SInce Ive garnered close to 8 years of knowledge from this board, I figured I was finally ready to pay my dues and give back. Let me first start off by saying that anyone who is truly interested in having a legit boat system....take these guys advice on here. This is my FOURTH iteration of this, and even half way through if I would have saved just a little more money and bought the right stuff, I wouldnt have had to do this 4 times and probably at three time the cost of doing it right the first time! Oh well, its just money, right?? This install took place over about 9 months. It wouldve been nice to do it all at once, but the money wasnt there, hence the hybrid hybrid. Who needs all the same brands in your boat stereo??
Starting off with the cabin - Bullet 6.5 coaxials- I want to thanks Dave from Earmark on this one. He answered numerous emails about these and although I have them in the stock location behind the pantyhose, they sound great. I wasnt ready to have the speaker exposed and all of my idiot friends trying to poke a hole in the cone after too many pops. A solid, quality in boat speaker. And those are run off an ARC 300.4 that I have to give thanks to Ryan at Chucktronics for giving me a smoking deal on. That amp is a beast running those little 6.5's. Ryan had some killer ideas about my overall system and was very helpful.
Sub- A kicker L7 10 incher in a box i made out of mdf that goes in the cooler location. Running off a Kicker 750.1. Not ideal by any means, but it rattles okay. I will be attempting the GW "hump removal" and heater relocation over the winter to squeeze a twelve under the dash, firing into the cabin. Probably going to go with an Exile or Wetsounds sub amp, combo. Not sure yet.
Tower - Exile 6.5 Hybrid setup. Want to give thanks to Brian for helping me with this one. I orignally ordered 2 pairs of surf speakers on demo that he gave me a great price on, and after I got those babies up there, I just wanted the "full look" ( and sound). So the XM7's were a logical choice. I wired the tower so it would be easy to add another pair. For all of those that wire the tower on your own or do it for a living, kuddos to you. What a pain in the A$$!!!! i still have holes i need to plug etc, but hey, when you DIY, it is what is. After I put the 7's on, I wired in a new Harpoon amp, leaving a little spacer between it and the amp board for cooling. All i can say is after running that thing all day long in high temps, I have never once had that thing shut down on me. I am very impressed with that tower amp. Overall I love the look of the smaller cans, and out here in Wetsounds territory, I wanted to be a little different. I dont see many boats with Exile gear as the nearest shop is down in the bay, so Im happy running Exiles up top at this point.
I just threw a set of the old Exile coaxes in the bow, behind the pantyhose, and wired in a ZLD under the dash. I love that controller. Even though I hardly ever adjust anything more then the volume, it looks clean and the blue backlight goes with my janky LED strips I installed in the interior. Tuning was a pain in the ass, and I will say that when these professionals give you advice, take it!! Again, thanks to Brian, as the guy will answer his phone or respond to emails in the middle of the night, on Saturday, etc. Overall, not the baddest system, but for my budget and skillset, it works. Im happy with the sound, and when underway, if its cranked, its almost painful to listen to cruising at 40mph. Thanks to all of the people I worked with and bought products from. And to Dave who started it all. This site is invaluable for us idiots that dump thousands of dollars of electronic equipment into a floating device!
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