2020 MXZ24 stereo upgade questions

[RyanR206]

New to the site and this is my first boat.   After many years on the water I decided I would finally get my own.

 

I bought a 2020 MXZ24.  Currently it has a single sub and a pair of Icon 8's. 

 

Question 1

I have ordered a second pair of icon 8s but I am starting to wonder if this was the correct choice.  Looking for feedback.  Should I ditch the icon 8s and just put a pair of Rev10 and be done.  Go icon 8 - rev 8 combo for best of both worlds is that even possible on the oem amps?  I'm also wondering if for tubing, wake boarding etc. the Icons only wont be loud enough on the open waters?  The Icon 8 now is plenty loud when surfing. 

 

Question 2

The factory sub is terrible, when the boat is moving we cant even hear it.  Not to mention i like a lot of bass which may be tough in a boat.  I would rather have to much and dial it down then not enough.  So would doing a JL W7 12 on passenger side of the boat with a 1200.1 amp be the best bang for the buck in a single sub? we keep the rear observer seat up all the time as well.   I suppose  I would leave the stock sub and amp in place so that space isn't empty.  looking for suggestions on best sub amp combo for max thump.

 

Thanks in advance.

[MLA]

1) 2 pair of 8" coaxials with solid wattage is a great setup for surfing and party cove listening. two pair will do ok for boarding and tubing, but IMO, they will need a bit more wattage then the OEM setup. I would go with a single pair of larger HLCD, rather then mixing coaxial and HLCD of you want the best of near-field and wake range. 

2) the OEM woofer would to be fed 800+W rms and be in a ported enclosure and it would be a whole different animal. 

[ctvandy23]

My opinion, go with one set of REV 10s.  In my 16’ VLX I started with 2 pairs of ICONS and didn’t think they were all that great.  I switched over to two pairs of Exile Surf 9’s, which I thought were much better.  On my 19’ I bought the boat from the dealer as ordered with a pair of ICONs which I immediately swapped out with a pair of REV 10’s...no comparison in my view.  The 10’s sound great and can be clearly heard at surf distance without killing those in the cabin.  

[RyanR206]

5 minutes ago, MLA said:

1) 2 pair of 8" coaxials with solid wattage is a great setup for surfing and party cove listening. two pair will do ok for boarding and tubing, but IMO, they will need a bit more wattage then the OEM setup. I would go with a single pair of larger HLCD, rather then mixing coaxial and HLCD of you want the best of near-field and wake range. 

2) the OEM woofer would to be fed 800+W rms and be in a ported enclosure and it would be a whole different animal. 

good info thanks for the quick response. 

 

Another question for everyone.  On wetsounds site all the regular speakers show to have RGB led only.  Do we know if the 2020 Malibu have these led as well not just hooked up?  The dealer made it seem like they did, but another source told me likely they don't since they use a Malibu speaker grille. 

[MLA]

The LEDs are on the back side of the tweeter, so the LED could work with the OEM grill. The tell tale would be the presence of the opaque dome on the back of the tweeter and then the 4 wires for the LEDs coming off the back of the speaker. Malibu would not be the only boat builder to not offer the in-boat speaker LEDs that were there.  

[CJAY]

16 hours ago, RyanR206 said:

New to the site and this is my first boat.   After many years on the water I decided I would finally get my own.

 

I bought a 2020 MXZ24.  Currently it has a single sub and a pair of Icon 8's. 

 

Question 1

I have ordered a second pair of icon 8s but I am starting to wonder if this was the correct choice.  Looking for feedback.  Should I ditch the icon 8s and just put a pair of Rev10 and be done.  Go icon 8 - rev 8 combo for best of both worlds is that even possible on the oem amps?  I'm also wondering if for tubing, wake boarding etc. the Icons only wont be loud enough on the open waters?  The Icon 8 now is plenty loud when surfing. 

 

Question 2

The factory sub is terrible, when the boat is moving we cant even hear it.  Not to mention i like a lot of bass which may be tough in a boat.  I would rather have to much and dial it down then not enough.  So would doing a JL W7 12 on passenger side of the boat with a 1200.1 amp be the best bang for the buck in a single sub? we keep the rear observer seat up all the time as well.   I suppose  I would leave the stock sub and amp in place so that space isn't empty.  looking for suggestions on best sub amp combo for max thump.

 

Thanks in advance.

You can get an amazing amount of bass in a boat depending on the amount of money and work you want to do.  i have two friends that added 15 inch subs to their setups that you can feel the bass a 100 feet away on the water

[CJAY]

14 hours ago, MLA said:

The LEDs are on the back side of the tweeter, so the LED could work with the OEM grill. The tell tale would be the presence of the opaque dome on the back of the tweeter and then the 4 wires for the LEDs coming off the back of the speaker. Malibu would not be the only boat builder to not offer the in-boat speaker LEDs that were there.  

They are there for sure, my dealer swore they weren't, but I've started my LED project and they definitely are there

[COOP]

4 hours ago, CJAY said:

They are there for sure, my dealer swore they weren't, but I've started my LED project and they definitely are there

Interesting. None of our boats have had the LEDs on the grills. Except for the M240.

Edited May 7, 2020 by COOP

[ctvandy23]

8 hours ago, CJAY said:

They are there for sure, my dealer swore they weren't, but I've started my LED project and they definitely are there

Weird, on my 19, no such luck...no lights on any speaker.  I added my own to the back of each tweeter!

[roonedoggie]

Look to Exile Audio.  In my last 2 boats put their systems in and they rock.  Great customer service, great product.

[RyanR206]

Looked yesterday and the cabin speakers indeed had the led behind them.  So that’s good news.

 

im going to swap my icon 8s for a pair of rev 10s.  
 

anyone want to buy a pair of icons cheap? 
 

also wetsounds mentioned putting a ported box in the stock location with an xxx 12. And if that’s not enough out a second one on the other side.   Just hope that’s loud enough 

[Ronnie]

12 minutes ago, RyanR206 said:

Looked yesterday and the cabin speakers indeed had the led behind them.  So that’s good news.

 

im going to swap my icon 8s for a pair of rev 10s.  
 

anyone want to buy a pair of icons cheap? 
 

also wetsounds mentioned putting a ported box in the stock location with an xxx 12. And if that’s not enough out a second one on the other side.   Just hope that’s loud enough 

There are diffusers behind the tweeters on the speakers. Did you see the actual LEDs and wiring or just the frosted diffusers?

 

[COOP]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

There are diffusers behind the tweeters on the speakers. Did you see the actual LEDs and wiring or just the frosted diffusers?

 

Right, this is all Ive even seen. Kinda looks like it will have em, but no.

[RyanR206]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

There are diffusers behind the tweeters on the speakers. Did you see the actual LEDs and wiring or just the frosted diffusers?

 

oh gotcha, i just saw the frosted domes behind the tweeters.  i was told that was the led by the dealer on the 2020.  But i dont know for sure since i havent removed the cover to inspect further. 

 

[Ronnie]

9 minutes ago, RyanR206 said:

oh gotcha, i just saw the frosted domes behind the tweeters.  i was told that was the led by the dealer on the 2020.  But i dont know for sure since i havent removed the cover to inspect further. 

 

Amost everything is there for the LEDs except the LEDs. The frosted covers come off and the mounts for the LEDs are there. There isn't any place to mount the LED correctly though. You need a small square piece of material to mount to the mounting posts for the Surface Mount LED to stick to.. You can mount it on the back of the tweeter but I don't think that they wat it was intended.

Oznium.com

[COOP]

38 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Amost everything is there for the LEDs except the LEDs. The frosted covers come off and the mounts for the LEDs are there. There isn't any place to mount the LED correctly though. You need a small square piece of material to mount to the mounting posts for the Surface Mount LED to stick to.. You can mount it on the back of the tweeter but I don't think that they wat it was intended.

Oznium.com

Ive used those oznium leds. theyre great for the money.

[RyanR206]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

Amost everything is there for the LEDs except the LEDs. The frosted covers come off and the mounts for the LEDs are there. There isn't any place to mount the LED correctly though. You need a small square piece of material to mount to the mounting posts for the Surface Mount LED to stick to.. You can mount it on the back of the tweeter but I don't think that they wat it was intended.

Oznium.com

thats a bummer, all this oney for a boat and they dont include the basics.  next boat will be with a stereo delete. 

[COOP]

29 minutes ago, RyanR206 said:

thats a bummer, all this oney for a boat and they dont include the basics.  next boat will be with a stereo delete. 

Since when were LEDs on speakers  "the basics"?

 

[Texan32]

On 5/6/2020 at 6:12 PM, MLA said:

1) 2 pair of 8" coaxials with solid wattage is a great setup for surfing and party cove listening. two pair will do ok for boarding and tubing, but IMO, they will need a bit more wattage then the OEM setup. I would go with a single pair of larger HLCD, rather then mixing coaxial and HLCD of you want the best of near-field and wake range. 

2) the OEM woofer would to be fed 800+W rms and be in a ported enclosure and it would be a whole different animal. 

1) dont have experience, but i would listen to this fella!

2) 110% agreed.  I moved form a FA wetsounds 10 over to a homemade ports box w/ an old a$$ JL 10.....talk about night and day....that single 10 HITS.  And, it has plenty of room on the amp to go up more if i wanted.

[RyanR206]

7 hours ago, COOP said:

Since when were LEDs on speakers  "the basics"?

 

Well when wetsounds sells them as part of there speaker and Malibu uses wetsounds you’d think they’d include ole boy...don’t be a smart a** 

[ahopkins22LSV]

6 hours ago, RyanR206 said:

Well when wetsounds sells them as part of there speaker and Malibu uses wetsounds you’d think they’d include ole boy...don’t be a smart a** 

Just be you pay X doesn’t mean you are entitled to a feature or option. Malibu isn’t buying wetsounds speakers off the shelf either, they have a direct contract with them for the specific setup. RGB is an option for Malibu in some boats. Read watch could have easily been done ahead of time before you paid X to understand this and then made an educated decision. Not too long ago the basics were a head unit and 4 6.5” speakers. No amp, no sub, no towers. The “basic” stereo options now, on all brands, are way beyond anything basic anymore. 

[Ronnie]

The basics don’t include RGB. The basics do include a 5 year warranty. You can’t have a 5 year warranty and expect to have a system that’s going to be abused easily by users making adjustments where they don’t have any idea of what they are doing.

[MLA]

Very common for a boat builder to ask an equipment manufacturer to do one-off mods specifically for them. One good example was a boat builder asked a stereo head unit manufacturer to do a rear AUX-IN on a head unit model that the consumer version had the 3.5mm jack on the front. Another boat builder wants rectangle wired remotes that are not available to the consumer, then the boat builder mounted them in a recessed trim panel. 

So with Malibu using a proprietary grill, it would not surprise me if the LEDs are not there on all boats. But if you access the back of the speaker and find the 4 LED wires tied up, good chance the LEDs are there and ready to be wired up.   

[ctvandy23]

On both my boats I installed my own leds on all speakers.  It’s really not that tough of a job.  A little planning goes a long way up front to make this install a fun project.  Like @Ronnie said Oznium has the small lights and Superbright LEDs has a lot of the wiring that already has the connections in various lengths.  

[RyanR206]

4 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Just be you pay X doesn’t mean you are entitled to a feature or option. Malibu isn’t buying wetsounds speakers off the shelf either, they have a direct contract with them for the specific setup. RGB is an option for Malibu in some boats. Read watch could have easily been done ahead of time before you paid X to understand this and then made an educated decision. Not too long ago the basics were a head unit and 4 6.5” speakers. No amp, no sub, no towers. The “basic” stereo options now, on all brands, are way beyond anything basic anymore. 

I understand that,  but doesn’t it seem goofy to remove a feature that’s already there?  Even the dash interface is setup for it.  We can look at this two different ways.