So, I have posted several threads here about the debacle that was my Yamaha 2018 212X factory audio system wiring. Love the boat. Love the Wet Sounds audio hardware. But Yamaha's attempt at connecting it all together was nothing short of a travesty. After dozens of hours of rewiring, adding a second HTX-6 amp, changing the cockpit and bow speakers to Revo 6's, and adding some mid-cabin speakers, I ended up with the following (all Wet Sounds):
6 Revo 6's (aft cabin, mid cabin and bow)
2 (stock) Recon 5's (swim deck)
Stealth 10 Core Sound Bar (stock) on the tower
10" IB sub (stock)
2X HTX-6 amps, with each channel powering its own speaker (no series or parallel connections, sub bridged over two channels)
14 gauge marine (tinned copper) speaker wiring, except for sub, which is 12 gauge
4 gauge power to each amp.
Sounded pretty good. It was a huge upgrade from what was delivered, for under $2000.
But then we were on Tahoe over the 4th of July, and had some friends on the boat with the music cranked pretty good. When we pulled in for lunch, my wife commented that we could use some more sound for those sitting at the rear of the boat (and on the water too). She told me (didn't ask, mind you) that we needed more tower speakers. I vehemently disagreed (for about 1.5 seconds), but not wanting to disappoint the poor thing, I ultimately relented. I've was always believed in the virtues of sacrifice. So I bit the bullet and began the extremely distasteful, repugnant task of spec'ing out some tower speakers and an amplifier to add to the boat's audio system. I had kind of already been thinking about this (in the back of my mind without tipping my hand, of course) just in case the need to discuss it ever somehow presented itself. And shockingly, that moment had arrived.
We knew anything we added was going to be Wet Sounds--their customer service is at a level that I've not seen in this or other industries, and their products seem to be top quality. We looked at the Icon 8's and the Rev 8's and 10's, and noting the dimensions, we tried to get a sense of what each would look like on the tower on either side of the sound bar. We were particularly focused on whether they'd be in the way, causing folks to hit their heads, etc. We ultimately decided that the Rev 8's seemed to be the right size and provide the right specifications for the application, and settled on a pair of those, with the TC3 swivel clamps to mount them. And of course the Wet Sounds Suitz speaker covers. She really liked those.
Next came the spec for the amp to drive them. I had my two HTX-6's mounted in the port and starboard aft storage compartments (port one is stock location),
looking like this:
View attachment 101730
I wanted to put any new amplifier we'd get to power the Rev 8's in one of those two compartments, preferably the port one nearer to the batteries and where the speaker wires would be coming out of the tower base, through the gunwale, and into the compartment. Figured I'd mount up some seaboard somewhere and figure that out after I chose the amp.
I e-mailed Wet Sounds customer service to get some input on amp recommendations. One of the possibilities was to double up some of my existing speakers in parallel, freeing up a couple of single channels for the two Rev 8's. That would give me 100W's RMS for each one--but they're rated at 200W continuous, 400W peak. So that seemed a bit anemic and probably taxing the HTX-6 a bit much to ask it to drive parallel Revos and a pair of Rev 8's. I also looked at the Syn DX-2, which is 200 watts per channel, and asked about the HTX-4 bridged for 300W/channel (and thought about Syn DX-4 bridged at 400W/channel). After some back and forth with Wet Sounds, they thought the HTX-4 bridged would be a good fit, and I liked that choice in particular, because of its somewhat smaller size and the location idea I was considering. Had we gone with the Rev 10's, we might have gone with the Syn DX-4 bridged and scrapped my location idea.
But with Wet Sounds' input that the HTX-4 bridged to 300W seemed like a good match for the Rev 8's, it gave me the opportunity to place the amp on the existing sea board which goes just in front of the port ballast tank. I tried to place the amp just to the outside of the slot cut for viewing the level of the tank. I pulled that board off, and tried fitting up the newly-received HTX-4 (bought everything from Creative Audio, by the way--good prices and free shipping--they will work with you on package deals if you're buying several larger-scale components). Had to place it so I could get to the screws securing the sea board to the ballast tank above and around the amp.
View attachment 101732
It tucked back into the corner of that compartment pretty neatly (had to move the fire extinguisher).
View attachment 101733
Mounting up the Rev 8's is not difficult, but it is time-consuming to do it cleanly and properly. We used a Unibit to get the hole the exact size I wanted (I used 7/16", which was just large enough to get the swivel clamp's sheathed wiring harness through).
View attachment 101735
The TC3 swivel clamp is a very cool piece of engineering which conceals the wires into the into the tower tube, clamps tightly to it, and has a one-screw mechanism for removing the speakers (the covers double as a carrying case) for storage and swivel. I used 3 foot zip ties (available at the hardware store), taped together to form 9-12 foot fishes to get the wires through the tower. Came out the hole for the rear tower tube.
View attachment 101736
We used 12 gauge marine (copper/tinned) speaker wire for the runs through the tower and into the port storage compartment, along with a long segment of heat shrink tube to protect it up into the tower. Then split loom where it came into the compartment.
View attachment 101737
Wired everything up, and fired up the amps. Here's the port compartment with the new HTX-4 and then a shot of both the HTX-4 and HTX-6 in that compartment.
View attachment 101738View attachment 101739
The relocated fire extinguish ended up attached to the top of the battery box cover in that last picture.
We're very pleased with the results. As others have noted, if you're looking for booming bass in tower speakers, these probably aren't your first choice. However, for clarity, projection and musicality, the Revs are absolutely amazing. We were able to point the sound bar down a bit (not much, actually), but those in the back of the cabin and those in the water get a whole lot more sound. A LOT more sound. Still running the stock battery setup--a deep cycle marine battery for the auxiliary/audio system, and a marine max CCA battery for the engines. Going to be keeping an eye on it to make sure we're carrying enough battery for three amps, but we don't tend to run at super high volumes for hours on end with the engines off. The speakers sit right over the backs of the helm and passenger seats, and it seems like it would be pretty difficult to bang into them.
View attachment 101740View attachment 101741View attachment 101742
Jeff
