TXtraumaRN
Active Member
- Messages
- 61
- Reaction score
- 56
- Points
- 27
- Location
- Houston
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2022
- Boat Model
- 195S
- Boat Length
- 19
tldr: Love my JBL install. Sound test to come. Specs start about half way down.
The intent was never was to install a whole "party" type sound system into my brand new 2022 195s, yet here I am doing a write up on my install...
Starting with my maiden voyage back in December when I couldn't hear the stock speakers at 100% while at 3/4 throttle, I knew I had to do something. I read somewhere that someone said all you have to do is put a small amp on the stock speakers, and I thought "what the hell, may as well switch them out for JBL's as well. Then the wife said (yes seriously) "are you gonna put Tower Speakers on too"? Well, hell yes! And of course, those needed a Larger Amp. And that amp also had a 5th channel for a subwoofer so I bought a Subwoofer.
I've done installs before, mostly on cars, never on a boat. And the fine gentlemen here on JBN helped me realize that I had no idea what the F I was doing. I quickly realized my towers were way under powered, my cabins were way over powered, and I didn't have nearly the power I needed for my sub.
Here's the interesting part... I bought a single kicker 10" sub in a tube, but I bought the wrong one (I needed 2ohm vs 4ohm). Tried to return the 4ohm within the 30 day window, and although within my rights, eBay seller gave me grief. Decided to buy the 2ohm off Amazon while waiting on this doofus, and in the process, the eBay seller offered to swap out the 4ohm for a 2ohm."F it, why not?" so now I have 2 10" kicker subs and had to buy Another Amp. So, 4 blown cabin speakers, and 10x's more money than intended later... Here we are. My JBL install...
4 - 6" JBL cabin speakers powered by a JBL 400w marine Amp running at 70w RMS x4 ch.
2 - JBL 8" Tower speakers powered by a JBL 1800w marine Amp. Towers are getting 130w RMS bridged x's 2.
2 - Kicker 10" enclosed tube subs. One sub is getting 500w RMS from the above mentioned 1800w JBL Amp, and the other is getting 500w RMS from a Kicker 500w mono block marine amp.
The cabin speakers sound phenomenal. Even at full speed with the volume only half way up I can hear them clearly.
The Towers I am impressed with so far, but haven't had a chance to test it from a distance (sand bar, wake boarding etc). The front facing woofers give great mids while providing clarity with some highs, but they also have rear facing tweeters as well so you get full sound all the way around. As a bonus (requirement in my book) they also swivel 360* so you can turn the woofers towards the party. They do also have RGB LED rings, but I haven't even hooked those up yet.
The 2 subs provide quite the punch. Once I switched to 2ohms at 500w RMS you could definitely hear the difference. The second sub was unplanned, and although they sound great, it's not quite the "Jurrasic Park* type bass I was hoping for. But I'm pleased with it.
All wiring for the cabin speakers was kept stock and spliced in using 12awg speaker wire. The towers were mounted and 12awg marine speaker wire run through the tower and any exposed wire was covered with mesh cable wrap. And the same marine speaker wire was run to the subs respectively. I have about 3 feet of 2awg wire run to a fused power block, then 4awg running to each Amp (less than 18" run to ea). All in all the whole system is mounted on two separate pieces of 3/4" plywood wrapped in Grey all weather carpeting to match. The lines, cables, and speaker wires are all long enough to be able to pull the entire sytem out independently to fix, change, or work on it but it is still firmly mounted in place so that it doesn't bounce or move around. There is also a 120A fuse with a manual trip/reset before the power block. This is to disconnect all power for storage.
Things to do, fix, change...
- Wedge blocks for the board mounts. The boards lie against the port wall and a block on the floor will be used to wedge them in place.
- Re-run lines to the tower speakers. I mistakenly ran the lines to the middle of the tower instead of to each speaker. I don't like the exposed wire.
- Install the "add-a-battery* kit and charger. Currently everything is run off the stock battery (already have all parts and battery to do this).
- Install switch panel at the helm for independent control of the amps.
Once it warms up I'll get a sound test posted. As of now, I have no issues with the system. Ran her for about an hour the other day when family was in town and amps didn't even get warm.
A special thanks to @Farny @212s @Daddy Fat Sacs
@jocolo21 and all those who helped! This forum is a wealth of knowledge.
JBL Cabins
Tower Rear view
Tower front
Subs
Mounted and ready
The intent was never was to install a whole "party" type sound system into my brand new 2022 195s, yet here I am doing a write up on my install...
Starting with my maiden voyage back in December when I couldn't hear the stock speakers at 100% while at 3/4 throttle, I knew I had to do something. I read somewhere that someone said all you have to do is put a small amp on the stock speakers, and I thought "what the hell, may as well switch them out for JBL's as well. Then the wife said (yes seriously) "are you gonna put Tower Speakers on too"? Well, hell yes! And of course, those needed a Larger Amp. And that amp also had a 5th channel for a subwoofer so I bought a Subwoofer.
I've done installs before, mostly on cars, never on a boat. And the fine gentlemen here on JBN helped me realize that I had no idea what the F I was doing. I quickly realized my towers were way under powered, my cabins were way over powered, and I didn't have nearly the power I needed for my sub.
Here's the interesting part... I bought a single kicker 10" sub in a tube, but I bought the wrong one (I needed 2ohm vs 4ohm). Tried to return the 4ohm within the 30 day window, and although within my rights, eBay seller gave me grief. Decided to buy the 2ohm off Amazon while waiting on this doofus, and in the process, the eBay seller offered to swap out the 4ohm for a 2ohm."F it, why not?" so now I have 2 10" kicker subs and had to buy Another Amp. So, 4 blown cabin speakers, and 10x's more money than intended later... Here we are. My JBL install...
4 - 6" JBL cabin speakers powered by a JBL 400w marine Amp running at 70w RMS x4 ch.
2 - JBL 8" Tower speakers powered by a JBL 1800w marine Amp. Towers are getting 130w RMS bridged x's 2.
2 - Kicker 10" enclosed tube subs. One sub is getting 500w RMS from the above mentioned 1800w JBL Amp, and the other is getting 500w RMS from a Kicker 500w mono block marine amp.
The cabin speakers sound phenomenal. Even at full speed with the volume only half way up I can hear them clearly.
The Towers I am impressed with so far, but haven't had a chance to test it from a distance (sand bar, wake boarding etc). The front facing woofers give great mids while providing clarity with some highs, but they also have rear facing tweeters as well so you get full sound all the way around. As a bonus (requirement in my book) they also swivel 360* so you can turn the woofers towards the party. They do also have RGB LED rings, but I haven't even hooked those up yet.
The 2 subs provide quite the punch. Once I switched to 2ohms at 500w RMS you could definitely hear the difference. The second sub was unplanned, and although they sound great, it's not quite the "Jurrasic Park* type bass I was hoping for. But I'm pleased with it.
All wiring for the cabin speakers was kept stock and spliced in using 12awg speaker wire. The towers were mounted and 12awg marine speaker wire run through the tower and any exposed wire was covered with mesh cable wrap. And the same marine speaker wire was run to the subs respectively. I have about 3 feet of 2awg wire run to a fused power block, then 4awg running to each Amp (less than 18" run to ea). All in all the whole system is mounted on two separate pieces of 3/4" plywood wrapped in Grey all weather carpeting to match. The lines, cables, and speaker wires are all long enough to be able to pull the entire sytem out independently to fix, change, or work on it but it is still firmly mounted in place so that it doesn't bounce or move around. There is also a 120A fuse with a manual trip/reset before the power block. This is to disconnect all power for storage.
Things to do, fix, change...
- Wedge blocks for the board mounts. The boards lie against the port wall and a block on the floor will be used to wedge them in place.
- Re-run lines to the tower speakers. I mistakenly ran the lines to the middle of the tower instead of to each speaker. I don't like the exposed wire.
- Install the "add-a-battery* kit and charger. Currently everything is run off the stock battery (already have all parts and battery to do this).
- Install switch panel at the helm for independent control of the amps.
Once it warms up I'll get a sound test posted. As of now, I have no issues with the system. Ran her for about an hour the other day when family was in town and amps didn't even get warm.
A special thanks to @Farny @212s @Daddy Fat Sacs
@jocolo21 and all those who helped! This forum is a wealth of knowledge.
JBL Cabins
Tower Rear view
Tower front
Subs
Mounted and ready
Last edited:
. 
