JL Wavefront Sound Quality

[WakeBuilder]

I have a 2020 G23 with the Wavefront speakers up in the dash. The sound quality of them is pretty disappointing. After testing various scenarios, I believe it's the crossover for them is set around 300hz and up. The subwoofer appears to be 100hz and down. In comparison the cockpit speakers are 100hz and up. So the wavefront is missing the 100hz to 300hz spectrum which I believe is the issue.
The 3 JL amps I have do not appear to have crossover controls and settings accessible by the consumer. Does anyone know how to adjust it?
Thank you

[mikenbike211]

im assuming you have the digital amps? i have also found them a little tinny, but after playing with the zone control, i was able to phase them in just enough to get a nice “full” sound and not have the tinnyness overpower the rest of the system

[WakeBuilder]

Yes they are digital amps. And yes, I have things in the boat balanced out where it's only noticeable if they are the only thing louder or only speaker on. For JL Audio and the size of those speakers under the dash, there is really no reason the crossover should be 300hz and up.. 150hz would be reasonable and create a much better sound stage for the driver. j

[WakeBuilder]

After you mentioned the digital amps.. I searched and I believe the amp is the JL Audio MV or MVi series. They make a TUN app that appears to allow you to adjust the settings. I am going to give it a shot and I'll post to the group the results.

[mikenbike211]

yes, you are correct. you can get the jl tun and modify the settings. maybe they have it set like that because the enclosure for the wavefront speakers messes with the performance of the speaker. i am 95% sure that jl comes in and tunes these for the best possible sound for the masses

[WakeBuilder]

Well, I installed the JL TUN software on my laptop. In my G23, the main amp is the MV800 in the bottom right of the amplifier panel under the passenger seat. You can plug a standard USB A to B cable like you would for a USB printer into the bottom USB port of the amp. Connect the other end to your laptop and then fire up the TUN software. It will detect the amplifier. At this point, you are into some pretty serious audio/amplifiers configurations and you better understand them or else I'm certain one wrong mouse click and you just screwed up your sound system.

Nautique promoted the Wavefront as a "full range driver" and this great sound stage for the driver and passenger. Mine was nothing like that.

As I got into the software, I found that in fact the crossover was wrong for my wavefront speakers. Someone must have had a typo because my subwoofer was set to 25hz to 80hz, and all the speakers except my wavefronts were 80hz to 20khz. My wavefronts were 800hz to 20khz; hence why they sounded like a tin can. What's interesting is from looking at the tons of settings in the app, it appears (and would make sense) that someone at Nautique or JL has configured equalizer settings for literally every speaker. It's my belief that Nautique and JL have in fact determined the optimum configuration yet I'm unsure why the wavefront crossover from the factory would ever be wrong.
After changing it, my wavefront speakers sound fantastic. A much much better sound than what I previously had.

For anyone considering trying this themselves, I would warn that if you don't understand mobile/marine audio, equalizer, crossover, bridging, gain, etc. do not attempt this.

My next issue is I have a cockpit speaker that has not functioned since I had the boat. The dealer gave me a new speaker to try but that did not solve it. I was hopeful it was a setting within the amplifier, but it is not. Therefore, I believe I need to remove the whole amplifier panel to get behind it and confirm the amplifier is wired correctly into the boat speaker wiring harnesses. Anyone have experience removing that panel and what I am going to be dealing with in attempting that?