Blue Yonder Stereo Upgrade

[txav8r]

I can also say way to go @Earmark Marine !!! I am a total perfectionist. Makes me proud to know that the guys that finished my amps and my mid cabins and subwoofer install for me did it as I would do it! The amp board and install there is just incredible. The clarity and volume is unbelievable. Oden, you certainly know your business. And I appreciate You guys finishing this up for me. Thanks again!

 

[DCB-270]

Can't wait to hear it.

 

[GTBRMC]

Where are the pix?!? WTF?!?

 

[txav8r]

HA HA...well, it is 70 miles from my house to Plano, and I just now sat down at the computer to add to this, having just put the boat (covered) into the barn. Pics to follow, patience young master, all good things to come! I think we will get one good day this weekend, and I need to splash the boat for the first time. More to follow!

 

[Earmark Marine]

Thanks Mel! If I had an AR240, after hearing your boat I think I'd do exactly what you did. It just works. Looks and sounds great, loud and clean!

I didn't want to spoil the surprise by posting pics before you picked up the boat so I'll leave it up to you to post up some photos.

Odin

 

[txav8r]

Thanks Odin, I am glad that you and I spent time in the boat, making all the considerations. Mounting the amp board below the electronics bay in the head compartment was an absolute home run! It frees up the head compartment for storage without restricting airflow to the amps, and makes the wire runs shorter, as well as much neater, not having to go overhead to route wiring. Both amps fit there as well as the helm bus bars and distribution blocks.

I am glad the guys were able to use my custom enclosure and get it to line up, sorry they had to build a jig to align it, but it shows the dedication of both their skill and professionalism. As we discussed, I could have finished it, but maybe not in 2015! lol I can't wait to get on the water and hear it at WOT! The whole boat will benefit from clean and acoustically correct reproduction...well, as good as you can do it in a boat anyway! I guess I need to go shoot pics of your handiwork!

 

[PEARCE]

I can't wait to hear and see yours and their handy work Mel.

 

[txav8r]

Thanks @PEARCE , yours too! I don't feel too bad throwing in the towel, I did my due diligence and measured 3 times for everything, and had a layout I intended to follow, and even after discussing options with Odin, they followed my intent to the letter, including putting the amp board on the wall on the right, looking into the helm compartment, under the electronics bay. It was funny, the tolerances were so close, the tech didn't know if both the midship port speaker and the sub enclosure would fit, and we discussed options of bezels and swapping the air suspension sub for an IB sub just in case, but I was pleased that my measurements were correct and it went in just as I planned. I will admit wholly that most of my delay was in figuring out how to get that sub enclosure to align with the cut hole and woofer. That is a big challenge, as the sub can only go in one place. They built an alignment jig to do it. The air suspension sub does actually deliver a better response than the IB in the upper reaches of volume. But those mid cabin speakers really improve the distribution and balance of sound in the cockpit. Not to confuse, this is no monster stereo setup, it is still a moderate upgrade compared to some of the guys that live to own the sandbar or cove. But it is enough that I won't have to listen to them, mine will drown them out in my near field of listening. We don't play that loud however, so chances are, if you do, I am moving away from you anyway. I know Clara will never be in the boat when it gets cranked to its potential, nor will I, when at rest anyway. But is nice knowing it produces good clean LOUD sound if I want to, and that will come in handy making the wind and engine noise disappear at cruise. We may get a chance to splash the boat tomorrow and test it out!

 

[txav8r]

I posted a few pics in the "what did you do to your jetboat today" thread. So I will add them here for continuity of this thread. Not as nice today as expected so not going out. But here is the finished install. Amp board and amps mounted under tye helm electronics bay out of the way...


Mid cabin starboard (all coaxial speakers JL MX 650)...

Mid cabin port...

And the subwoofer. It is enclosed in my custom built sealed enclosure.

And the box in the starboard compartment that the sub is attached to, sandwiching the wall.

 

[GTBRMC]

@txav8r

Love the install! The amp / mounting board location is brilliant.

I am getting prepped to install a pair of MX 650 coaxials on the swimdeck and a M10IB5 in the same location you did on the Nauti Dawg, all 3 powered by a M500/3 amp.

Question: what gauge speaker wire did you use for your MX650s and sub?

Also, is it critical to keep the L & R channel speaker wire lengths equal? Obviously, the run to the port swimdeck location is longer than the starboard run.

 

[Earmark Marine]

16awg to the coax and 12awg to the sub.
No need to worry about equal distance wires.

 

[GTBRMC]

16awg to the coax and 12awg to the sub.
No need to worry about equal distance wires.

Perfect! Thanks for the quick, on-point, reply. Much appreciated.

 

[txav8r]

Odin, thanks for answering that question! Yep!

 

[KyleWade14]

Mel, you inspired me and now I am waiting on the rest of the stuff to complete my system from Odin! A JL M600/6, 2 pairs of MX650s, and additional wiring to go with the other pair of MX650s and the JL M200/2 running the JL 10" IB5 I already have. Can't wait to get it here and installed!

 

[txav8r]

It is really great sound that JL puts out, and Odin certainly knows how to get the most out of it! Keep us posted on your build! Also, welcome to the forum!

 

[KyleWade14]

Who do you fly for? My brother flies for MillionAir out of Addison.

 

[txav8r]

AA. Check your private messages @trashygasman

 

[betterwhenitswetter]

Looks good Mel, but looks like your sealed subwoofer box eats up a lot of storage space, esp when trying to reach in and out, was there not a better location?

I have the JL M series in my AR230 7.7's in the front and 8.8"s in the back, man o' those M880's pound hard! no subwoofer.... yet.

What did you like better the open air or sealed since you have had both? for space reasons I like the IB subwoofer, but when you fill up the space with gear and tubes, the other downfall on the IB sub is the pressure on all the speakers that are near the sub.

 

[txav8r]

It really is a toss up. You have to keep everything back at least a foot (or your supposed to) from the IB sub. The box doesn't take up as much room as you might think and forces you to save that 1 cubic foot of air for the sub. It hits harder than the IB sub at higher DB's, and perhaps a little sharper, due to the sealed enclosure. But the IB sub is a great sub too and given the challenge of doing the enclosure, I might go back that route if I had it to do over and didn't have my ability to produce a solid box. The newer boats have less room for the larger 880 in the design location. The M series is a great speaker, but has to be driven a good bit harder than an MX series. And tests say the MX is clean and suited for our boats. On a towered boat, those big boys would be great however...if you have the batteries and power to drive them!

 

[betterwhenitswetter]

Nice, I have listened to both the M and MX series speakers, I found my ears prefer the improved fidelity from the M series esp... at higher volume, I have considered a subwoofer but after adding my M880's I don't need a subwoofer quite yet, mostly b/c I don't want to cut a 10"+ hole in my boat nor do I want to add a another amp to power it and when out side the boat at the local sandbar, you loose a bit of color as you say. I will admit I do miss those serious lows that only a subwoofer can offer. My JL HD amps can push the M series speakers to their recommended max RMS with ease, and the HD amps run at lower voltage input requirements, since they are power regulated amps with far better RMS that most amps. My house battery system uses 2 marine battery's. & about to add one more soon for a total of 3 batteries on the house, I use a inverter to power my 120 volt pump, for my tube's, take's seconds to fill most tubes over the standard 12 pumps another reason I want extra power on reserve since I don't use a ACR as its too much for the stators to keep up with multi batteries, I use shore power and allow my Dual Pro PS charger to recharge them. I just wanted to add some details, to give you a better understanding of my build.

updated: my HCLD's have much better reach over coaxial speakers for towers, and my REV10's do the job nicely.

I do like how Yamaha raised the speakers up higher in the rear seating area in the newer boats to be closer to our ears, for what is a better listening experience, that's my only down fall on my older boat, the speaker holes where already there so it was more efficient to make them bigger, rather than filling the hole and modify the seats to allow M880's up higher like the fronts are in my AR230.

btw I love lake Ray Roberts the water is so clean and blue, its just rare gem compared to most lakes here in the local DFW area. Do you happen to know of any good public spots to launch from besides the state park on the East side, I couldn't find a good spot on the West side of the lake.