Upgrading exile stereo in 2008 ski supreme v212

Hey everyone,

Recently purchased a 2008 Ski Supreme V212 last summer and was hoping to upgrade the stereo system before spring/summer.

Boat: 2008 SKi Supreme V212 SKY Package
5.7L Mercruiser Black Scorpion (75hrs logged so far)

The current system is as follows:

H/U = Sony Marine CDX-H9051P
Cabin Speakers= 6 Sony XS-GT1625A (40W RMS)
Subwoofer= 10" JL 10W0v2-4 (300W RMS) (Under port locker in ported box)
Tower Speakers= 1 pair SXT65Q surf speakers (125W RMS+)

Amp= Sony Marine XM-604M 4 channel (Currently being used to run tower speakers on front 2 channels and Bridged off the back to the JL Sub)

Unit came with a 2 Starting batteries group(24)
Using a Noco 90A isolator (no perko switch being used just isolator)


The new equipment I got is as follows:

1 Exile SM-400.4 amp to run tower speakers in a bridged configuration
1 Exile SM-250.1 to run the JL 10" Subwoofer
1 Exile ZLD
Tsunami Distro block
RCA Cables from ZLD to amps
Relay for sending power to amps on remote trigger
Autosound 2000 cd 104 (for tuning)


The current Sony Marine amp will now be used to power the 6 Sony cabin speakers giving them much more power than the head unit was outputting

Most of the time is spent surfing, wakeboarding. On the move, boat running!
Boat comes home every night for battery top ups on trickle charger and garage protection


The important things to consider here is what battery configuration should I be looking to setup to power the system?

*** Looking for input on battery upgrades (DEEP CYCLE OBVIOUSLY)
*** Battery bank hooked to alternator? not hooked to alternator?
*** How to Not cook my stock alternator without upgrading alternator
*** Installation recommendations do's and donts
*** Amp rack mounting ideas
*** Input on the equipment being used


Really look forward to hearing some comments or concerns

Please ask more questions if I have not provided important info

Cheers Everyone

Pretty boat

Nice boat! You have the negative of my V212.Doing a stereo upgrade in the future,will be watching to see suggestions also.

Jay T your boat looks awesome what year is it? This summer we had an absolute blast on our V212 and had nothing but good times! What kind of stereo setup do you have right now? When we bought our boat the owner added the Exile SXT65Q speakers and the JL sub. At the same time he upgraded the Pioneer Head unit to the Sony. What I noticed was the cabin speakers were wired off the Head unit to the four channels of the deck. Being that there is six speakers 2 pairs were wired in parallel. The deck does not like a 2ohm load and would cut out at volume levels higher than 25. What I did was disconnect 1 speaker from each pair in the rear lounge and ran that for the short summer we had. So both tower speakers were being powered from the front 2 channels of the Sony Marine Amp. They were getting somewhere around 50W RMS and actually sounded great! I am finding out that the potential for loudness and clarity is right around the corner when I give all components the right power! I am very excited for this coming summer! Brian from Exile Audio has been more than helpful with equipment and support and look forward to having this boat out on the water again.

Stay away from the Optima. I have had very good luck with Deka AGM sealed batteries. Think about getting a deep cycle of the HOUSE and a start battery for STARTING only. Blue Sea Systems makes a nice "add a battery" kit that comes with a Start Insolation-Automatic Charge Relay and a Dual Circuit Battery Switch.

Run a 4-6 awg power line from the Alternator to the starter. Your little system will not tax the alternator.

Mount the Amps in a place where they can stay some what cool.

You don't need to run a relay to power the amps. There is a remote power line that is used for that. Get a 200 AMP Fuse kit and be sure to run big wire to the Amps. Probably 8 or 6awg.

Buy a bigger Amp and run the sub and the cabin speakers off that. You can get another 400.4 and bridge 2 channels for the sub and run the cabin off the other side. This way you can use the zone control like it's supposed to be used.

Try Knukonceptz for quality cheap RCA cords.

Depending on the head unit (mine happens to lose memory when I cut all power) you can run a 10A fused constant power wire from the HOUSE battery to the head unit so you never lose the presets/time etc. I run my entire system off a switch on the dash. I hate that the stereo turns off and on with the key. And with the SI-ACR the stereo wont turn off when you start the boat either.

Justin thanks for all the good info, just wondering if I mount my amp rack in my port storage away from the elements I am questioning whats the best way to get power to all the amps? What is the best spot to keep the battery/batteries? I am being told your not supposed to mix flooded batteries with AGM batteries when using the Noco battery isolator!? Is this different if you use the Blue Sea System? My plan was to keep my group 24 starting batteries, continue using one for starting, storing the other starting battery as a back up and buying either one or two group 31 Deka DC31DT flooded deep cycle batteries and go from there. Just trying to figure out the best way to configure all of this! Appreciate all feedback and advice Cheers~

I personally don't like using non-sealed batteries. Sure a sealed battery is twice as much but they work way better. Acid/battery fumes are corrosive as well. Just a thought. I have a 27 series deep cycle Deka AGM for the house battery and a Deka 27 Series AGM start battery.

I don't know where your batteries are or how your set up is configured. All my stuff is under the port cubby. I have a Malibu. If your batteries are in the back and the stereo stuff is in the front I would dedicate a fused 12v+ line in the 2-4awg range. I would do the same with the ground.

Here is my setup.


As you can see I have a 200A fuse on the entire house system. Off the main power bar the whole boat minus the stereo is fused with the 50A breaker just as it came from the factory. I'm running a 400.4 and a 600.6 for amps. The power going to the power bar is 4awg. All the battery cables and starter cables are 2awg.

Justin do both of your batteries sit side by side? I do have both batteries in the back of the boat currently. I was curious if its worth it to remove my noco isolator and use the blue sea system add a battery? Maybe others have a take on this! I realize the battery isolator does not allow the batteries to see full alternator voltage due to the voltage drop. For my system and future upgrades should I consider a battery bank for stereo? Or will one battery be okay? If I do use two batteries for the stereo and have them in a parallel configuration will the blue sea system work for a three battery setup? Thanks guys!

They do sit next to each other. I don't know anything about the NOCO isolator. I just wanted a a start isolator and saw the SI-ACR on a different site so I went with the add a battery kit because I only had one battery.

I love the fact that the way I set it up it will start on one battery (actually the battery with the most volts) charge both batteries while running and the switch is just on and off with a "combine batteries" option in emergencies.

I'm much more of a skier than a partier. You won't find me in party cove tied up blasting the stereo for hours. And I'm only running 1000w. I have a buddy that went with 3 stereo batteries and a house/start battery on a separate system. But he is running 2 Exile 9's and 4 Exile 7's. 2 15's and 8 cabin speakers. I don't know what the wattage is but his boat is LOUD. Like make your ears hurt and eyeballs water loud. I have another buddy that has a 4 battery setup with 6 can speakers on the tower. * cabin speakers, 2 10's and a 15. His is stupid loud too but it's from 2003 and things are a lot different now.

It all comes down to how you spend your time on the water. For me it was more important to have a isolated start battery because I have really don't want to be stranded on the water because of a dead battery.

Hey guys has anyone upgraded their Sony XS-GT1625A cabin speakers which appear to have a shallow top mount of only 1 3/4 inch? I have removed the lounge speakers and the speakers magnets are dangerously close to touching the inside of the hull which is carpeted. A upgrade might require a shim of some kind to make room for the increased top mount measurements most marine speakers have! Sure strange if Supreme designed the speaker molds for such a tight clearance!!

Justin,that's not your eyeballs watering,it's the blood from your ears getting your eyes LOL

Change of plans!

I recently purchased an exile harpoon amplifier and another set of exile sxt65q surf speakers. This setup is now as follows: 4 sxt65q surf speakers, powered by a harpoon exile 1000w amp. This now leaves me with my exile sm400.4 to power the six cabin speakers and an exile sm250.1 to run the 10" jl enclosed subwoofer. I recently purchased a blue sea system add a battery kit. Acr/switch plus! Still trying to decide where to locate the start battery and the two stereo/house batteries! Seems like it would be very crowded all in the port storage locker, Which is where the sub is currently hiding as well.

Looking for feedback on my intial wiring diagram blue prints.

Please comment:

wire gauge recommendations
fuse locations

IS THIS HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK?

Any comments would be great, thanks for looking!

The ACR needs to connect to the opposite side of the switch from your charger. This prevents the ACR from combining when the charger is in use. Its a lot to look at all at once, there may be more.

I agree with chpthril on wiring the ACR on the oposite side of the switch.
I would also think about getting more seperation between your starter/house battery/electrical system and your stereo batteries/electrical system. By that I mean run a positive and negative straight off the stereo batteries to distribution blocks and wire everything related to the stereo (amps, ZLD, remotes,head unit, etc..) through those blocks. this will help prevent ground loops and noise in your stereo system.
one last comment and Im not sure about this but it looks as though you have your stereo batteries wired in parallel and you have each of the 2 batteries hooked up to seperate leads from the charger. since those batteries act as 1 bank, I think you should only have one lead from the charger.

nice diagram by the way

Hey Guys, Thanks for the replies! You guys are right, nice catch the ACR should be on the other side of the switch. What your saying about the charger makes sense that there is essentially 2 battery banks, obviously 1 BIG one (parallel) and one small one (single)! So does that mean I can get away with a 2 bank Pro Sport charger? We dont want too many charging leads unless you would wire the system so that the 2 batteries in parallel could disconnect for charging purposes! Whats is considered the conventional way? Also please do keep looking at the wiring diagram as it is a preliminary sketch that I made up as we flew to Hawaii, and I had hours to spare (6.5hrs)! LOL Anyways, I was imagining the arrangement to look somewhat like the picture above like "Justin Michael" had illustrated. If you guys have any wiring pictures or files to share that would be great too. The more the better as I try and construct & plan a solid system. Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it A LOT