2017 212X stereo settings

[Dave burke]

My 212x has a Polk head unit, subwoofer, six 6.5 in speakers, amp and wet sounds tower bar. I'm having two issues:

- sound doesn't seem very load and I can hardly hear again at 20 mph+
- the sub has a lot of distortion at even mid levels

I'm guessing the settings probably need to be fine tuned and am wondering if others have had similar issues.

Here's a pic of the current settings. I haven't touched them yet.

Any help would be appreciated. Thx

 

[jcyamaharider]

Looks like you need to switch the switch that says 4ch and ST. Needs to be on 4 channel. That is just for starters. Then I don't know how they are wired from the factory but I would want to put my DD1 meter on there to find where the head unit and speakers start clipping. Gain might be able to be played with.

Did you verify that all of the speakers are working?

 

[geohil]

Curious on this one too. I keep contemplating hooking up the remote level control just to see if we can fine tune.

 

[Blenderhead]

following

 

[jcyamaharider]

The remote level control will only control the sub level. And if it is not plugged in then it is at max where the gain is set at.

Edit: I have 3 of these amps. I actually really like them, most bang for your buck with cost vs. sound IMO.

 

[Dave burke]

Thx all. I played with this yesterday and I think it sounds better. Here's what I did:

- checked to see if the fader made any difference and it didn't so I changed the st/4ch switch to 4 channel
- rechecked the fader and its now working. The bow and mid cabin speakers are set to front and the tower and swim platform are set to rear
- set the sub lpf to about 80 hz. That's what I read in the manual and seemed to line up with the dynamic range of the speakers based on the Polk website
- changed the rear hpf setting to about 80 hz. Hard to tell since the range is 40-4000
- changed the switch on the front speakers from full to hpf. Figured full was wrong and was hesitating between hpf and bpf
- set the hpf to about 80 hz. Didn't touch the lpf.
- turn the gain right down on all 3, and turned the volume on the HU to max.
- adjusted the gain on the rear, front and sub to the point where the sound was distorting and then backed off a bit (this is what it said to do in the amp manual
- connected the sub remote control. This does not seem to have much effect though. It was clearly working because the light was on


Any other suggestions? Jcyamaharider, you suggested using a DD1 tester. What does this do? Thx

 

[jcyamaharider]

@Dave burke

Here is the thread I created when I bought my tester:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/smd-dd-1-distortion-tool-anyone-used-one.13198/

It is an oscilloscope without a screen. It looks at the sine wave and lets you know when you start to clip the stereo.

They way you did the tuning is fine, I have done it like that for years.

 

[geohil]

Not being home close to my boat or manuals what Polk amp is it we are running? I may have to add a second for a second sub and one more set of 6.5's closer to the captain and passenger chairs so it can be heard above 20mph. Thanks for the input all.

 

[GoVols01]

To hear the music while underway, I rotate the sound bar to face forward.

I also need to adjust my amp settings. To listen to music while the boat is running, my volume is typically set north of 80% and it's not very loud at that setting either.

 

[GoVols01]

Hey Dave,
How much adjusting did you have to do to your amp vs factory settings? I printed your adjustments you made and will find time to perform them on mine as well. Just curious to know how much difference it made. The speaker bar in my tower really isn't loud at all. The boat sounds good in my garage, but can't hear it well while on the water. I asked my wife if she could hear the stereo while I was towing her on a tube last weekend and she said she couldn't hear it at all.

 

[Dave burke]

My biggest problem was that, before I made the adjustment, the sub was distorting at even 75% volume. After I made the adjustments, this problem was solved but it's not loud underway. It sounds great on the water while just floating/idleing.

I haven't yet yet used it for skiing/wakeboarding. Summer in this neck of the woods has been godawful. Lake temp was in the 60s yesterday. It's typically in the low 80s now.

 

[octavio3311]

Best addition you can do is to add mid cabin speakers - I did this from the get go. All 6 of my in cabins are powered by a WS HT6. Towers and sub are powered by another HT6.
The mid cabins made a world of difference - Underway and at rest.

 

[Dave burke]

Thx. By mid cabin, do you mean beside the front seats?

 

[Dave burke]

And did you add 2 more polk speakers or another brand? Thx

 

[octavio3311]

Thx. By mid cabin, do you mean beside the front seats?

Yes.

 

[octavio3311]

And did you add 2 more polk speakers or another brand? Thx

I added 2 more Polk's.
I gotta be honest - I truly like how they sound. Properly powered - they sound amazing.

My budddies MC is rocking JL's - they are undoubtedly better speakers. But - my boat sounds just as good. Matter of fact - we both think mine sounds better - but this is mainly because MC's don't come with mid cabins either.

And with the he price of the Polks recently on clearance - I bought 6 extras - just to have back ups.

 

[geohil]

I added 2 more Polk's.
I gotta be honest - I truly like how they sound. Properly powered - they sound amazing.

My budddies MC is rocking JL's - they are undoubtedly better speakers. But - my boat sounds just as good. Matter of fact - we both think mine sounds better - but this is mainly because MC's don't come with mid cabins either.

And with the he price of the Polks recently on clearance - I bought 6 extras - just to have back ups.

You may have to bring me up to speed - the 212x has a Polk audio PA D5000.5 that gives us 70 watts RMS to our polk 6.5's. What Polk speakers did you choose and what amp? I was going to add more of the same, but I think they are being under driven by the amp.

 

[octavio3311]

I'm using Polk db651's - they're rated at 60 watts RMS and 180 watts peak. Powering them with a WetSounds HT6 which is capable of 110 watts RMS.
It's all in the tuning. Ive read many posts about the new boats amps not being set up properly. I can see that. They just bolt and wire em at the factory. Don't think they have anyone tuning them.
My system was done by my dealer (G&R) from the get go. Lucklily my dealer has a Yamaha Guru (Andy) that is also an audiophile. He tuned everything perfect and told me "Do Not touch the gains. Don't touch the amps".

 

[Dave burke]

Thx Octavio. Did you replace the stock amp with the HT6s? Mine also came with the Polk 5000.5.

 

[David Analog]

Poor audio system tuning or no tuning is indicative of just about every boat manufacturer. Their motto must be "when it's all working, it's done". The better marine audio companies with technical staff, like JL Audio for example, typically provide a tuning template boat by boat, system by system. Yet the boat builders continually drift off course.