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How many Wetsounds Amps should our boat have?


WakeNick

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Hey guys, been on the fourm for a minute and haven't posted anything because I haven't needed to have anything cleared up.

We ordered a 2018 22mxz last year and have loved it. Before we took hold of it we had the dealer install 2 pairs of Rev 10's which are just insane. Also, we have the standard interior wet sounds configuration with the 6 mid-range drivers as well as the 12-inch sub. In September the dealership called us and explained that we had a third amplifier sitting and ready to be installed for the sub. (I believe it was a 500 watt amp just for the sub). This made sense to us because the tower was easily twice as loud as the interior. We figured that the amp that was powering the sub as well as all the interior speakers was going to just power the interior ones and we would have one just for the sub. This would hopefully make the interior, hopefully, just as loud as the tower. 

Having many people around us who own new Malibu's (2017's and up with the new wet sounds stereo) and being able to crawl around in them I also noticed that they all have three amps to power the entire boat. Also, during the 2019 boat we checked out a 2019 22mxz and it also had three amps and the sales rep explained that one was for the tower, one was for the interior mid range drivers, and that one was for the sub. We asked him if we could do the same and he said yes that's what they recommend if you want the best. 

We contacted our local dealer after the boat show and asked if they could install it because we wanted to have all three, however, the response was a lot different from what we expected. All of a sudden they did a 180 and said that our boat could not have a third amp and that it cannot be done. Even though they were willing to and should have done it during the winter. 

I am now wondering if I can just grab the amp from the dealership and wire it up myself since its just a factory amp and it should be easy to do with the new wet sounds wiring harness.

Anything helps thanks guys!

Edited by WakeNick
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The 2017 and up OEM installed system consist of a 6 channel amp to power the in-boats and woofer. Basically its a 4 chnl and bridged 2 chnl in a single chassis.

Tower amp is a 2 chnl. 

2019 MXZ'z has a dual woofer option, so they get a 3rd amp to accommodate the 2nd woofer. Early word was, only the MXZ was getting the dual woofer option. DO nt know if that changed once production actually got rolling. 

So two amps is what you would have gotten with the complete factory audio option. 2016 and below had 3 amps. 100W rms x 4 @ 2 ohm 4 chnl for in-boats, 300W, bridged two chnl for woofer and 250W rms x 2 @ 2 ohm 2 chnl for tower.

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9 minutes ago, MLA said:

The 2017 and up OEM installed system consist of a 6 channel amp to power the in-boats and woofer. Basically its a 4 chnl and bridged 2 chnl in a single chassis.

Tower amp is a 2 chnl. 

2019 MXZ'z has a dual woofer option, so they get a 3rd amp to accommodate the 2nd woofer. Early word was, only the MXZ was getting the dual woofer option. DO nt know if that changed once production actually got rolling. 

So two amps is what you would have gotten with the complete factory audio option. 2016 and below had 3 amps. 100W rms x 4 @ 2 ohm 4 chnl for in-boats, 300W, bridged two chnl for woofer and 250W rms x 2 @ 2 ohm 2 chnl for tower.

Would it be worth switching out factory malibu amps with wetsounds amps?  Is there a lot of difference?

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12 minutes ago, MLA said:

The 2017 and up OEM installed system consist of a 6 channel amp to power the in-boats and woofer. Basically its a 4 chnl and bridged 2 chnl in a single chassis.

Tower amp is a 2 chnl. 

2019 MXZ'z has a dual woofer option, so they get a 3rd amp to accommodate the 2nd woofer. Early word was, only the MXZ was getting the dual woofer option. DO nt know if that changed once production actually got rolling. 

So two amps is what you would have gotten with the complete factory audio option. 2016 and below had 3 amps. 100W rms x 4 @ 2 ohm 4 chnl for in-boats, 300W, bridged two chnl for woofer and 250W rms x 2 @ 2 ohm 2 chnl for tower.

Thank you for clearing that up. 

My next question is if it is possible to use the 6 channel amp as well as this sub amp that I have for 2019 boats? And would it be possible to have it continue working on the zone control that the 7" touch screen provides. 

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2 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

Would it be worth switching out factory malibu amps with wetsounds amps?  Is there a lot of difference?

And could I still use the zone control feature and the auto volume that the malibu system has already.

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Just now, IXFE said:

Yes and Yes :)

Stupid question, if I buy an amp on say CL, how does one make sure its adjustable?  Is there clear markings on unmodifable ones?

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1 hour ago, WakeNick said:

My next question is if it is possible to use the 6 channel amp as well as this sub amp that I have for 2019 boats?

If you are adding in the OEM 2nd woofer and its the OEM woofer amp, it would be like replicating the MXZ dual woofer setup, but aftermarket so to speak. The factory installed 6 chnl would stay as it is. 

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21 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

Stupid question, if I buy an amp on say CL, how does one make sure its adjustable?  Is there clear markings on unmodifable ones?

Model number or look under the inspection cover for dials and switches. Even though Malibu uses a 1-off version, there are some Manufacturer badged DSP amps in use by other boat brands, 

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18 hours ago, MLA said:

If you are adding in the OEM 2nd woofer and its the OEM woofer amp, it would be like replicating the MXZ dual woofer setup, but aftermarket so to speak. The factory installed 6 chnl would stay as it is. 

Where would the second subwoofer location be? I’m assuming that it would be located near the amp racks. 

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I just bought a 2019 22 MXZ and mine came with 2 amps as well. A 4ch to power all tower speakers and a 6 channel for the loud speakers and 12" sub. I have installed mobile audio for over 10 years and in my experience you always need a separate sub amp. 5ch and 6 ch just dont put out the power. While the loud speakers and tower speakers sound good, I am very disappointed in the sub. I hooked a 500 wat sub amp from my truck up to the sub and it slammed. As far as I am concerned Wet Sounds has great speakers but their amps are terrible and Waaaay over priced.. I will be searching for a sub amp to add to my set up. Hoping I will still have sub control from the head unit so I dont have to add a bass knob. 

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1 hour ago, Gsxrnick said:

but their amps are terrible and Waaaay over priced.

Just for the record, the OEM amp has the potential of 600W rms with 5 and 6 bridged to a woofer or other driver. So in reality, its no different then having a separate 600W amp. The difference is, the conservative tune Malibu is using, v's your fully adjustable 500w amp. 

What sub control you see there now, is what you will have later. There is not ghosted sub controls to be activated.  

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33 minutes ago, MLA said:

Just for the record, the OEM amp has the potential of 600W rms with 5 and 6 bridged to a woofer or other driver. So in reality, its no different then having a separate 600W amp. The difference is, the conservative tune Malibu is using, v's your fully adjustable 500w amp. 

What sub control you see there now, is what you will have later. There is not ghosted sub controls to be activated.  

What should it cost to replace the amps and have someone professionally tune it?  Im pretty disappointed with my 2 sets of rev 10s and even more disappointed with my interior speakers. I run 80% volume almost all the time. 

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49 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

  Im pretty disappointed with my 2 sets of rev 10s and even more disappointed with my interior speakers. I run 80% volume almost all the time. 

Right there with you! The tower is so much louder with 2 pairs of rev 10's. The reason why I want to do this is in order to have the interior speakers get more power and perform close to the volume that the tower speakers are outputting.  That's why I think a 3 amps will be great for this. If anyone has a picture of where the second sub is located on a 2019 22 MXZ I would love to see it so I can make this as OEM as possible. 

If I were you I would go with a Sinister-SDX4 for the towers, a Sinister-SDX6 for the interior, and HTX-2 for the sub. This equates to around $3200 dollars for new amps, and the interior will be much louder that factor. I am not sure if it will work with the Malibu 7" control screen so you might have to buy a 420 to use as the controller. 

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I would not go with a 4 chnl amp for 2 pair of tower speakers. The 2 chnl amp in the same series would offer about 60% more power for the less $$$

An amp change has no impact on the screen integration. That dealt with within the Black Box media unit. However, I would not discourage the addition of what some might call a more user friendly zone controller. 

  • Like 2
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6 hours ago, Sparky450 said:

@Gsxrnick

It has been said many times Wetsounds have these DSP amps at a conservative tune.  There is nothing wrong with Wetsounds amps. Do a search on here as there are many options. 

Sparky450, 

Correct me if I'm wrong but the Wetsounds amps in all the new boats have no controls. There are no Gain, crossover, bass etc. The amps are set one way and that is it unless there is a way to control the amp output through the radio. I called wetsounds on this issue and they told me the same thing that the sub channel was pushing 600 watts. They are mistaken if they think that is 600 watts. There is no way to bridge these amps without cutting wires and losing some of your loud speakers to that amp. All the speakers plug directly into the amp via a plug. there is no splicing and screwing leads in. It is strictly plug and play.  Once again if you have some tips or secrets to how you can tune these amps then I would greatly appreciate it before I spend the money buying a sub amp to add to my set up.

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You are right, you can’t tune the factory amps.   Sparky was just putting out that WS amps themselves are good; again they are just held back by the non-adjustable factory tune.  

Don’t forget, if you go with aftermarket amps with RCAs, you also need to make or buy the connectors to go from RCA’s to the Malibu plug to maintain integration with the factory screens. 

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16 hours ago, Gsxrnick said:

Sparky450, 

Correct me if I'm wrong but the Wetsounds amps in all the new boats have no controls. There are no Gain, crossover, bass etc. The amps are set one way and that is it unless there is a way to control the amp output through the radio. I called wetsounds on this issue and they told me the same thing that the sub channel was pushing 600 watts. They are mistaken if they think that is 600 watts. There is no way to bridge these amps without cutting wires and losing some of your loud speakers to that amp. All the speakers plug directly into the amp via a plug. there is no splicing and screwing leads in. It is strictly plug and play.  Once again if you have some tips or secrets to how you can tune these amps then I would greatly appreciate it before I spend the money buying a sub amp to add to my set up.

You are correct. Just like my 2008, 2014, & 2018 Ram 3500 Laramie, or even my wife’s 2007 Tahoe or her 2018 Jeep GC. Or for that matter, probably any factory auto stereo. There are ways around it. It will cost money.  Spend a couple hundred on some adaptor cables, buy some new amps  and have fun. It is not Wetsounds amps. It is these particular Wetsounds amps. I went back and forth on this for months before I ordered. Luckily I chose stereo delete and am happy I did. I really don’t like all the integration. After a lot of research the wife and I are both happy with our/my decision😂

Edited by Sparky450
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