21 Yamaha 252s Stereo Upgrade

[Mfstewar89]

Just sold my 2015 212x and upgraded to a 252s which I bought off a couple who were splitting up with 3 hours on it. I'm going to replace the audio system in it as it really doesn't sound all that great from the factory. Waiting on my JL equipment to come in to start my install. Went ahead and put batteries and a NOCO maintainer in this weekend. Posted some before and after shots below. I am planning on redoing the entire system while staying with the Connext as the head unit. Unlike a lot of the post I have seen on here my boat has a wiring harness that splits into RCA's that then goes into the Wetsounds HTX-6. My boat has three zones; sub, cockpit, and deck. My question is, I know the Connext on the 25' boats that come from the factory with tower speakers have an additional zone for the tower. Has anyone opened up the back of the Connext to see if there is a way to tap into this additional zone?

Also posted some shots of the back of my amp and the wiring harness I was speaking of.

 

[VitaminSea]

Don’t have answers for you. Nice job tiding up the wiring.

As for the zones, I wonder if that’s set in the Connext software based upon model configuration. I know I saw a post here where someone had the incorrect model loaded to their Connext, so they were missing some functionality.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

I have not found a way to turn on the zone. There is no wiring behind the 12” for it, however there are empty pins. If you can turn on the zone then you could test and re-pin it.

If you hold the settings button you can find an option to change your boat model. From what I can tell if you change to wake (if it even lets you) you lose the shower.

 

[212s]

Just sold my 2015 212x and upgraded to a 252s which I bought off a couple who were splitting up with 3 hours on it. I'm going to replace the audio system in it as it really doesn't sound all that great from the factory.

The reason it doesn't sound that great is Yamaha wires extra speakers in series instead of parallel so they can use more speakers with less amp connections. Yamaha also has the DSP set to limit output so you don't damage anything. You have 6 speakers plus a sub but only 6 channels from the amp. I'll bet the cockpit and bow speakers are wired in series which cuts their output in half and sounds flat. You may also have something wired backwards so the cones are out of phase if the bass is lacking.

Either way, you need to change the speaker wiring so you can run all the channels properly whether you upgrade or not.

 

[EricB]

Many amps have internal switches for selecting between parallel and series configurations for speakers. Impedence of the speaker set changes 0.5x or 2.0x depending on how they are wired. The most important thing is to match speaker impedence with however the amp is set up. Does Yamaha OEM the amps, or can you get make and model info for them and related specs?

I was curious about the stock stereo in the late model 252, 255 boats and if I am going to like how it sounds when competing with WOT.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Many amps have internal switches for selecting between parallel and series configurations for speakers. Impedence of the speaker set changes 0.5x or 2.0x depending on how they are wired. The most important thing is to match speaker impedence with however the amp is set up. Does Yamaha OEM the amps, or can you get make and model info for them and related specs?

I was curious about the stock stereo in the late model 252, 255 boats and if I am going to like how it sounds when competing with WOT.

It is a Yamaha modified WetSounds HTX amplifier. You cannot change the controls of it.

I have also never seen an amplifier that has a switch based on resistance. A few of the Kicker subs had that feature, but for a 12v amp, never seen it.

 

[EricB]

I used to see it in Brax amps back in the old days when I hobbied in competition audio systems for cars. They actually had these cards in the amp you had to install one direction or the other depending on how you wanted to wire the speakers. One card per channel and you could gang channels in the amp.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Weird….. most amps just run at 2 or 4. A select few down a .25 but that has always been configuration with speakers.

Anyways, the HtX can run down to 2 per channel and 4 bridged.

 

[Ezekiel J Bishop]

Just sold my 2015 212x and upgraded to a 252s which I bought off a couple who were splitting up with 3 hours on it. I'm going to replace the audio system in it as it really doesn't sound all that great from the factory. Waiting on my JL equipment to come in to start my install. Went ahead and put batteries and a NOCO maintainer in this weekend. Posted some before and after shots below. I am planning on redoing the entire system while staying with the Connext as the head unit. Unlike a lot of the post I have seen on here my boat has a wiring harness that splits into RCA's that then goes into the Wetsounds HTX-6. My boat has three zones; sub, cockpit, and deck. My question is, I know the Connext on the 25' boats that come from the factory with tower speakers have an additional zone for the tower. Has anyone opened up the back of the Connext to see if there is a way to tap into this additional zone?

Also posted some shots of the back of my amp and the wiring harness I was speaking of. View attachment 153280View attachment 153282View attachment 153281View attachment 153283View attachment 153286View attachment 153285

Were you able to improve the audio via the standard setup in your 252? I have the 2021 252SD and also feel the audio is awful.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Were you able to improve the audio via the standard setup in your 252? I have the 2021 252SD and also feel the audio is awful.

The factory system is pretty good for factory. Few people have had bad software on the amps, the dealer reflashed the amp and it was night/day.

 

[EmeryZ28]

Does the stock wetsounds Amp have extra output to add a soundbar? plug n play?

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Does the stock wetsounds Amp have extra output to add a soundbar? plug n play?

No - the amp is very restricted by Yamaha.

 

[ken4motion]

Great post!

Hey, I'm trying to diagnose a "dead" speaker line to my swim platform on the 252SE. The port side is not producing sound. I've swapped out the speaker to verify this. I wonder if I have a crushed line somewhere in the boat?

Also would anyone know or have an idea if the swim speakers are somehow wired together or does each speaker run independently into the amp?

I'm also trying to figure out where the wire is routed for the port side swim speaker....does it run to the bow of the boat or across the stern then to the amp???

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Great post!

Hey, I'm trying to diagnose a "dead" speaker line to my swim platform on the 252SE. The port side is not producing sound. I've swapped out the speaker to verify this. I wonder if I have a crushed line somewhere in the boat?

Also would anyone know or have an idea if the swim speakers are somehow wired together or does each speaker run independently into the amp?

I'm also trying to figure out where the wire is routed for the port side swim speaker....does it run to the bow of the boat or across the stern then to the amp???

Not 100% sure on your questions, but a 9v battery and a DMM will let you figure this out in about 5 minutes.