Getting my butt handed to me, now with amp wiring questions.

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

Well after this weekend, I've got to do some serious tweaking.

I have a full WetSounds system in my boat. And I've always been pleased. But after hearing my buddies malibu, and it literally crushed me apart with his sub. I've got something wrong, or need to change.

I'm running a Syn-6 with 4 XS-650 speakers in the boat, and one XS-12 subwoofer. WS-420 controlling it all.

I've got it in a sealed box. Which is right under the helm.

Now my friend with a Malibu has a Kicker L7 with a dedicated 800amp to it in a sealed box.

HOLY CRAP!!!!! His boat destroys mine in the bass department. Not only does it hit at least 5 times harder, but so much more clean.

My first two thoughts of cause are the sub box, which I made so god only knows how good it really is. It's sealed tight, that I know. But the there are no inner supports or baffles. Just a square enclosure built to Wetsound's specs. But it's my first box still. Laughing

The other is the amp. I thought the Syn-6 would be enough. In my configuration it's running 600x1 on the sub.

I'd hate to have to buy a seperate amp, but the Wetsounds sub is sucking right now. And I've got to fix this or get something else. Is it because I haven't unleashed it's potential?

kavlock99 · Posted: Apr 02, 2012 6:32 am Post subject:

At the specs of your amp, I am surprised it sounds that much louder. you're talking about a difference of 200watts rms.
Dedicated class d sub amps are always the way to go if possible. The peak wattage on his amp has to be significantly higher i would presume.
But the sounding clean is the most important thing. if you built your box to the internal cu space as the manufacture, you should be fine. I would guess you haugy-ied the material so its atleast 3/4mdf? ha so thats good.

Maybe its an issue of cranking power? Does he have an extra battery or a capacitor?
Is your system tuned to the max?

That's I can think of. Any threads with pictures of your system?

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

kavlock99, well I talked to my audio guru friend (JonyB) and he said the L7 is more like the Wetsounds XXX. Way better speaker than what I have.

But since I'm running 4 interior speakers and the Sub off the Syn-6, I may not be getting all that I need to out of it.

Yeah, his was loud and so clean. My box is 3/4 sealed tight. That I know for sure. It's not the best looking, but it works. And it was built to Wetsounds specs. It may be a 1/2" smaller on the sides or something minor like that, but for the most part it should have the right airspace.

No extra power coming into his. He does have a dual battery, but on a perko switch. 1 batt at a time.

Tuned as best as possible, and that's from guidance from those who know better than me.

No real good pics as it looks awful in my opinion. I didn't have JonyB do my system like my last boat, and it shows. Very Happy

So I won't be showing much going on there. I had pictures of my sub box and construction, but can't find them for some reason. It's a big Sub, in a big box under the helm. Amp under passenger storage area.

I think I'm going to try and pick up a Syn-1 dedicated amp for the sub and see if that helps. I'm thinking I'm underpowering the sub now as it will distort when you crank it up to mid level and the bass up high.

kavlock99 · Posted: Apr 02, 2012 8:16 am Post subject:

There is a ported box option for that sub.
Before you spend the money on a new amp you could try that?

Obviously it won't have as tight of bass, but it can put out more bass for the wattage you have. This is most likely re-hash of what you know already. But just a thought.

Wetsounds website specs were:

Sealed Enclosure: 1.18 cu ft / 33 liters
Vented Enclosure: 1.64 cu ft / 46 liters
(Optimum: Tuned at 26 Hz)

anw7405 · Outlaw Joined: 10 Sep 2010 Posts: 188 City: edmond

hung out with jonyb a little last year at brostock and his sound system is not even fair. I would give two thumbs up to listining to whatever he has to say about the sound.

jjaszkow · Posted: Apr 02, 2012 11:22 am Post subject:

L7 versus XS-12 is probably apples to oranges (I don't have any experience with the WetSounds sub, but that L7 is a beast).

My understanding is that the Syn-6 is actually two amps with a shared power supply. A few things that I would check are the voltage going into the amp (if it drops too low, you will definately see poor performance), and check to make sure that your low pass filter is set appropriately for your sub. I suspect that amp might be starved for input power.

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

jjaszkow, true, but by the sound of it, I just don't think the Amp is able to put out enough to really make it pump.

I've checked everything out, and it's operating fine.

As Kav said, a class D amp for the sub would be better. I don't want to go ported unless I have to. I've had both, and get much cleaner sound from a sealed box.

And yeah, apparently the L7 is more like the WS-XXX, not the XS-12.

jjaszkow · Posted: Apr 02, 2012 5:29 pm Post subject:

haugy, it wouldn't hurt to check it out with a volt meter before investing in another amp just in case. I agree with you 100% on the sealed box. I've built plenty of ported boxes, but my personal setup has always been either a sealed box or bandpass. To me it just sounds better.

That Syn-1 you are thinking about will give a comparable class D amp a run for its money. I think a better criteria would be a dedicated mono-block amp. Class G/H or class D would both work well since they both have relatively low power consumption.

Chattwake · Posted: Apr 03, 2012 4:53 am Post subject:

Haugy, I'd call the guys at Wetsounds. Talk to Omar or Justin (877-938-7757 - ext 105). Tell them the exact measurements of your box and how you have everything wired. What ohm is your xs-12? A ported box will generate much more volume than a sealed enclosure.

I had a XXX sub and a syn1 in several of my last boats. I loved the bass, but I hated having to run a humongous ported box. This year, I plan on running a syn6, 6 xs650s, an xs 12, 2 syn2s, a pair of rev 410's, and a ws420. The syn1 I ran puts a huge drain on your battery. It's a monster amp, and does its job perfectly, but it takes a lot of juice. A standard set of batteries will in no way be sufficient. I was running xspower D3100 agm's, and that syn 1 + 2 syn4's really maxed them out.

If I were you, before I did anything, I'd call wetsounds and make sure that there isn't something going on that you can't fix by wiring your amp or sub a different way and/or utilizing a different box. Your sub will only sound as good as your enclosure. That is a huge factor. If your box is not at least the minimum airspace required for the sub, it can have a drastic effect on sound quality and volume.

Commodore · Ladies Man Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 11636

Chattwake, I'll give them a shout.

Alright, stupid question: How do you tell what ohm your XS-12 is? I utilized a stereo guru on here who's boats sound amazing and he told me how to wire it up. Hell if I know what it all means. Laughing

My enclosure is at the minimum. Should I have made it bigger?

JRW160 · Soul Rider Joined: 03 Aug 2006 Posts: 367 City: Huntsville

The xs-12 is not made to handle all the power a syn 1 is pushing. A friend of mine melted the voice coils in his xs-12 running it off a syn 1. He upgraded to the xs-xxx. I was never really impressed with the xs-12.

There was a guy at wakefest in an axis running a solo baric L7 15. It was amazingly loud, so that's what I went with. It's hard to beat for the price.

If the back of the speaker doesn't tell you the impedance, you can just hook up a mulitmeter to it and measure it that way.