22 VLX Stereo install (newbie)

[wakebrdr94]

sorry I haven't gotten you that picture, still haven't seen my boat.

[Fman]

sorry I haven't gotten you that picture, still haven't seen my boat.

No worries, I am way head of myself but thought it would be good to just get a baseline set. Hoping to start the install next week.

[Lance B. Johnson]

Fman - looks like your install is coming along well. As to the amplifier questions:

XM30.2 is the tower amplifier your using. You'll like that Exile designed the crossover to start at 80Hz. So it makes it simple to use with the XM9 tower speakers. Just turn the crossover knob all the way down to 80 and your done. Bass boost 0, you don't need any of that. Crossover select switch on HF (high frequency).

XM9's - you might like to engage the 1 ohm switch. The circuitry has changed since earmark last used these speakers. It has a distinct impact that you'll definitely hear at wake range. Especially with 4 speakers. Since your speakers are new, they actually have a 1.6x crossover design that I think you'll enjoy as well. So you might not even want to engage these switches.

Javelin is the cabin/sub amplifier. You'll be driving 150W per speaker to your cabin speakers and 800W to your sub on the 5th channel. There is a lot going on here so you'll need to do some fine tuning later. To start: cabins will be HF / crossover to 100-110hz 6.5" speakers (down to 80hz for the 8" cabins), and gain about 20% (I think your using a preamp right? If not, gain at 40%). The selector switch for input config depends how many RCA cables you are having. If your using the ZLD preamp you'll drive 6 RCA inputs into the amp a pair for Front / pair for Rear / pair for Sub. With respect to your sub, its going to depend on what sub setup you have, but its safe to say, LF@70hz to start, gain will most likely be more 50% and bass boost off. It's not needed from a starting point.

@ Lance: always welcome to come by and we can walk you thru the steps to properly tune your boat. We've been helping boating community for years setup / tune their sound systems.. And it doesn't have to be just Exile gear and its free. Maybe you should bring BBQ with you though. ha!

-Brian

Sweet. I needed this info too. Thanks for posting it. Making headway on the sub box. It is ready for resin coating at this point.

[mbianchini]

Fman - looks like your install is coming along well. As to the amplifier questions:

XM30.2 is the tower amplifier your using. You'll like that Exile designed the crossover to start at 80Hz. So it makes it simple to use with the XM9 tower speakers. Just turn the crossover knob all the way down to 80 and your done. Bass boost 0, you don't need any of that. Crossover select switch on HF (high frequency).

XM9's - you might like to engage the 1 ohm switch. The circuitry has changed since earmark last used these speakers. It has a distinct impact that you'll definitely hear at wake range. Especially with 4 speakers. Since your speakers are new, they actually have a 1.6x crossover design that I think you'll enjoy as well. So you might not even want to engage these switches.

Javelin is the cabin/sub amplifier. You'll be driving 150W per speaker to your cabin speakers and 800W to your sub on the 5th channel. There is a lot going on here so you'll need to do some fine tuning later. To start: cabins will be HF / crossover to 100-110hz 6.5" speakers (down to 80hz for the 8" cabins), and gain about 20% (I think your using a preamp right? If not, gain at 40%). The selector switch for input config depends how many RCA cables you are having. If your using the ZLD preamp you'll drive 6 RCA inputs into the amp a pair for Front / pair for Rear / pair for Sub. With respect to your sub, its going to depend on what sub setup you have, but its safe to say, LF@70hz to start, gain will most likely be more 50% and bass boost off. It's not needed from a starting point.

@ Lance: always welcome to come by and we can walk you thru the steps to properly tune your boat. We've been helping boating community for years setup / tune their sound systems.. And it doesn't have to be just Exile gear and its free. Maybe you should bring BBQ with you though. ha!

-Brian

Right here is why I wish I would have went with exile and stayed local. I have rev 10's and they sound great but getting any support sucks. Still to this day I don't think my stereo is tuned properly. Definately will give them a hard look next go around.

[David]

Good tuning is far more complex. Rather than set numbers it should follow a set prescription, step by step and in a certain sequence.

The prescription determines the numbers and with the right prescription the numbers will be different system to system and boat to boat.

Good tuning impacts the sound quality, system efficiency and can even have a major impact on thermal performance.

Good tuning has to encompass the principles of phasing. This is something that most do not grasp but is crucial if you want your system to reach its full potential.

Good tuning in an open field boat follows very different guidelines than what you would have in an enclosed vehicle cabin for example.

In the future, give Odin with Earmark Marine a hard look. Odin is an accomplished musician, has 25 years of mobile electronics experience, and worked weekends as the sound engineer setting up the sound for hundreds of touring bands. So Odin really understands gain structure and system tuning on another level. Odin will walk his customers through the tuning process and also leases at no charge many of the tools needed to do a precision job of system tuning.

[Fman]

My first day working on there stereo in the boat, I was able to complete the tower speaker installation. I also was able to run an extra 14 gauge wire on each side of the G3 tower to have each speaker with its own speaker wire. I used a fish tape and it was not as bad as I was thinking. The Exile XM9s mounting system is awesome, so easy to adjust, and speakers can be taken off with a twist off a knob. I also am starting to plan out my sub woofer box, so I exposed the kick plate and was able to get some rough measurements. Seeing as I have a heater, I am going to remove the hot tube plastic case for walkway and just allow hose to free flow back into the hole. I did this on my last boat and it worked great, and does free up some more space for the sub box.

Here is a picture of the underside of the G3.2 tower, and the extra speaker wire coming under gunwale

Speaker wire coming out G3 tube into the base

The extra speaker wire running out the G3, I was also able to salvage the rubber grommet which worked out nicely

And the finished product!

Here is my sub box area to work with. If you look on the left bottom side you will see where I removed the heater hot tube plastic casing and now the line just pushes back into the void space there. It still looks the same from walkway and locks closed when not being used. Still undecided on sub box dimensions but at least I got to take a peek at what I have to work with. With that hot tube removed I think I can go 13-15" deep on a box, I am also going to be moving the kick plate up 2" which looks like it should be pretty easy.

Goal for next phase is to mount the 6.5" speakers in walkway and bow, run RCA jacks, new 12 gauge sub wire, and mount the amp rack.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Fman

[shawndoggy]

See, and you were nervous about whether you could do this! Ha, in a couple of hours you've accomplished more than I have in like probably 25 hours. I just keep taking more and more stuff apart.

[IXFE]

I have to admit... I'm kind of jealous. Seeing your progress makes me anxious to take delivery and get started on my own.

I still can't believe how fast you got that tower wired. All this time we've been thinking and telling you it would be a bear... but we probably spent more time writing those posts than you did running the wire! Well done.

What's your plan for cutting holes for the walkway speakers? For me that was pretty challenging and made me the most nervous.

[teamerickson]

Great Job!

I have dibs when you decide to sell in a few years.

[dalt1]

See, and you were nervous about whether you could do this! Ha, in a couple of hours you've accomplished more than I have in like probably 25 hours. I just keep taking more and more stuff apart.

Same here. About to start going back together. All Exile here. 4 XM9 towers, 8 Exile SX65c in boats and XI 12DVC sub. Harpoon to towers and Javeline for the rest. New ZLD under dash.

Definitely following this thread here.

This is my new sub enclosure. Will fit under 2012 helm with heater. 1.1 cu ft. With 1/3rd filled with poly fill per Brians suggestion.

[Fman]

Some more progress today.... walkway and bow speakers completed, amp rack mounted, RCA jacks routed, and 12 gauge sub wire routed...

Here are some pics of removing the combing pad, speaker, handle and plastic case speaker mounts in

This is what I used to cut the hole with, worked perfect, amazing what you can cut at high RPMs.

Finished hole with Dremel

Finished results

Bow speakers mounted

Amp rack mounted with RCA cables, some speaker wires, etc... why is it so nerve racking drilling anything in a boat towards the side hull I had a nightmare vision of screws sticking out the side of my hull, but all was good. I did have to use 2" - 3" screws. 2" up top were fine, with one 2 3/4" and one 3" below. I went with #14 size. I have four screws in the rack which I hope will hold, it seems really solid.

My next phase will be to check polarity in all speakers and mount and hook up the ZLD Eq.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Fman

[Bawshogg]

Your doing well. Nice job.

[Cory]

Dang! Fman you are a machine!!!

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[ahopkins22LSV]

Dang! Fman you are a machine!!!

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I know! I am enjoying following this thread but it makes me feel really lazy about not installing my one new amp to power the current setup I have right now lol.

[Fman]

Ok fellas, I need some help with the wiring schematic using a toggle switch and EQ with no head unit. Next week I should be installing the ZLD and toggle switch. I have attached a diagram of what I believe is how it should go, if anyone has experience hooking up a system like this please chime in and steer me in the right direction. I also want to clarify I understand how the ZLD works.

Aside from the RCA jacks (sub, inboat, tower, aux output), there are three inputs, power, ground and blue wire (switch wire). When the ZLD receives power in it will trigger the blue wire to turn on the amps and power up the system?? If the ZLD has no power going into it the system it will remain off. Is this correct? The blue wires are all tied into together between each amp going into the ZLD.

Also in the diagram I did not include the hot and ground distribution blocks or inline fuse for 0 AWG (which I think Brian gave me a 250 amp).

** Also, what size fuse should I run from the hot wire going into the toggle switch, 15-20amp? **

Here is a pic of my diagram, I am not really a drawing guru so please bare with me... hopefully you can understand what I am trying to accomplish.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Fman

[shawndoggy]

no, that's wrong. the ZLD won't turn anything on.... like your amps, it needs to be turned on by the engergized lead from your rocker switch. what you certainly can do is tie the blue and red to the zld together, and then split that to your amps.

[Fman]

Ok, got it, just to confirm.... When toggle is turned on have it power both the red and blue wire? What about the inline fuse on power wire going into the toggle switch, 15-20amp? the way I have it wired above the ZLD will come on but the amps would not.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Fman

[Fman]

Dang! Fman you are a machine!!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I gotta get this boat out on the water!

[shawndoggy]

Ok, got it, just to confirm.... When toggle is turned on have it power both the red and blue wire? What about the inline fuse on power wire going into the toggle switch, 15-20amp? the way I have it wired above the ZLD will come on but the amps would not.

Fuse it with something smaller. The zld red wire should be fused at like 2A? Honestly a 2A fuse on the whole thing is probably enough. 3A max. Definitely not 15-20A unless you are running 12awg wire for all this (and even so that would be needless overkill).

[Fman]

The wire came with the install kit, I think it is 16/18 gauge, definitely not 12 pretty thin stuff. I appreciate the info on this.

[Lance B. Johnson]

i gotta say.....I REALLY like the gunmetal look on the grills.

Would it be bad if I copied that?

Just a heads up:

On my last boat I had had the same set up. I wired it the way Shawn was talking about but I got a nasty *thump* every time I powered it on.

The reason for the thump was the ZLD powering up at the same time as the amps. To fix the problem I wired a relay into the circuit so there was a slight delay (probably milliseconds) in the power up. Fixed the problem.

Cant remember if the Amps were wired to the switch side of the relay or if it was the ZLD.

Edit: I remember trying it both ways and one way worked.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Lance B. Johnson

[Fman]

After talking it over with bawshogg here is what the final wiring will look like...thanks again bh, appreciate all the help... hopefully anyone in the future not using a head unit and EQ only can take this diagram and use it.

[Fman]

i gotta say.....I REALLY like the gunmetal look on the grills.

Would it be bad if I copied that?

Just a heads up:

On my last boat I had had the same set up. I wired it the way Shawn was talking about but I got a nasty *thump* every time I powered it on.

The reason for the thump was the ZLD powering up at the same time as the amps. To fix the problem I wired a relay into the circuit so there was a slight delay (probably milliseconds) in the power up. Fixed the problem.

Cant remember if the Amps were wired to the switch side of the relay or if it was the ZLD.

Edit: I remember trying it both ways and one way worked.

Feel free to spray away on those grilles, that is the reason for these threads to pass along information, ideas, designs, etc...

Take a look at my latest diagram, I am hoping it will work without the popping noise you are referring to when toggle is activated.

[MLA]

After talking it over with bawshogg here is what the final wiring will look like...thanks again bh, appreciate all the help... hopefully anyone in the future not using a head unit and EQ only can take this diagram and use it.

I replied to your last PM before seeing the revised schematic. With the B+ constant and turn-on trigger to the EQ and amps reconfigured as we discussed, I think you are good to go now. I would not expect any turn-on/turn-off pops with this configuration. With the EQ sharing the same source as the amps, they will all be disconnected from the battery(s) when the main switch is OFF.

[Fman]

Some more progress today... amps are mounted (not bolted down yet), 250 amp inline fuse installed, ZLD mounted, and I even was able to run the 4 AWG wire to the blue sea distribution block for my Johnson pump install.

Pics of amps, I am one RCA run short, its on its way right now. I also was able to polarity test all speaker wires and everything checked out perfect.

250 amp fuse installed in 0 AWG wire

ZLD mounted up, I like the angle and visibility from the helm, actually turned out better than I was thinking it would.

Here is the Blue Sea distribution block with 4 AWG ready to hook up to it. I am going to be running my Johnson pumps off this block. It is the first time I have mounted Johnson pumps with a distribution block, it will make it cleaner and easier to swap a fuse out if need be. It also gives me another source of power to add anything else down the road.

Next phase is finish hooking RCA's to ZLD and amp, start working on my sub enclosure, and still waiting for the 8" inboat speakers, on back order because of the long shoreman strike

Edited February 17, 2015 by Fman