2016 SX240 AMP and speaker wiring advice needed

[ks9mm]

HI All,

I have a problem I am trying to solve with a somewhat limited budget. I can't hear music while underway on SX240. I am not audiophile or need anything crazy.. With wife and kids onboard.. I just don't see any half naked women partying on my boat anytime soon. So i dont need a lot. Just something that sounds reasonable and reliable. and I want LED for some reason.. donno why. What I am thinking is following..

• 6 New speakers.
  • 4 to replace Existing speakers
  • 2 new to be installed above and behind Captain and passenger chairs. (I've see posts where it's show as a reasonable install location.)
  • I am thinking Kicker speakers.. JL is just too much $$ and kicker seems to be the best value...
• JL Audio MX280/4 AMP
• Kicker LED controller

My plan is to wire it to the OEM head unit using RCA pre-amp..

My main question is.. Can I wire 6 speakers as described below and will this AMP be sufficient? Would I be able to use the Context main control to vary volume of mid cabins vs other speakers via Fade control? What would you do differently? Any other AMP that's comparable or better but at similar cost? I think it Must be class D, i dont want to run cray thick power wires or add another battery.

• Can I wire 2 Mid Cabins separately
• and 2 Bow and 2 Rear cockpit speakers in parallel on the other channel?

I did consider 6 Channel AMP but I do want to be able to adjust volume independent between mid cabin and all other speakers on the fly. and one again.. please keep cost in mind when suggesting options!


thanks for your help!

 

[redthumper9]

I think you'll be happy with the Kicker Marine speakers. Yes you can wire 6 speakers to a 4 channel amp. I'm not particularly fond of these "micro" amps. I do not have any experience with this particular one, but it's JL so I'm sure it will live up to its specs. Wiring the mid cabins on 2 channels and the bow and rear speakers on the other 2 channels is perfectly fine if that's how you want your fader set up.

 

[Ronnie]

I’ve had and used the kicker led controller before. It’s ok and small, the receiver/transmitter is a dongle that clips onto the led leads. For the same amount of money you could get a good wetsounds imitiation that reacts to music.

 

[redthumper9]

I’ve had and used the kicker led controller before. It’s ok and small, the receiver/transmitter is a dongle that clips onto the led leads. For the same amount of money you could get a good wetsounds imitiation that reacts to music.

View attachment 117912View attachment 117913

I've been using this same controller on my last two boats. I think Wetsounds just slaps their name on it and charges more ?.

 

[Ronnie]

@redthumper9 , thanks for the feedback. I just ordered the superbright unit off of amazon. I still need to determine how to get a signal to it from my fusion head unit ( I will probably split the signal from a pair of rca jacks, all of which are currently in use) instead of my phone.

@ks9mm , got my first pair of 6.5” kickers speakers with integrated LEDs a few years ago. When I bench tested my new system in January I noticed the LEDs were reacting slowly on one of the speakers. After I reinstalled it in the boat I realized that only the tweeter was putting out any sound. Basically the speaker died and of course I could not buy just one since they are sold in pairs. Not sure what if anything killed it because prior to the new system I never had many raw or rms watts going to it. If I killed it with too much power from the new system I think more of my speakers would also be dead. Who knows, I’m just putting it out there, one out of two died over a three to four year period. I still love the speakers, and bought two new pairs before realizing on of my older speakers died, now I have a spare 6.5”. They they are less expensive than their fusion counterparts and have better specs.

I also recommend that you replace the swim deck speakers with the 8” version of the kicker led speakers. They sound great, especially the bass, in that location on my 2010 242 Ls and they only cost $50 to $60 more than a pair of 6.5”s.

 

[redthumper9]

@redthumper9 , thanks for the feedback. I just ordered the superbright unit off of amazon. I still need to determine how to get a signal to it from my fusion head unit ( I will probably split the signal from a pair of rca jacks, all of which are currently in use) instead of my phone.

@ks9mm , got my first pair of 6.5” kickers speakers with integrated LEDs a few years ago. When I bench tested my new system in January I noticed the LEDs were reacting slowly on one of the speakers. After I reinstalled it in the boat I realized that only the tweeter was putting out any sound. Basically the speaker died and of course I could buy just one since they are sold in pairs. Not sure what if anything killed it because prior to the new system I never had many raw or rms watts going to it. If I killed it with too much power from the new system I think more of my speakers would also be dead. Who knows, I’m just putting it out there, one out of two died over a three to four year period. I still love the speakers, they are less expensive than their fusion counterparts and have better specs.

I also recommend that you replace the swim deck speakers with the 8” version of the kicker led speakers. They sound great, especially the bass, in that location on my 2010 242 Ls and they only cost $50 to $60 more than a pair of 6.5”s.

I'm not tracking.... Signal for what? The music portion of the controller? It has a built in adjustable mic that will make it react to the music. It works "just OK". I'll let you in on a little secret that I did on my last boat. I had a fusion head unit but was only using one set of preamp outputs running to my wet sounds preamp. The subwoofer RCA coming out of the fusion head unit I ran directly to the music controller. (using a Rca to 3.5mm adapter) That made it only react to the bass in the music and not all of the sound. You could also adjust the sensitivity by using the subwoofer Zone control. Work like a charm!

 

[Ronnie]

@redthumper9 , thanks again. That’s the signal I am referring to. I don’t want to plug my phone into the controller, I want to use a signal from the head unit but all of my rca jacks (3 sets, right/left/subwoofer, 1 set per zone, 3 zones total) are already in use, except for the subwoofer rca jacks on two of the zones. I’ve read the music reactivity feature isn’t great but if I can limit it to just the lows I would be happy with that (it’s one more feature that the wireless kicker, fusion and wired west marine controllers have and it’s only a fraction of the cost of the wetsounds unit.

@ks9mm , I’m not trying to hijack your thread, the led controller is the least important part of your new system but having purchased and used the kicker, fusion and now west marine versions, I highly recommend that you consider buying the wetsounds equivalent. If someone would have made this recommendation to me just a few months I would have saved about $100 and an hour or so of work on the boat in some contorted position in the helm compartment.

 

[ks9mm]

Thanks guys! I am easy.. Wetsounds LED controller it is.. LOL! Where is the best place to get 12V power to it? to make sure it does not cause any interference?


Now back to my main question.. is there a better choice of components I should be looking at considering my setup / price range?

DS18 Those look interesting!

This AMP seems pretty decent, i know it's not marine but at that price i can swap them out every few years! And if I install it in the Driver's helm, it's pretty dry there...

 

[Ronnie]

Note I recommend the wet sounds imitation led controller by super bright , all the reviews on it say that it is the same as the wet sounds unit just a different color and name. More importantly it’s only $30 with taxes and shipping via amazon (again I just ordered one this morning) the wet sounds unit is $130 plus taxes and possibly shipping.

I can’t speak to the other components because I don’t have any/couldn’t afford/justify the cost of JL but have heard nothing but good things about their products. One way to possibly reduce costs it to buy two 4 channel amps or one 4 channel and one 2 channel amp. I noticed the prices are a lot higher for 6 and 8 channel amps, at least where Kicker’s amps are concerned.

All of my non-marine kicker amps, four total, are installed in the helm compartment on the Forward side of the wall in front of the steering wheel. It’s very dry there. I only found visible condensation on the amps after it rained and I had removed the Gps puck Installed over that area (I was thinking about painting the puck and it just happened to rain the night I took the puck out, water pooled in that spot and eventually made it through the cover).

 

[Ronnie]

I was looking for the conversion cable between the head unit and new led controller last night when I found the kicker led controller. Here is a pic of it (the multicolored flat one) not much to see but it replaces the box of other units like those from wet sounds and fusion.

I also found a conversion cable that will work. Thanks @redthumper9 for the tip. I’m looking forward to seeing the LEDs react to the bass/ boom boom.

 

[ks9mm]

Ended up ordering everything today. Went with JL m400/4 amp, kicker 646 led speakers and led controller you guys suggested.
too bad shipping is sooo slow these days.

 

[Ronnie]

If you ordered from Crutchfield you may be surprised with early delivery, I got most my stuff from them recently in 4 days or less. Same with pacific trailer. Amazon is 50/50 that is late or later.

 

[ks9mm]

If you ordered from Crutchfield you may be surprised with early delivery, I got most my stuff from them recently in 4 days or less. Same with pacific trailer. Amazon is 50/50 that is late or later.

I ordered from like 4 different places. JL from friendly dealer, speakers from eBay, some wire from knukonceptz some parts from amazon.. some from harbor freight... will be fun install