Looking for help with the next IXFE boat design...

[BlknYlwT22]

10 hours ago, Josh4mc said:

 

The hole in the panel is one potential issue. Another is if you have a factory heater installed the heater tube that goes to the walk through sticks out a lot and the heater itself is mounted on the back wall. Both would have to be moved. 

I do have the heater, but the tubes in the Axis don't go to the walk through. They come out of the dash (silly design if you ask me). Sounds like I still would potentially need to move the heater, although the sub box that is there fits without issue (I have no idea what the specs are though). All in all, it sounds like it's not worth messing with. 

[shawndoggy]

9 minutes ago, BlknYlwT22 said:

I do have the heater, but the tubes in the Axis don't go to the walk through. They come out of the dash (silly design if you ask me). Sounds like I still would potentially need to move the heater, although the sub box that is there fits without issue (I have no idea what the specs are though). All in all, it sounds like it's not worth messing with. 

If your current sub box is the factory "box" then all in all it's TOTALLY worth messing with.  Even if you pay someone $100 to build a custom box that fits, it's the best $100 upgrade you could possibly do to your stereo.

[Stevo]

pull that panel and check the space behind. it wont hurt to look. and once you see how easy it is to get in there, chances are you'll take it a step further.

worst case is you make a new kick panel , and you will have a teplate from the old one, and HDPE or Plywood isn't very expensive.

[Ronnie]

FWIW, here's the sub platform that Murphy & I put in our 23's. I have Sketchup drawings if that will help you. The platform is Baltic Birch, the legs and feet are HDPE. I took out the footrest stops in the floor and secured the bottom of the footrest to the feet of the platform. The footrest is in it's original location.

We went to Partsexpress.com and ordered some DuraTex for sealing the platform and sub box instead of bedliner. I like the consistency of the spray version even though I roll it on. The Roll on is a heavier coat but the spray on after 3 coats is plenty.

Before & After.

[IXFE]

@Ronnie

that platform is brilliant!  That really opens things up in there!  

[shawndoggy]

dumb Q -- what's the advantage of the platform for your box, Ronnie? You don't go "deeper" on your box with the platform do you (looks like max depth stlll constrained by hoses?  And it looks like you aren't going wider either (like IXFE did last year, going up then punching his box out to the starboard side of hull)?  Are you going to run something under the platform (like littlejon did, running heater hot tubes under his sub box)?

[Ronnie]

With the way to bow curves in under the platform and the side of the boat moves up and away, you end up with more room as you get up off the floor and on the platform. I like this out of any water that may come under the platform too. JIC...

[pauley71]

@Ronnie - I love durtex .. great idea.  Also I like how you fired your sub inward (I think).  I like the clean look and my dealer swears this has a SQ improvement over firing directly at your feet.  I plan to do the same which allows the kickpanel to remain untouched. 

[Murphy8166]

9 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

dumb Q -- what's the advantage of the platform for your box, Ronnie? You don't go "deeper" on your box with the platform do you (looks like max depth stlll constrained by hoses?  And it looks like you aren't going wider either (like IXFE did last year, going up then punching his box out to the starboard side of hull)?  Are you going to run something under the platform (like littlejon did, running heater hot tubes under his sub box)?

Also - you can have your subwoofer box stick out further into the drivers feet area and have it over hang the platform by an inch or two.  If you elevate the facade of the floor by an inch or so - you can still remove and reinstall your carpet.  That is how my first setup was in order to get a box that was just a hair north of two cubes.

[Ronnie]

33 minutes ago, pauley71 said:

@Ronnie - I love durtex .. great idea.  Also I like how you fired your sub inward (I think).  I like the clean look and my dealer swears this has a SQ improvement over firing directly at your feet.  I plan to do the same which allows the kickpanel to remain untouched. 

We are firing to the side of the boat, although I am not sure it cares which wall your firing at.

[pook77]

On 11/22/2015 at 2:56 PM, Afun said:

Oh God ^^^ your statement was boring too...Yawning

Snookie made the thread...before and after a 6 pack...don't know how that has happened

I like fat snooky better

[IXFE]

52 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

We are firing to the side of the boat, although I am not sure it cares which wall your firing at.

I asked a Exile about a side firing, sealed sub. They said there's value to it if it's sealed. By the same token, I don't think it hurts as bass is not directional. 

Either way I like what you did as it eliminates the awkward shape of the floor. And raising to that much absolutely gives you more depth as the hoses are all the way against the back wall at that height. 

In other news... LET THERE BE LIGHT!!

[Stevo]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

We are firing to the side of the boat, although I am not sure it cares which wall your firing at.

I found that fireing to either side made the horn vent rattle much more, I took it apart and short of removing the white fabric that's in there it would rattle when the bass hit

[IXFE]

Back with another update...

I got the 8's installed earlier this week in the cockpit. This is actually my first time running Exile 8's. My '14 LSV stereo delete project was too early; Exile hadn't released their 8's yet, so I used lerch's RF take offs. Then last year I bought the LSV with factory audio and augmented with Exile amps and sub, so once again I had the RF 8's. I'm excited to finally try the Exile 8's. They look amazing and sound great!  I sound tested them after install by hooking up my phone directly into the cabin amp. Sorry, I forgot to take pics of the 8's. Next time. 

As you might imagine, I sound tested the Surf 9's on the tower also. I was super worried I'd miss the XM9's. The Surfs are definitely different, but so far I'm really liking the warm, deep sound. They make so much more mid bass than the Rev 8's I had last year (with same exact amp setup). I'm curious how they will sound on the water. If my kids can't hear them wakeboarding I might get some blank stares from them. Lol. I'm not gonna tell them they're different. We'll just see what happens. With 300 watts to each can, I have a hard time believing they won't hear them. 

I also did a sound check with both the Media Center and the ZLD before buttoning everything up.  This allowed me to hear the cabins and tower together for the first time.  Boy does my cabin sound awesome with both the 8's and Surf 9's making all that mid bass. You almost don't need a sub!!  

And the Media Center is great.  It has power button so I don't need a toggle switch for the system.  It has BT built in and it allows me to play, pause, and skip tracks without touching my phone, even if it's locked. You can clearly see when it's powered on (red light), and when there's a BT source connected (blue light) or NOT connected (flashing blue light).  You also hear an audible "beep beep" when a new BT source is paired.  And now that my phone is paired, it automatically connects each time I power up the system. I'm in love with this little gem!!

Anyway... More pics. I kinda teased that I was gonna do something with the sport knob. My first thought was to drill it out and install an Exile Digital Media Center in its place (maintaining) the other buttons around it.

But if you look at the back you quickly see that's not possible. The plug for the entire part (knob and buttons) is immediately behind the knob. So I just unplugged it and removed the entire thing. I never use those buttons anyway (I just use the screen). 

My plan was just to cut out a piece of plastic or wood to fit in the recesses area of the billet piece , cover it with vinyl, and mount the Media Center in the middle. Here's a pic with just the Media Center

When I told Bill at Exile what I was planning, he got excited about the project and offered to make the piece out of their 3D printer. I was like, "Uh... Yes!!!"

He made a piece for the front and back!  

Then I spray glued a thin layer of cushion on the white piece and wrapped it in generic black vinyl. DISCLAIMER: I didn't do that good a job on the vinyl and I'm gonna re-wrap it when I get a matching piece from the factory. 

Oh... And as you can see above, I mounted the ZLD in my favorite location!  That is as far right as possible. I even temporarily removed the cubby on the right wall so I could get the ZLD all the way up against the right wall. Here's a pic of the ZLD before going in. I was excited to see they've added a BIG FAT mark on the master volume knob so you know how high it's turned up at a glance. 

All that's really left is the front 6.5" speakers and the Q Bomb sub install. More on that later. 

[Stevo]

i did not know the media center has the power switch intergrated. I may have to check that out. 

Now I have to figure out where to mount it....

[ahopkins22LSV]

Nice work! I saw the teaser pics on Instagram and was excited to see the whole explanation and detail!

[mrnate450r]

Isn't there quite an upcharge for the sport knob? Is it possible to do the same modification without ordering the sport knob? In other words, what is there if you don't order it? I don't think I've seen one without it. 

[thtrog]

This is what you get without the sport knob option, an open cubby.

Edited April 11, 2016 by thtrog

[t a]

1 hour ago, mrnate450r said:

Isn't there quite an upcharge for the sport knob? Is it possible to do the same modification without ordering the sport knob? In other words, what is there if you don't order it? I don't think I've seen one without it. 

I think its like $300 or something like that

[IXFE]

@mrnate450r I almost skipped the sport knob entirely. I had visions of using the Exile Media Center all along but I wasn't sure how I'd make use of that big void in the dash. I suppose you could fabricate your own back plate and cover the hole with it (making use of the billet border pictures above). But alas, I ordered the knob and I think maintaining the plus sized cell phone holder is worth the upgrade. And the cool thing about this upgrade is I can restore to factory look in about 5 minutes. 

[mrnate450r]

My limited experience with the sport knob was that it was slow. Slow in regards to the volume and mute functions. @IXFE, with the media center, are you able to power the stereo without having the whole helm on? 

[Stevo]

2 hours ago, mrnate450r said:

My limited experience with the sport knob was that it was slow. Slow in regards to the volume and mute functions. @IXFE, with the media center, are you able to power the stereo without having the whole helm on? 

you should be able based on how you wire it, it essentialy has a toggle switch / remote power wired into it. 

[IXFE]

5 hours ago, mrnate450r said:

My limited experience with the sport knob was that it was slow. Slow in regards to the volume and mute functions. @IXFE, with the media center, are you able to power the stereo without having the whole helm on? 

Yes, I actually hated the knob last year for this very reason. I found it kinda frustrating as a master volume knob so I installed a ZLD and used that for volume, effectively bypassing the sport knob  

This year I have the media center wired as you describe. When I push the power button, it powers on the entire system. The boat does not have to be on. 

Edited April 12, 2016 by IXFE

[IXFE]

More progress tonight...

 

[IXFE]

All done!!