Winter Stereo Upgrade Project - Exile Setup

[chpthril]

Kenny - I received your email an responded this morning. For the forums sake, I'll go over those answers for everyone's benefit.

First off the hybrid is a fantastic setup. By no means is it a stop gap to the XM9 setups. Nothing is black and white in the stereo world. It was not that far back that numerous people stated publicly the Exile Hybrid setup cannot at done because it mixes technologies and such. My suggestion is have a listen before anyone dismisses it. You'll probably walk away saying wow! The Hybrid setups like Majestics are always head turners again and again. Don't take my word for it. Ask the people running them. Or better yet, the people that have listened to them...hehe.

Interesting! Ive read at least a half dozen posts from you attesting too this very notion, that the Hybrid was a means to achieve more mid-bass until the larger XM9 came out.

And for the record, no one here has dismissed the sound quality of the setup. With what you have on the market right now, there is no need for a 6 pod/dual amp setup to achieve what the XM9 can deliver. My comments were in regards to the number of amps to properly power the 6 pods. I stand by that.

This design is aimed at the boater that wants a smaller enclosure on his tower (read head bumps), demands Sound Quality and still wants fantastic performance at wake distance. This is a SIX enclosure setup. Many people ask me about doing 1 pair of XM7's and 1 pair of SXT's. This is not a good idea because the XM7 still dominates the SXT unclose and afar. When used on a 2-1 basis, things change dramatically. From a sound quality point of view, the SXT is hard to beat. Period.

With the height of a typical Tige tower, head-room is not usually an issue.

From an amplifier point of view, we recommend running the hybrid setup with 2 harpoons. 1 for the SXT's and another for the XM7's. Some of the Malibu guys use the XM9 in the setup because its physically stacked, and it then must be bi-amped because it requires a lower crossover point than the smaller SXT's / XM7's. Can you run the Hybrid setup with 1 harpoon? Yes you can, and you'll see many guys like Majestic that have zero problems with it. This is PRIMARILY due to location. I would not suggest guys in Texas run a 1 harpoon Hybrid setup. It's just asking for trouble. Can the amp run at 1.3 ohm load? Yup. Pretty amazing. But again, in parts of the country like Texas, You will thermally exceed its ability to cool itself. Answer = run 2 harpoon. This is the way Exile lists it on our website.

Just a year ago, you and the other Exile staffers stood stead-fast on the single amp Hybrid setup. Why the change? You are now in line with the very installers who voiced concerns over the single amp setup. You posted numerous times that those concerns were unfounded, yet you have gravitated towards the dual amp setup. I need two hands to count the number of original single-amp hybrid users who have since gone to dual amps, or moved away from the Hybrid all together.

Even in my climate controlled shop, I experienced thermal shutdown. Anyone not having an issue is fortunate

Now, this begs the question about XM9's all together... versus the Hybrid. Again its not a black and white thing here. We designed the XM9 in a slightly bigger enclosure and optimized its design to have mid bass punch. Other brands have a bigger enclosure that would provide more of a boom sound, but we value mid bass punch over lower freq boom because we are going to assume your going to have a subwoofer in use in the system. This is not to say, the XM9 is bass poor by any means. As compared to the XM7, its a substantial upgrade really packs mid bass punch.

So whats better? Really hard to say. You have to look at all these factors, and weigh the costs associated with them. Both are excellent choices. Hybrid gets more complicated amplifier wise, and the XM9 is more forward approach.

Hope that sheds some light on the topic. PM me if you have any other questions.

-Brian
Exile Audio

[Brianinpdx]

Mike - Sorry you don't care for with the Hybrid setup. I wasn't aware that you ever installed one. I do see more double XM9 setups that go our the door over the hybrid setup, but its definitely a popular choice.

I think we all need to be supportive of what peoples choices are for their stereo. Kinda think its disrespectful to the OP to even be having comments like this in his thread. Just my 2 cents. If you'd like to debate something, reach out to me by email or phone. You've got my info.

Hyphen your install looks fantastic. Cant wait to see what you think of the sound.

-Brian
Exile Audio

[hyphen79]

CHILDREN! I was not intending for my thread to be HIJACKED.

I am excited about my gear, and I want to share my install. I appreciate the both of you. Mike you rock, and the knowledge you lend to guys like me is invaluable. I obsessed over my install going over your thread after thread of installing gear. MUCH APPRECIATED. We still have unfinished business to discuss (automated ballast).

Brian, you rock cause you took the time to talk to me about what I wanted to do. How often does the owner of a company who sells a product like Exile actually take the time out of their busy day to call me on my lunch break right before a major holiday to geek out gear that I just bought / thinking about buying? Not many.

Ok, now that we are playing nicely. Let the rocking out continue!

[chpthril]

CHILDREN! I was not intending for my thread to be HIJACKED.

I am excited about my gear, and I want to share my install. I appreciate the both of you. Mike you rock, and the knowledge you lend to guys like me is invaluable. I obsessed over my install going over your thread after thread of installing gear. MUCH APPRECIATED. We still have unfinished business to discuss (automated ballast).

Brian, you rock cause you took the time to talk to me about what I wanted to do. How often does the owner of a company who sells a product like Exile actually take the time out of their busy day to call me on my lunch break right before a major holiday to geek out gear that I just bought / thinking about buying? Not many.

Ok, now that we are playing nicely. Let the rocking out continue!

Hyphen,

My apologies to you and those fallowing along that your thread got jacked. A question was asked, I gave my input and it was down hill from there. I know you obsessed over the install, we exchanged a number of emails and PMs last year discussing the different options.

Brian,

Ill start a thread just for us, hows that.

[hyphen79]

So my stereo install project is compelted. Here are photos of what has been done.

This post will be for the amps.

The template for the amp rack with the amps:


checking the fit of the template:


MDF piece cut to the template:


Amps mounted, and checking the fitment:


Amps mounted with distro blocks and holes placed for wire routing:


Amp rack carpeted with all the power wires run:


The end result:

[thtrog]

Nice work Hyphen!

[hyphen79]

Remote switches to turn on each amp. Top switch is the tower speakers. Middle switch is for the in boat speakers, and the bottom one is for the sub.

[Timmy!]

Nice work! How did you mount the amp panel?

[hyphen79]

My new box after I sealed it and put resin on it:



box behind the helm wall plotting out what I plan to cut out (box didn't have resin on it yet):


Box installed prepping to build the beaut panel:


Beaty panel before I carpeted it:


And the final result. A kick panel that allows the sub to reverberate off of the kick panel. This thing KICKS, plus it makes it so that you can put your foot through the sub.:

[hyphen79]

Nice work! How did you mount the amp panel?

So on my boat the bow doesn't have a door like the 22ves. So there are 4 bolts that hold on that bow seat. I attached the amp rack to those 4 bolts along with some additional. I also have 3 2x4s that I added resin to that are mounted to the back wall that the amp rack is also screwed to

[shawndoggy]

That amp rack is VERY clean. Nice work. Did you coat the amp rack with resin too?

[hyphen79]

That amp rack is VERY clean. Nice work. Did you coat the amp rack with resin too?

Yes, I sure did.

[skippabcool]

Very nice. Looks really good.

[hyphen79]

Very nice. Looks really good.

Thanks!

[shawndoggy]

Yes, I sure did.

hey just noticed you are in reno! If you need some help water testing the system, lemme know! My family won't get out on the water till it's 80+ degrees out....