surf system advice needed.

[TimbrSS]

Made some more progress. Actually all finished except for modifying the bimini for the speakers on top of tower.

I re-did all the battery wiring. Previous was a perko switch to the alternator, (Off, 1,2 or both), and each battery had a separate on, off switch to ground. So if I was working on a project, and had a helper, I couldn't simply say turn the batteries on or off. Also the wiring used was all 4 gauge from each battery and figured I'd yank it all and get the automatic setup.

Nothing #gamechanging here. Standard blue sea add a battery kit, with ACR. I used the Shawdoggy approved wiring method. Stereo is completely isolated to it's own battery, and start and house loads are from the start battery. I used an acc. switch on the dash to switch h/u on independently of the key. I have a relay to control the amps remote turn on, and another relay to ground the ACR when ign is on. This allows the pro sport charger to change the two batteries independently.

I used Knu Konceptz wiring. I generally would never go with a company that spells their name stupid like that, but broke my rule, and it was good service and a great product to work with. All 1/0 from batteries to ground, switches, amp rack etc. Then splits to 4 gauge for each amp. I used the Blue sea ground bus as well. I also have the blue sea 6 ckt fuse panel, which I put in to power the H/U and any other accessories I want to run of the stereo battery in the future.

Everything worked first try, and sounds good so far. I'll update with tower speaker info later.

[shawndoggy]

If you wired it "my" way you don't need the relay on the acr. Just turn the switch off and the batteries will stay separated while on the charger.

[Nitrousbird]

Yes Tim, I will mail you my SMD CC1 and DD1 this week so you can tune it. I'll throw them in the car tonight and try to ship them tomorrow or Friday.

[TimbrSS]

Just got done surfing with the new system. I'm totally happy with the rev 10's, and I can see why the EQ is mandatory for full enjoyment. I was pretty conservative with the amp gains to start, waiting on some tuning tools. It's still gets embarrassingly loud with the gains turned down, and was surprised how far the sound carried when I'd loose the wave. I'm sure i ruined, or at least disrupted sailboat Wednesday at the lake. I think the system seems pretty balanced, and I don't think any changes, such as different in-boats, sub, more tower speakers are needed. I'll get some pics of my top mounted speakers tomorrow. Adding the sound system was definitely the missing piece to round out my boating experience. Thanks to all who helped, either directly here or indirectly on their own threads.

I know youtube won't do it any justice, but music is loud and clear with no engine noise thanks to FAE.

Edited October 22, 2015 by TimbrSS

[TimbrSS]

Here's the "Mouse Ears" install. I really don't understand why more people don't do this, especially with forward leaning towers. I think it looks great and I don't have to worry about banging my head off them.

[Nitrousbird]

Still don't love the look of the mouse ears. Maybe I'll like it more in person or with the bimini up.

FYI, I shipped the SMD gear today - should be there Saturday.

[cowwboy]

I love my mouse ears. With my 410's on the titan it would have been a major pain to constantly duck down.

Plus my bimini would have had to been modified also.

[TimbrSS]

After I had the speakers situated where I wanted, I removed the speakers and installed the Bimini. I traced around the speaker brackets with a pencil where they were contacting the bimini, so that we'd know where to put the holes. I then took the bimini to a local canvas shop and had the holes cut and hemmed. $70 and a day later I had my holes. It turned out just how I wanted it to. speakers can be removed or adjusted easily by going around the side of the bimini.

[Ndawg12]

Looks good, who did you go to for the canvas work? Boat Covers Ulmtd in Mooresville?

[TimbrSS]

Looks good, who did you go to for the canvas work? Boat Covers Ulmtd in Mooresville?

Rick's Custom Marine Canvas on Statesville Rd. in Cornelius.

[Ndawg12]

Rick's Custom Marine Canvas on Statesville Rd. in Cornelius.

Ah yes, I forgot about him, interesting guy...looks like he does good work.

[TimbrSS]

I messed around with the SMD DD1 and CC1. Just for reference. My Samsung galaxy tab A, connected through blue tooth, had distortion on full Volume, I ran it 1 click down. My Clarion head unit had distortion at 36/45 on the volume, so I tuned to 35 volume on head unit. I got no distortion from the Clarion EQ, except the sub channel when I went past 1:00. I set the gains on the amp after that, then set crossovers. High pass 80Hz for Rev 10's, 100Hz for the RF inboats and low pass at 80Hz for the sub. I didn't want to rock out the neighborhood, so I'll mess with the cross-overs a little more when I can turn up the volume. Most of the settings are close to where I had them.

I forgot to mention: A big shout out to Wetsounds! The connectors that I had for the Rev 10's were the original style TC3 swivel and the pins on the bracket side of things were coming out. I sent an email to them asking for help. They sent me the new potted version no questions asked.

Jim at speaker sox! Showed up quick and the Malibu crew discount is great.

Edited October 30, 2015 by TimbrSS