Blew wetsounds sub. Whats best upgrade

[CiscoCat]

Anyone else had problems with the quality of their speakers and stereo wiring from factory?

First off When i took deliver of our Anniversary edition Z3 last year with the Power Premium sound system. The whole thing was wired so effed up. The + didnt go with the - so every channel had different polarity from different speakers on it. Im not sure who wires this stuff, but wow. So on delivery I tried to crank up the stereo for my family and they were like ok dad that sucks. Thats when I looked into the wiring and found the problems.

After wiring all the speakers to the correct channels and setting the amp levels correctly, it cranked super loud and clear.

But the sub always sounded like it was hitting the grill when it was turned up. Now it just stopped completely. What should I upgrade to now? I have contacted my dealer for Warranty but if i need to replace then would like to get something that really cranks.

Cheers.

[Jetdriver]

Following, I'm looking for a nice 12 and an amp to replace my 10 and JL amp.

[Shaas07]

I am going to be upgrading to the wet sounds xs-12. Its a non free air sub that needs a ported box. It sounds way better than the free air subs. A friend has one in his z3 and it sounds killer.

[dakota4ce]

Chpthril will chime in on this one. He pointed me to a 12" Kicker sub in a sealed box, and it slams. Best part? WAAAAY less expensive than WS.

x2 on enclosed subs. My experience is same---10x better sound.

[Ironrequiem]

Wet sounds syn2 to xs12.

I have the 2015 R20, it came with Clarion head unit and 4 Wets Sounds xs65. No Amps.

Installed Wet Sounds syn2 which is running:
Wet sounds xs 12 4 ohm

Wet Sounds syn4 which is running:
2 - xs65 and 2 808's Stereo 2 ohm.
2 - xs65 and 2 Icon 8 Stereo 2 ohm

The xs12 is mounted in stock location under the helm where the FA10 cut out is.
I cut it to accept the xs12 and opened up the back of that enclosed area for its port.

I know it would hit even harder and better in a dedicated custom box, but I have to say that this stock location for this boat with this sub in this configuration sounds AMAZING!!! Just ask the neighbors .... True fan of Wet Sounds power and quality.

1 amp 4 ohms 700 watts available to xs12 working great for us.

[chpthril]

Anyone else had problems with the quality of their speakers

Seems that you may not be familiar with Wet Sounds. They are the premier marine audio. They are the bar, they are the leader. The OEM gear is the same gear We have been installing here for about 10 years now, with VERY few issues. You have one of the best built marine woofers out there.

But the sub always sounded like it was hitting the grill when it was turned up. Now it just stopped completely.

Completely expected to see these two statements one following the other. The sound you heard, was the woofer being over driven to its mechanical limits and something will eventually break. Surround, tinsel lead, coil, etc. The cause is typically incorrect tune and/or abuse. Step one is to determine the root of the failure and correct moving forward. If not, the next woofer can suffer the same fate.

next, take the "12 inch in a sealed/ported sound much better then a free air 10" with a few grains of salt as their are factors to this perception that have nothing to do with 10 being free air. Although the opinion is valid and accurate, the reasons implied is not. Regardless of enclosure type, its hard to compare a 10" to a 12" woofer in terms of sound quality and output. We would expect this to be an upgrade, but not because of the enclosure type of the 10FA, but because of the added surface area. We can have effect going from the 10FA to the 12FA. Both running free-air. Further, a woofer in a smalled enclosure will never sound like a woofer running free air, why? Because they are two completely different woofers with different suspensions. No way they can ever sound the same, so no way to make a fair comparison about the woofers.

Beyond tuning, there are some other factors that will effect your woofer's performance. Depending on the year model of the boat, Tige may have constructed the helm structure in a manor that actually placed the woofer in a very small cavity. This greatly impacts the woofers performance, sound quality and output. So some of the negative opinions on the 10FA are based on a woofers thats not performing to its potential. Next up is how its wired to the amp depending on its coil impedance. Your woofer may not be wired in the most ideal manor, thus not receiving ample wattage. this tends to lead to over gaining and over boosting on the amp. Lastly, we will also suspect the amp tuning on an OEM amp which relies on the boat builder to tune. Even though the factory had instructions on where to set the amps, you never know. this will greatly impact. Sometimes, the boat owner or even dealer sales rep, never realized there is also a woofer level control knob under the helm. Many complain about low output, not knowing the deal was turned down.

So, if you have a blow woofer, sure, take advantage of it and make a change. You could upgrade to the new Revo-12FA. Nearly a plug and play as you just have to enlarge the hole and make sure there is a large cavity behind the woofer, retune the amp and roll on. Next up would be a woofer suited for a sealed or ported enclosure. Will require some modifications to the helm, but the payout is worth. The XS-12 4 ohm, the new Revo-12HP (got one going in an 2017 RZX2 next week) are excellent choices. Both will offer a grill that will match the current speakers if that matters.

Kicker has some awesome woofers that are well suited for the marine environment. Great price point, solid quality there.

In the end, you have a potential of 600W rms to a woofer with the amp. Just need to go with a 4 ohm woofer. Or, get a new amp and free up those 2 chnls for all the in-boats. This fives you the potential to double their wattage they receive now. Syn-DX2.3HP and XXX-12 BOOM!

[ChrisBarnes05-12-84]

I thought very highly of the xxx-12 I had in my last boat. This time I'm giving the kicker L-7 a try. They are both nice from what I understand. hopefully if you get another amp to run your new sub your existing amp isn't the dsp version from Wetsounds so you'll be able to reconfigure channels 5/6 for other speakers with ease

[kmkramer71]

...
The xs12 is mounted in stock location under the helm where the FA10 cut out is.
I cut it to accept the xs12 and opened up the back of that enclosed area for its port.

Did you have to trim for the depth going from the 10" to the 12"? I too would like to do this. I looked and I think I could make the diameter larger for the 12.

[chpthril]

Did you have to trim for the depth going from the 10" to the 12"?

If there is a depth issue, then that is an issue with the current woofer, likely why some are not happy with its performance. These woofers perform best when the back of the woofer has the entire mid-ship locker as its air space.

Also note, there is a proper Revo-12FA for that application, you dont want to go with the XS-12 or Revo-12HP.

[kmkramer71]

If there is a depth issue, then that is an issue with the current woofer, likely why some are not happy with its performance. These woofers perform best when the back of the woofer has the entire mid-ship locker as its air space.

Also note, there is a proper Revo-12FA for that application, you dont want to go with the XS-12 or Revo-12HP.

Perfect. Some of us just want to get every ounce out of the stock location without cutting and moving all the electronics up. If I can make the hole bigger and cut a little out of the back and it is atleast 25% "better sounding" that is more worth my time.

Is 600-700w good for the Revo-12FA? I'm most likely replacing my failing syn6 with syn-dx6 and might move sub to syn2...

[chpthril]

Yes, that wattage is perfect. Both the Syn-2 and new Syn-DX6 chnls 5/6 will drive that woofer. Chnls 1-4 of the Syn-DX6 is almost 2x the wattage of the old Syn-6 so nice improvement to the in-boats.

[Ironrequiem]

No, did not change the depth, only opened the face from a 10" woofer opening to a 12" woofer opening.
There is a back panel that had some horizontal slots already cut in it, I think 4 of them about 3/4" x 5" or so, and covered with carpet.

I just cut the carpet to open up the horizontal slots (as a port, somewhat).
Behind that panel is the front ballast / bow cushion area, but the panel is still in place so the ballast can not intrude into the woofer area.

Already had the syn2 amp and Chpthril directed me towards the pairing it with the xs12 at 4 ohms.
He also suggested using a tuned/ported enclosure for full dynamics of the set up, I am not that handy at that so I tried it in the stock location and it does sound amazing on my R20!!

But just as Chpthril stated you MUST tune it!!

I spent a few hours tuning the system on our dock and then in the water, jump on the board and ride behind the boat a few times and tweaked it to taste.
The pro's would be done much quicker!! I am not a pro.
Basically used Volbeat, Black Label Society, Skid Row and Soundgarden as reference to tune system since these are my genre.
Once those were tuned in, the mix worked for all styles.
We are EXTREMELY HAPPY with the results along a wide spectrum of music...Rock, Metal, Rap, Country, Pop etc...

WE are more than pleased with Wet Sounds, Tige and Chpthril!!!

[Jetdriver]

Chpthril- what would you suggest as a solid 12" woofer if I went with kicker? I would definitely have it in an enclosure, ported or not, I could build it or just buy one. I'm thinking something that is in the 600 RMS range would put a lot more depth into my system. Also if you can suggest a good sub amp to pair it with that'd be great.
I just installed 6 xs-650 running on a wetsounds htx-6. I have an enclosed JL 10 (no port) with a JL 250.1 pushing it. The tower is kicker kmt60s with a kicker zxm450.2 on them. Sub is the weak point right now.

[chpthril]

Jet,

The Kicker CompVR 12 has been a solid producer for some time, Great price point for that power range. Has always worked well in either sealed or porter enclosures. If you go with a sealed enclosure, then the Kicker CX600.1 and CVR124 is a good pairing at a friendly budget. For a ported enclosure, I would step up my budget and go with an amp like the classic KX series or the new KX series mono amps. They dont offer a 600x1 @ 2, so you would want to go with the 800.1. The KX amps compliment a ported enclosure much better and the added amp wattage @ 2 ohm is never a bad thing.

The cool thing about the new KX line of mono amps, they offer a wireless sub control remote. The SGOCWave.

[Jetdriver]

Thanks for the recommendations Mike!