

Still need to change out the cabin speakers but that is for another day.


Happy with the result!

[SilentSeven]

I have a 206 and am poking around on sound systems. Did you get ever to the cabin speakers? What head unit did you use?

[dski]

I am using the Clarion GR10BT head unit where the remote key pad is by the steering wheel. I had to dremel out a little fiberglass behind it but was really easy. I replaced the cabin with JL audio. Very happy with both.

[dski]

Forgot to mention I bought the circle replacement mounting piece from nautiqueparts.

[SilentSeven]

Thanks!

...interesting headunit! And the amps are...on the drivers side or on the passenger side? Is there a cableway to get the pre-amp outs to passenger side? What did you do to fill the hole in the glovebox?

What do you see as the benefit of this headunit over the factory clarion?

We pretty much stream bluetooth to the factory setup (I added a bluetooth receiver to the aux port - works nicely). For me, the real improvements feel like they are in the amp and cabin speaker area. I don't have any need for towerspeakers but I might consider a small subwoofer.

[dski]

I wanted to have all the controls by the driver. I removed the clarion in the glove box and put the 'blank' in. (Also from Nautiqueparts) I wanted to go this route because the remote didn't allow you to change songs and I didn't like the remote navigation. Volume was slow to bring up and down in between sets. The Clarion allows me to control forward/back and just hit pause when I am talking to the skier.

When I started the project, I was just going to use the clarion in conjunction with the amp for the cabin. Once I decided to add tower speakers and the wetsounds, there really wasn't a need for the Clarion since you can just bluetooth to the Wetsounds. That said, as mentioned before, I like navigating the songs and having the volume and pause button right by my hand. Small benefit - it is nice to still have the FM/AM radio from time to time. (College football!)

Yes, there is a cable way from the dog house to underneath the kick panel. Once I used a fish tape, I was able to move them back and forth. My amps are mounted under the dog house (Passenger side storage)

I'll try and take a picture tonight where that is. You can also route through the bow and back into the driver kickpanel.

If you stay with the factory, just adding an amp to the subwoofer and cabin speakers makes a big difference. The picture I included are the two amps. The big one is a 5 channel amp that does the cabin and the sub. The small one is for the tower. I have since moved to a newer version of the kicker amp died after 8 years of use.

I would say in order of impact for me:

1. Add a sub
2. Add a amp to the cabin speakers.
3. Tower speakers/amp - kids like this for surfing (yes, we surf the 206 in addition to the skiing and wakeboarding...different thread) and when they are hanging out in the water. I REALLY like it because now I don't have to blast the cabin. Adding the Wetsounds is a must for this scenario.
4. Upgrade cabin speakers. If you are going to do this, definitely amp them.

[SilentSeven]

Thanks! Super insightful. My boat currently has a (small?) factory amp....I may do this before the subwoofer. Did yours have an amp as well when you started? I'll try to take a pic of the amp next time I get in there....

Posted via phone. Sorry for the tpyos.

[dski]

Yes, it had the small amp that came with the boat. It was really weak!

[SilentSeven]

ah ha. Have a preference for a reasonable marine amp? Don't need anything silly...something that fits in the space and has reasonable power (well..hard to say everyone has the same idea on this)....

[dski]

I have the KXMA800.5 amp . Been really happy with it and gives me one amp for the cabin and the sub. I originally had a sub in the dog house but ended up mounting an infinite baffle sub in the walkway.










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[SilentSeven]

Big boy amp....! And that's a nice looking sub install.

Something like this is likely more what I had in mind.

Did you add a second battery as well? Had to get a jump start at sea.

[MLA]

SilentSeven

You need to specify the number of in-boats you currently have and any additions in the future. You also indicate that a woofer is might be in the future. This is the only way to offer any amp suggestions.

[SilentSeven]

Thanks. I'm running the 4 factory in-boat speaker locations and that's what I'm looking to drive. The 4 speakers are your basic 2 way 6.5 inch drivers - nothing fancy at this time. I may upgrade them at a later date if I don't like these ones after adding a punchier amp power. Compounding the amp selection issue is that I have absolutely no idea how many watts the amp drives as I can't find any specs or reference to it on the web.

If I added a subwoofer, I would 99% plan to use a powered subwoofer and/or add monochannel amp just for that device. I'm on the fence if I want to add a subwoofer and leaning towards no. I have no plans or desires for tower speakers.

My immediate goal is a bit more punch from the current setup. My suspicion is that I have 3 issues - a) low signal quality (solved when I stream bluetooth) b) lack of power to drive the speakers and c) the general problem of the speakers being open air mounted with no closed back. Can't do much about c) right now...so looking at the power side.

Hope this helps...appreciate the interest.

[MLA]

For simplicity, a 2 chnl will power your four existing in-boats. An amp like the Kicker KXMA400.2 would deliver 100W RMS to each. Great option if FADE is not desired. That leaves room wattage wise, to upgrade to a higher wattage handling speakers. With that said, the KXMA800.5 mentioned above, actually has a dedicated mono block amp, just for a woofer, ins the same chassis as a full-range 4 chnl amp. Power wise, its a very moderate amp, but its top quality build wise. Adding even a mild woofer makes a world of difference in sound quality.

b) it takes about 2x the wattage, to make a real audible difference in a speaker's volume. Its easy to make quality amp suggestions, but hard to make one thats going to make the existing speakers play louder, without knowing the brand/model. Have you considered adding a 3rd pair? Its actually more efficient to add more speakers, then add more wattage, in some cases.

c) marine in-boats are generally optimized in an infinite-baffle (open air behind them) installation. Placing them in a small enclosure, will kill the mid-bass. I would not "close" the back. However, if they are mounted right at the edge of a combing pad, Creating a structure to close off the edge of the combing pad, is suggested. This doesnt enclosure the back of the speaker, just close off the bath of the air coming off the back of the speaker, from finding its way around to the front of the speaker.

[SilentSeven]

Helpful. The fader is an interesting question. On the last boat, that feature was useful to balance the sound front to aft. Kinda thinking I want a 4 channel setup.

Good question on adding another set of speakers. Short of finding a set of the optional bow panels (or fabbing up something myself) not sure where I would put them. But yeah, that's a good thought and an interesting idea.

The speakers in there now are (ok, slightly embarrassed here) are these budget speakers. I have low expectations for them but want to see how they'll do with a little juice. If they suck, then I'll have to upgrade to something more mainstream.

Yes, I'm familiar with the problems posed by too small of enclosure and agree that some sort of flange-link approach would be better.

I'm working within some amount of budget. Maybe something like this would be a good option.

EDIT: lol...after reading reviews of that amp...maybe not.