audio mess and the beginning to fixing it questions

[sandm]

so bought this new to me z3. it's got a TON of audio gear in it and the overall quality of the installation/wiring seems to be good but it's a mess and going to start to sort it all out this winter to get a usable system.
I have:
6 ws xs65's.
4 ws 808's- 10 inboats is overkill but holes are already there so they stay.
4 ws rev10's
1 ws -factory tige sub. think it's a 12.
1 jl 13w7 under pass helm
2 jl amps. not sure yet of them
1 ws black amp. not sure yet of it
1 ws long chrome amp. not sure yet of it.
jl audio mm100s and 2 pucks 1 at back and 1 at helm.

first order of business is to figure out of the jl unit stays. I like having the ability to control in-boat and tower speakers fading off/on depending on where the sound is requested. as near as I can tell the JL unit has independent controls but you have to fiddle with the HU to adjust.
any thoughts on an add-on eq-type device that would facilitate this. or should we ditch this HU and move another direction.

for reference, my old tige had the original clarion wired outside of tigetouch(on/off only) with pucks at helm and transom with an exile zone controller. worked flawlessly for 4 years and didn't have to turn on the boat/tigetouch to have tunes.

once I have this next step will be to solve the sub issue as the 13 is taking up too much room under the pass helm and silly to have both subs. the 13 box is slot loaded and stupidbig. it does a nice job of holding up the chrome desk fan that's been wired in to cool 1 of the amps tho. talk about ghetto.....
tige.jpg

look forward to some advice..

[JohnnieMo]

If I was to wager a guess:

The big WS amp is running the XS650's and the Free air 10" (it's likely a 10 under the helm)
The little WS amp is running the towers
One JL Amp is running that massive 13W7
The other JL Amp is running those (unncessary) 808s

And that fan is just plain cute.

As for what to do? Well, I guess it depends if you want storage. Is there a vent to get all that sound out of the locker?

Where did the 808's get installed? If you could run those more as a midbass and they are positioned right, you could run them well along side a higher range 650. I expect they are all just playing the same frequency range.

[UNSTUCK]

Mike would have thrown his thoughts in on this one, but after reading your post he is now laying on a couch breathing into a paper bag.

[chpthril]

The media master has 4 zone volume control. What im not sure of, is if the zone control is accessible through the remote. This would be the first thing I would find out, as it would be the one reason why I would keep or do something different.

long shinny amp is the retired Syn-6 and the factory woofer would be the XS-10FA. Sounds like this boat had the "Premium" option at least, which was the woofer and six 6.5" XS-650.

Whats the fan doing? My guess is its blowing on an amp. This would be my next area of focus, why do I need the fan.

Off the top of my head, I think a 13W7 wants about a 2.2 ft3 gross internal box. Thats going to be a serious job to move it under the helm, but I would do it in a heart beat! Other wise, turn it on its side and install a vent grill. Ive see a cool custom Tige one somewhere round here

[sandm]

Mike would have thrown his thoughts in on this one, but after reading your post he is now laying on a couch breathing into a paper bag.

when I saw the mess and the "cute" little fan I about crapped and knew Mike would laugh at this install. if I could send pics of all of it he would be shaking his head. some of it was installed by hydrotunes but not sure which part. It was clearly installed in 2 different phases after the original purchase of the boat based on the pics of it posted by the owner I got it from. should note that the wire runs are all good looking but it's a hodgepodge of stuffs that probably weren't needed. someone should have guided the prior owners into a well planned end result.
808's are in the main cabin area under the long seats. they are not moving anywhere as holes r cut.
I would like to keep the 13 as I know it's a nice speaker but not sure it'll fit under the helm. jl specs call for 1.8cuft sealed internal which should be around the 2.2 you call out exterior which would be more than loud enough for me. the old 12w6's I used in sealed boxes were plenty loud so this should be even better but I remember having to move the TT fuseblock to make the 12 fit barely so assuming the 13 would be even worse. guess the plus side is no heater in the way.

I don't see where the mediamaster is able to control zones thru the puck. they are quite simple in nature with no lcd screen. it looks to be a pretty decent hu so guessing my best option is a zone controller like the ws or exile unit and then figure out the amps from there.
I get a sense when this is all done that I will end up with an extra amp if I ditch the factory woofer.

[chpthril]

You can consider moving the media master to the helm.

By eliminating the factory woofer, this frees up chnls 5 & 6 of the Syn-6. You could then move the 808's to those chnls. This could eliminate the amp driving them.

Would be great to configure so to eliminate the Syn-6 with something more efficient.

[sandm]

I'm going to get the amp model numbers on friday once the boat gets back from the upholsterer making the custom cover. hoping the jl's are decent wattage and class d.

would think an outboard controller like the ws eq would be easier to mount than the jl unit at the helm. it's decently sized.

[chpthril]

yeah, getting a full inventory is best before making to many in-depth configuration suggestions.

I would consider the 4 zone WS-220BT over a 3 zone unless having the full-range EQ band features are a must. Yes, the BT would be redundant, the 4th zone could be the bow, with main cabin, tower and woofer being the other 3.

woofer phase and low-pass x-over offered on one model are zero advantage these days.

[sandm]

woofer phase and low-pass x-over offered on one model are zero advantage these days.

agreed. didn't use them on the last one and most amps have this same feature built in as do many hu's. I think i'd rather use the amp to cross over than the eq knowing I am sending a complete signal to the amp and let it process the desired output rather than a partial input and expect a complete output.

[jslayde1]

Mike would have thrown his thoughts in on this one, but after reading your post he is now laying on a couch breathing into a paper bag.

Mike didn't laugh, but I sure did... that's a funny post there...

[JohnnieMo]

I'm sure CHP can weigh in on this, but can you disable the tweeter on those 808s and just run them as a midbass? Then you can use the 13W7 (or maybe a slightly smaller 12) to just hit the low stuff under the helm. Crossover around 75Hz or so... I've always been a big fan of hearty midbass The placement isn't amazing, but it's not awful either.

I don't like how the Z boats place all the high frequencies down by your feet, but we work with what we got.

Now you're making me want to do this. Stupid winter.

[chpthril]

Nah, this one is child play compared to the rebuild thats in the shop right now . im the 2nd shop, after many return trips to the original installer, thats worked on this one. I gutted the entire install, down to the last wire nut, and started over.

[sandm]

must be fun to gut and start over. hope it's some decent equipment.
here's the placement of the 808's. again overkill imo but holes r there.....
there's a ton of led's in this boat as well that I really wouldn't have installed but they are here. don't boat at night so don't see the use but removing them would be a pita.

808.jpg808 2.jpg

[chpthril]

Given the existing holes, id put a little more focus on the 808's. They are going to over run the xs-650's anyway, besides the 808 has a better tweeter.

Im also dealing with less then ideal holes. 1 pair 8's 2 pair 6.5's originally. I would have gone with 2 pair of 8's only. Less holes, more mid-bass, less investment.

[sandm]

I agree with you that 2 8's would be much preferred over what you have. funny what some are sold.
I'd be happy ditching all the 65's and just running the 808's as we never use the bow but not going to happen.
if I could find some billet circles relatively cheap I'd install them in the place of the 65's and call it a day. maybe that's a route to take.....