2019 AR240 Audio upgrade

[ar240tg]

I ran the remote turn on down the side of the boat and tapped into the cigarette power cable since I usually turn the batteries on and off anyway I wasn’t worried about the amp staying on all the time, was much easier and then now all I have to do is drill holes in the boat for the other pair of speakers

 

[Emenece]

Can anyone help? Hooked up speakers and amp to fusion ra70 HU on AR240 and I’m not getting sound from the speakers. I have power. I feel like the RCAs are possibly hooked to the wrong outputs on the harness or something. Any suggestions?

 

[StanM]

Did you find the remote wire? I am about to start this same build on my 2019 AR. The painted cans are sick.

I am getting ready to upgrade my stereo also. I haven't looked at my head unit, but maybe the remote wire was cut at the factory? You could buy a new harness that has the blue remote wire...
Fusion Power-Speaker Wire Harness for MS-RA70 Power Speaker Wire Harness - Newegg.com

 

[ar240tg]

I tapped into the power for my cigarette charger for the remote turn on because I usually turn the batteries off manually if I’m not listening to music anyway so it didn’t matter to me

 

[ar240tg]

Fresh out of the Atlantic City boat show means time to upgrade the sound system... Last summer being the first, I only replaced the 4 stock speakers with Mx650 Jl audios , and only amped the front two because I added 7.7 JL tower speakers and a bazooka sub all ran off a JL 600/6 so I left the rears off the stock HU.

here's my plan for the spring as well as OPT7 led lights throughout the boat and I'm going to paint the speaker grills to match the towers to add some more color inside

1x M6 series IB JL subwoofer ( mounted in the rear port side storage compartment)
1x Kicker 45KMA600.1 to power it
1x Kicker 45KMA150.2 to power the old Bazooka at 100ish RMS
1x Audiopipe Pdcp1414 Power Distribution Agu Fuse Block
2x 25 feet Red & Black 1/0 Gauge
2x 20 feet of 4/0 gauge red and black
1x Bussmann CB185-150 150 Amp Type III Circuit Breaker to add within 12 inches of battery
80 & 50 amp fuses for the Audio pipe for their respective amps
1x Set of JL audio Mx650

I thought about throwing the 10" wet sounds sub in the same spot that Yamaha puts into the 242x models because I know it fits but I also hated the fact that one speaker wouldn't match the other 8. It also looks like on my AR that the Mx650's will fit in the swim deck without any cushion modification. If so do you guys think it would be worth it to throw two more speakers back there or are tower speakers generally enough??

 

[Jaylex]

Im baised but I say throw them in....whats it hurt...turn it down if its too loud, thats what my wife does, lol

Do you have the amp power for another set, if so do it!!

Plus if you do it now then you can avoid spending the summer wishing you had and wanting it done later.

I did my system in 3 phases, if I knew what I know now would have been 2 phases. I have M880 towers and still would want to have speakers off the transom (whcih I did), but thats bc I like to thump.

Looks like you have 2-3 amps...how many batteries do you have?

 

[ar240tg]

Im baised but I say throw them in....whats it hurt...turn it down if its too loud, thats what my wife does, lol

Do you have the amp power for another set, if so do it!!

Plus if you do it now then you can avoid spending the summer wishing you had and wanting it done later.

I did my system in 3 phases, if I knew what I know now would have been 2 phases. I have M880 towers and still would want to have speakers off the transom (whcih I did), but thats bc I like to thump.

Looks like you have 2-3 amps...how many batteries do you have?

I do have the power for it to be honest I could wire the towers to 1&2 and then the front speakers to 3&4 @75 watts each speaker and the midship cabin and swim deck together for 5&6 @ 50 watts each at 2 ohms if I am correct lol

I only have the 2 batteries as of now, do you think I should upgrade those as well. I haven't bought the other two amps yet however I am planning on it. For the money and wiring purposes they're smaller and perfect for what I will be using them for. I should still be around 1000 watts rms total give or take a hundred or so

 

[Jaylex]

Those amps should be happy with 2 batteries....depending on what kind...

I run 2 batteries for my system, 4 amps and never had any issues...so long as you keep then charged you should be good!!

You've come this far...I say do it...now if you had some M880 towers and throw them 200 rms each then you probably dont need them, but I dont think you would be disappointed with them off the rear transom, plus then your system would be complete!

I usually back the boat in to where we setup so the transom speakers do help, which was a big reason I added them. My last boat was a 2011 242 LS and those came with transom speakers.

Didnt wanna pay extra for the 242 when I got my AR so saved that and tricked it out to my own specs, couldnt be happier!!

 

[ar240tg]

That’s a good point and yeah I’m going to grab myself the Noco on board charger and keep the boat plugged in when It’s on the trailer and that’ll keep the batteries good as new. I’m leaning towards buying the speakers anyway and if I don’t get to them I can always do them mid summer but might as well throw them in on this order.....

I’d like to get a backing ring if I can find one online just to stiffen up the Fiberglass for the sub, so if you know of any good ones or other techniques can you shoot em over

 

[jcyamaharider]

That’s a good point and yeah I’m going to grab myself the Noco on board charger and keep the boat plugged in when It’s on the trailer and that’ll keep the batteries good as new. I’m leaning towards buying the speakers anyway and if I don’t get to them I can always do them mid summer but might as well throw them in on this order.....

I’d like to get a backing ring if I can find one online just to stiffen up the Fiberglass for the sub, so if you know of any good ones or other techniques can you shoot em over

I made my backing rings out of UHMW and used a rotozip.

 

[Jaylex]

Yeah, you might need to make yourself one.

Although I have seen some in ebay, or google but depends on how thick you want it

I have both my subs in ported boxes and have vents to let the bass escape so cant speak to the mounting of it, but have seen a few people on here do it.

 

[ar240tg]

I made my backing rings out of UHMW and used a rotozip.

Do you have any pics of yours installed or anything?

 

[jcyamaharider]

Do you have any pics of yours installed or anything?

One sub is in the factory location

The other is next to the captains seat. I did have to do some sanding to the ring after the cut, this was just a test fit picture.

 

[ar240tg]

One sub is in the factory location

The other is next to the captains seat. I did have to do some sanding to the ring after the cut, this was just a test fit picture.

I thought about putting the sub in the factory spot however I’m nervous it won’t be deep enough. Guess you proved that it is

 

[jcyamaharider]

I thought about putting the sub in the factory spot however I’m nervous it won’t be deep enough. Guess you proved that it is

With a 3/4 spacer

 

[Jaylex]

That's the cool thing about this forum, you get to learn a lot, esp about things your not sure can be done.

Someone on her has prob done it, but might not have been posted in a conspicuous thread.

Now you can have it how you want and not need to second guess yourself....we've all done it I'm sure with these boats.

 

[ar240tg]

Finally a nice day here in South Jersey, so I decided to drill some holes and add the tower control knob to the dashboard with a little help from my brother...

 

[Garyav16]

With opt1: I'd double-check the wattage needed for the mx770's towers. It's not enough to really power the 880's but I'm not sure about the smaller cans. I'd personally do mid cabin over towers OR rear deck if you're doing it in stages. There's a massive "hole" in the middle of the boat in regards to sound so adding two speakers there is > than everything else, in my opinion. So I'd do that then towers OR deck if you can't do both.

Option 2: This is a pretty solid choice and will give up a ton of clear and loud sound. Towers are really designed for (anyone correct me if I'm wrong) towing people. So it's for the wake boards, tubers etc to have some tunes while they are out back. However, you can use them for whatever you want. If you plan to park the boat off of a sand bar/key/island the towers WILL project 80+ft if powered behind the boat. I dont have them myself (yet) but there was a boat with JL towers in the wake zone and it sounded like a moving concert behind him. It did offend a few people at the dock who had children and didn't prefer their type of music, etc. Logically, if you're someone who's going to hang out behind the boat by the swim deck (that's us usually) then towers are overkill. However, you wont have to upgrade any further and could technically skip the rear decks. PRO's - You'll have some high quality great sounding speakers you can hear while moving and from afar. CON's - $$$ as you'll need to buy the speakers, cans, and another amp plus wiring, distribution block, etc..etc..

I think this is the best starting point for non-wake/towing cruisers.

Option 3: You can't do wrong with this is money isn't an object. And if its not, I'd considering splurging on the 8.8 towers. The m8/800 for the 8 650's and m400 for the towers.

One other thing to consider, you could also (if you want to go big instead of going home) is:

Option 4: Instead of 650's, do 770's in the cabin x6 (you have to slightly enlarge the factory holes but otherwise no issue)
Option 5: 4 650's in the factory spots and 2 770's in the mid cabin (I'm 90% sure they fit there but I'd dig around to verify)
Option 6: 6 650's inside, 2 770's swim deck - This seems to be a fairly popular option.

Add in towers as you wish with those option. Both the m800 and m400 still work.

Last thing - As much as I wanted to go 7.7's eveywhere, for the money odin@earmark said for the money the 6.5's where a really solid deal/setup. Bolt right into the factory holes (still have to cut mid cabin and rear if wanted) but otherwise they are near half the cost PER set x "X" number of sets of speakers. I think my boat sounds awesome now and I can always upgrade later (maybe swap in 7.7's in the mid or rear deck when I add them) and see the difference. Just something else to think about. You really wont hear the speaker on the bow from mid cabin back so if you're not really up there often then maybe 7.7's are overkill. IF you like to measure twice and cut once then splurge away!

Also: The sub (you can go IB or sealed etc) even a solo one, really completes the sound. I can't believe how well you can hear it even WOT, again in the mid-cabin towards the stern. If I sit in the transom area I can barely hear it even while parked unless it's cranked up to give an idea. Not complaining but its amazing how the sounds changes based on wind (open air environment, right?) and probably because its installed very low and the sound does travel well over the hump there to the back of the boat. Word on the street is the 8.8 towers are like subs or maybe are subs and you get some solid bass from them from what I've read so far.

I'm assume doing a Wetsounds setup would be similar but I can't confirm.

I have the M800 and M400. How are you guys using the remote wire from the head unit. Looks like the HU only how enough power to turn on one amp. I tried a relay but can seem to get that to work either.

 

[ar240tg]

I have the M800 and M400. How are you guys using the remote wire from the head unit. Looks like the HU only how enough power to turn on one amp. I tried a relay but can seem to get that to work either.

I’m a step behind you, only have the m600/6 right now wired up, soon to add another. For some reason my AR didn’t come with a remote turn on so I tapped into the positive on the cigarette charger. So when I turn my house on, my amps come on which I wanted anyway. I’ll let you know if the other amp turns on when I set up my amp board with both Amps.

 

[Garyav16]

I’m a step behind you, only have the m600/6 right now wired up, soon to add another. For some reason my AR didn’t come with a remote turn on so I tapped into the positive on the cigarette charger. So when I turn my house on, my amps come on which I wanted anyway. I’ll let you know if the other amp turns on when I set up my amp board with both Amps.

Thanks. Yes this is driving me crazy. It's not recommend it to jump so only one amp is coming on. However, i'm jumping from the remote wire in the rear of the boat. I even tried using a relay with power from the battery.
I ended up with 3 pair of M3 650s and 1 pair of M3 7.7. one M6 10 inch sub. M800 and M400. I'm taking the wetshound bar out because the previous owner spliced the hell out of it and screwed it up. To run a new harness would be hell. I'm going with a pair of tower speakers soon.