Alternatives to Exile XM30.2 / Javelin

[Fman]

I am running all Exile on my 2017 LSV, DIY install.  My system is a Javelin amp powering a 12" sub and 8 cabin speakers, 2 XM30 amps for the 4 Surf 9 tower speakers with Exile EQ/BT.  One of the XM30 amps has gone down, so I am currently running all 4 tower speakers off the one XM30 and the sound output has been drastically reduced.  Considering just going a different route for all amps.  The Javelin is starting to make a strange fan noise when powering up that goes away after about 15 seconds so it might be on its last leg as well.  We don't use our boat much anymore so I am trying to find a budget amp(s) that could replace the current Exile setup I have.  The Exile XM30 is priced at $1000 now which seems pretty high to me but maybe that is the going rate now for amps... its been 7 years since I installed my system.

Looking for any recommendations that someone might have. 

[Brandonloos21]

The price of amps has gone up a whole lot in the past few years. My suggestion would be to go with wetsounds, as they are a great price currently with the sale they are running!

[DRB10SEVEN]

I am sure you will have a bunch of recommendations, but I love my Kicker amplifiers. They really punch above their price point IMO. I run 4 Rev 10's off the KXMA1200.2 and all 8 cabin speakers plus a 10" sub off of the KXMA900.5. We love the audio on our boat.

 

3 minutes ago, Brandonloos21 said:

The price of amps has gone up a whole lot in the past few years. My suggestion would be to go with wetsounds, as they are a great price currently with the sale they are running!

Also I completely agree with this if you aren't on as tight of a budget!

[shawndoggy]

22 minutes ago, Brandonloos21 said:

The price of amps has gone up a whole lot in the past few years. My suggestion would be to go with wetsounds, as they are a great price currently with the sale they are running!

Brandon did you ever end up running any of the sundown salt korean board amps?  I thought I recall that you were going to give them a shot.  Just curious about a review if you did...

[Afastmotorider]

i have been doing high end boat and car audio professionalyfor 24 years best bang for the buck is the arc audio ks series its designed by the amazing robert zeff its class gh so it has amazing sound quality like class ab and its more efficent then class draws very low amps and puts out clean clear power they never get hot turn off use the arc audio ks 600.2 put out 1200 wats rms and around 3000 max to clipping they retail for 1000 dollars i found some on ebay for 450 shipped you probably should buy one befor there gone u can run allot of these amps you can run four 12 inch subwoofers you can run 4 rev 10s 4 rev 12s 4 rev 8s or 4 xm9s heres the link enjoy....

eBay item number:314844076696

[MLA]

One brand that has been mentioned offers one heck of a value kick! They have a 2 chnl marine amp that can deliver up to 300W rms to ALL four of your existing tower pods. So, one amp can replace two. 

As to a replacement to the existing 4 chnl. It would be helpful to know the woofer's configuration and final impedance and installation setup. 

[Brandonloos21]

10 hours ago, shawndoggy said:

Brandon did you ever end up running any of the sundown salt korean board amps?  I thought I recall that you were going to give them a shot.  Just curious about a review if you did...

Ah yes I did, I ran them for all of my system. I’ve been lacking here on my build post lol. 
 

But, I did salt 200.4 for each (3) pair of rev 12’s, salt 500.4 for 8 revo 8, and 2 salt 3k’s for the 2 DCxl12 elite subs. 
 

They’re great, efficient powerhouses. They run super great with the engine off low voltages. Super happy! And their dyno ratings are well over advertised numbers. 

[Brandonloos21]

3 hours ago, MLA said:

One brand that has been mentioned offers one heck of a value kick! They have a 2 chnl marine amp that can deliver up to 300W rms to ALL four of your existing tower pods. So, one amp can replace two. 

As to a replacement to the existing 4 chnl. It would be helpful to know the woofer's configuration and final impedance and installation setup. 

Yes! Wetsounds amps , my rec would have been either 

Sdx6 for cabins and sub, sdx2 for tower if sub impedance is 4ohm

OR, the rowdy method 

2 SDX6’s, one for left towers and inboats, one for right (towers would each get 2ch bridged and remaining 2ch for inboats per side) and designated sub amp, sdx2 if 4ohm (depending on impedance)

[Fman]

13 hours ago, MLA said:

One brand that has been mentioned offers one heck of a value kick! They have a 2 chnl marine amp that can deliver up to 300W rms to ALL four of your existing tower pods. So, one amp can replace two. 

As to a replacement to the existing 4 chnl. It would be helpful to know the woofer's configuration and final impedance and installation setup. 

This is the sub I am running...

https://www.exileaudio.com/products/xi12-dvc-12-600w?pr_prod_strat=jac&pr_rec_id=c6854929d&pr_rec_pid=3543829381184&pr_ref_pid=3645897769024&pr_seq=uniform

This is the specs on the XM30 amp...

https://www.exileaudio.com/collections/xm-series/products/xm30-2-2-channel-amplfier

Sounds like the Kicker 2 channel KXMA1200.2 would be a good alternative to power the 4 tower speakers for about the half the price of the Exile XM30?  I am old now and don't really need a system to blow my hair back, just want it loud enough to easily hear when surfing.  Currently with the one XM30 the tower speakers just don't seem to produce enough output.  I also could have it wired incorrectly or not tuned correctly, I thought I remember folks running one XM30 with 4 tower speakers.  It has been 7 years since I installed this system and I feel like I am at zero again trying to figure out how I actually wired it 

[MLA]

You could conceivably have an amp failing. Even with a conformal coated board, there are components that are exposed. With a fan cooled amp, there is always that forced air flow across the board. This can accelerate the corrosion. 

Most any 2 chnl amp can and will power two pair of 4 ohm speakers, which you have. 

For the woofer, your wiring options are 2 or 8 ohm at the amp, Likely, your woofer is wired to 2 ohm. So amp options are going to be a dedicated mono amp or a 5 channel, which has a mono built in with a 4 chnl. 

An 800 W rms at 2 ohm would be a perfect amp for the woofer. And for the eight in-boats, something along the lines of an 800W 4 chnl which equals out to 100W rms to each speaker, This would be pretty close to the current 5 chnl

If you are ok with a little loss to the peak output, then you could go with, say, a more budget friendly  650W 4 chnl that would net 75W to each of the eight in-boats. I'd still go with the 800W mono and just dial it back if you wanted. Or the simpler single 900W 5 chnl that would = 400W to the woofer and 60'ish watts to each of the eight in-boats.  

[DRB10SEVEN]

1 hour ago, Fman said:

Sounds like the Kicker 2 channel KXMA1200.2 would be a good alternative to power the 4 tower speakers for about the half the price of the Exile XM30?  I am old now and don't really need a system to blow my hair back, just want it loud enough to easily hear when surfing.  Currently with the one XM30 the tower speakers just don't seem to produce enough output.  I also could have it wired incorrectly or not tuned correctly, I thought I remember folks running one XM30 with 4 tower speakers.  It has been 7 years since I installed this system and I feel like I am at zero again trying to figure out how I actually wired it 

If I had to recommend what I would personally use in your situation;

Kicker KXMA1200.2 for the 4 tower speakers, each side pair wired in parallel for a 2ohm load per channel =  300 watts per tower speaker

Kicker KXMA800.4 for the 8 cabin speakers, two speakers per channel wired in parallel for 2ohms per channel = 100 watts per cabin speaker

Kicker KMA800.1 for the subwoofer, dual voice coil wired in parallel for a 2ohm load = 600 watts for the sub

Total price for all 3 of those amps is around $1300. Again, there are a ton of other great amps out there so you are spoiled for choice with quality options, but that is a ton power for your system for $1300. Most importantly though, I would have a ton of fun getting this set up, looking pretty, tuning the system, and enjoying my music!

 

[Fman]

I contacted Exile yesterday, I recently found out the owner Brian has sold the company and moved on.  Was not sure what to expect at this point but received a call back with some good news.  If I send in my amps/eq they will refurbish the entire system for me for $200-$300.  Another option.... not sure what direction I will be going with this.

Edited March 16 by Fman

[MLA]

I would take this opportunity to move away from fan cooled marine amps. ALL the top brands that ever had them, had them for a short time and moved on to more efficient class-D with closed chassis. 

[lamgar]

what about SKAR amps? any good? I'm just not impressed with wetsounds SDX-2 on 4x REV10s. SKAR is class AB rather than D would this be better. tired of reading reviews my old 2012 stereo with all rockford fosgate equipment sounded way better than the 2021 23lsv wetsounds system IMO. just want good sound. SALT the way to go? so many choices, cant trust the salesman LOL. thanks. 

 

[lamgar]

1x fosgate T1000-4ad for the cabin speakers

1x fosgate T1000-4ad for the 4 x REV 10's

1x wetsounds Sinister-SDX2 for the sub (own this amp allready)

good combo? is there enough room for this? 

thanks.  

[shawndoggy]

2 hours ago, lamgar said:

1x fosgate T1000-4ad for the cabin speakers

1x fosgate T1000-4ad for the 4 x REV 10's

1x wetsounds Sinister-SDX2 for the sub (own this amp allready)

good combo? is there enough room for this? 

thanks.  

250w per rev 10 is on the low side.  those RF amps get real hot too if memory serves.  And they are power hungry.  I think I'd prefer the kicker or arc audio options mentioned upthread (les expensive, more power).  As noted the T1000s are also pretty large.

[MLA]

3 hours ago, lamgar said:

what about SKAR amps? any good? I'm just not impressed with wetsounds SDX-2 on 4x REV10s. SKAR is class AB rather than D would this be better. tired of reading reviews my old 2012 stereo with all rockford fosgate equipment sounded way better than the 2021 23lsv wetsounds system IMO. just want good sound. SALT the way to go? so many choices, cant trust the salesman LOL. thanks. 

 

First, that class-ab amp manufacture does not have a single 2 chnl amp option that would come close to the OEM option. 2nd, I'm not sure your boat came with that amp model you listed. Class-a/b v's d is on the power supply side. Any sound quality deference was solved like 15 years ago. Those old class ab amps were someone's flag ship amps like 30 years ago that have been re-badged, painted white and had the PCB coated. 

If you want to wake up your tower setup, go with a retail amp thats going to deliver adequate wattage.  

With all sales people being untrustworthy, I didnt know you could buy a Malibu and amps from a vending machine.  

[WetSoundsTech]

17 hours ago, lamgar said:

what about SKAR amps? any good? I'm just not impressed with wetsounds SDX-2 on 4x REV10s. SKAR is class AB rather than D would this be better. tired of reading reviews my old 2012 stereo with all rockford fosgate equipment sounded way better than the 2021 23lsv wetsounds system IMO. just want good sound. SALT the way to go? so many choices, cant trust the salesman LOL. thanks. 

 

2 pairs of rev10s on a SDX2 should jam!! going with a 1990 era Skar class AB amp is like having a new Ferrari and wanting to go buy a 1990 Daewoo. are you running a OEM malibu MD2 they look just like the SDX2 but they are the DSP model now if you do have the retial model then it could be a source eq setting or the amps settings that are not set correctly. 

[Brandonloos21]

14 minutes ago, WetSoundsTech said:

2 pairs of rev10s on a SDX2 should jam!! going with a 1990 era Skar class AB amp is like having a new Ferrari and wanting to go buy a 1990 Daewoo. are you running a OEM malibu MD2 they look just like the SDX2 but they are the DSP model now if you do have the retial model then it could be a source eq setting or the amps settings that are not set correctly. 

My thoughts also, 4 rev 10 properly tuned on SDX2 should get down! 

[Brandonloos21]

17 hours ago, lamgar said:

what about SKAR amps? any good? I'm just not impressed with wetsounds SDX-2 on 4x REV10s. SKAR is class AB rather than D would this be better. tired of reading reviews my old 2012 stereo with all rockford fosgate equipment sounded way better than the 2021 23lsv wetsounds system IMO. just want good sound. SALT the way to go? so many choices, cant trust the salesman LOL. thanks. 

 

As for the SALT amps, likely that was a suggestion found by myself. They are non-marine amps but great for low voltage (engine off) operation. I love mine, and they have great dyno numbers. Just my $0.02 though. 

[lamgar]

thanks for all the replies, was referring to the stereo equipment sales people it seems hard to find anyone that actually knows anything.

no my boat didn't come with the SDX-2 I replaced the factory tower amp with it.

I need to replace the 5 ch factory amp because its failing. 

I just want a good sounding system. 

maybe I need a tune on the tower speakers and SDX-2 not sure where to go for that though. 

so for the cabin and sub I guess I could try the kicker amps. 

[WetSoundsTech]

10 minutes ago, lamgar said:

thanks for all the replies, was referring to the stereo equipment sales people it seems hard to find anyone that actually knows anything.

no my boat didn't come with the SDX-2 I replaced the factory tower amp with it.

I need to replace the 5 ch factory amp because its failing. 

I just want a good sounding system. 

maybe I need a tune on the tower speakers and SDX-2 not sure where to go for that though. 

so for the cabin and sub I guess I could try the kicker amps. 

shoot me a message and I can help give you some direction on the tune and see if you have anyone in your area I can recommend to help you tune it if your not comfortable doing so.

[MLA]

9 hours ago, lamgar said:

thanks for all the replies, was referring to the stereo equipment sales people it seems hard to find anyone that actually knows anything.

no my boat didn't come with the SDX-2 I replaced the factory tower amp with it.

I need to replace the 5 ch factory amp because its failing. 

I just want a good sounding system. 

maybe I need a tune on the tower speakers and SDX-2 not sure where to go for that though. 

so for the cabin and sub I guess I could try the kicker amps. 

That amp is a SOLID performer, so if you aint happy with it, i'd want to revisit the tunning. Have you run this past your equipment dealer?