242x subwoofer question

[mraz72]

so I bought a boat off of the lot, still wrapped from Yamaha.

I turned on the stereo and I didn't hear ANY base. I know the stock system on the 242x is said to not be that great, but with 1000 watts and a subwoofer I would think I would hear something other than tinny treble.

I noticed there is a subwoofer switch and an RJ-11 (phone cable) cord. Do I have to plug the phone cable into the switch and then into the amp? Maybe the bass in off? I looked on the connect screen and I didn't see anywhere to control subwoofer levels.

was the dealer supposed to hook up that switch? Its more like a nob with a 1-10 than an on/off switch.

 

[FloJet]

I am not familiar withe 242x but can try to help troubleshoot. First have you verified that the amp has power to it? Again not seeing it makes it difficult but do you have a subwoofer level controller in the 242x? Pictures of the whole setup would be great and help many of us help trouble shoot this for you. I'm more of a visual person.

 

[robert843]

@Julian or @Kane maybe able to help on this one.

 

[Julian]

You will want to hook up the remote bass control knob just so you can balance the bass output better. That should have nothing to do with why you have no bass now (without the remote wire connected it should be at 100%).

My guess is the amp has no power --perhaps the cable for that amp it not attached to the house battery (don't get me going on why they chose to connect these cables directly to the battery and not run it through the house switch!).

If the amp has power, then my next check would be to see if the speaker connections are attached (remove the speaker to check).

If it is connected and the amp has power, then perhaps the AMP is blown? But lets cross that bridge later if need be.

 

[Firehouse100]

If it's a (normal) system it should also have a remote wire to the amp from the head unit. (That tells the amp to power up, usually a blue wire from the head unit. Maybe that's not connected and the amp is not powering up.

 

[Micah Thompson]

This is why you typically are much better off having the dealer do inspection, make-ready, prep before purchasing a boat, so they can fix the inevitable small issues almost every boat will have, and make sure everything is working, and adjusted properly. If you bought a wrapped boat, dealer never touched it, chances are you will run into quite a few little things like this, just sayin'.

 

[Julian]

Did you pay a dealer set up fee? If so, then they should go through all of this as Micah points out.

 

[FloJet]

Well guys if dealer is not helping him much I think we can all input here and help him out. I just think pictures of his setup would help more to help troubleshoot. If he is not too experience with audio systems, it's rolling the dice without seeing much haha. Hopefully @Michael Rasmussen can get us few pics of the set up. I agree sounds like something is not connected but hard to say without seeing how the setup is.

 

[Bill D]

What they said, verify the amp is getting power and that the remote wire (usually blue) is telling the amp to turn on. Also, check the eq settings on the radio.

 

[Kane]

With the Sub Amp control knob not connected the output will only be what the amp gain is set at. With the knob connected it will override the amp gain. I would connect and turn it up. if that doesn't work, I would think the Amp doesn't have power. It is MUCH better using the Sub Control Knob anyway.
Also, is there any other speakers not working? If I remember correctly, the Sub amp also controls another pair of speakers.

Good luck, I'm sure its something simple!

Mike

 

[jaburt]

The sub amp is a 5 channel amp so it does control other speakers. So if all speakers are playing then the gain is too low on sub, wires are not connected to sub, or 5th channel may be bad on amp. I removed both of my amps and checked all switches and gains to make sure they were adjusted correctly. I also run into a problem with some of my 6.5 speakers didn't have sound because my speaker bar wasn't plugged up. The speaker bar is passive so without it being plugged up some of my other speakers weren't getting power.

 

[mraz72]

I did pay dealer prep fees but I am not sure they did it correctly.

Did the dealer have to hook up the stereo or was that hooked up from the factory? Did the dealer screw the amps in? Without unscrewing them, I cannot really work with them.

I believe the amps have power, I'll have to check next time I am near the boat.

 

[Mainah]

The sub amp is a 5 channel amp so it does control other speakers. So if all speakers are playing then the gain is too low on sub, wires are not connected to sub, or 5th channel may be bad on amp. I removed both of my amps and checked all switches and gains to make sure they were adjusted correctly. I also run into a problem with some of my 6.5 speakers didn't have sound because my speaker bar wasn't plugged up. The speaker bar is passive so without it being plugged up some of my other speakers weren't getting power.

This means that the 6.5 inch cabin speakers are run in series with the speaker bar. Does anyone know the model numbers of the stock polk amps in the 242x?

 

[Julian]

I did pay dealer prep fees but I am not sure they did it correctly.

Did the dealer have to hook up the stereo or was that hooked up from the factory? Did the dealer screw the amps in? Without unscrewing them, I cannot really work with them.

I believe the amps have power, I'll have to check next time I am near the boat.

The dealer has to connect the amps to the batteries (as the boat comes with no batteries from the factory---this is to make sure you get new batteries when you buy it--as it could sit on a dealer floor for a while). The amps would be connected already. But keep in mind that they ship the boats on flatbeds trucks and they will bounce around a lot, so the point of the dealer prep is to make sure everything is connected and operational.

@Mainah , I'm fairly sure the amps are a PAD50005 and a PAD40004 (but that is from memory).

 

[Mainah]

All of the things I have read and seen first hand lead me to believe these amps could have been set up better. I have not spent enough time on a 242x to dive dep into the amp wiring and setting from the factory but I have a suspicion they are not spending the time to set up and tune these things the way they should.
My recommendations for initial settings of Sub section of PAD 5000.5

• Source set to INT (set to sub may cause not to work)
• Level set to half (use remote control after that)
• Sub Sonic set to 1/4 (9 o'clock position) (this will stop 20hz to 25hz signals from being amplified allowing the amp and speaker to play louder together. If you don't like or need super low bass go ahead and set it even higher)
• LPF set to 1/2 (12 o'clock position) (this should be about 120 hz)

I don't know how the inputs are done but assuming just one pair use these initial settings for front and rear sections.

• Channel Mode set to ST
• HPF selected for both front and rear
• Hpf dial set to 1/4 (9 o'clock position) for both front and rear
• Level set to half (this is a shot in the dark based on what I have read and heard in person)

Again these are only initial settings and will need to be tuned from there. If you aren't that knowledgeable about tuning only play with gain controls after the initial settings and only do so slowly so not to blow your speakers (there are guides online on how to do this or get professional help and by professional I do not mean the 22 year old audio guy getting paid 20 bucks an hour at your Boat dealer). The initial high pass filter switch and dial settings will be the same for the other amp as well.

Also the space the stock sub is mounted in has very little depth (about a 1/4 inch gap between the magnet the the outer hull) and while not fully sealed is almost a box of about .8 cu ft. My suspicion is that a true free air sub might not be the best choice for this location given the mounting depth. A better solution may be stuffing pieces of a chepo sleeping pad or old life jacket in the gaps of the gunwale from the inside will help seal this area up. Point being sealing this area and filling to acheive the correct air space for the sealed type sub you desire may net the best results.

 

[Julian]

@Mainah - I agree that the system could be tuned a lot better! Would have been smart for them to install the amps so you can SEE the control panels on them!!!! (YAMAHA hope you are reading this!). I've not tried, but I suspect you can't turn them around because the cable harnesses won't reach.

The low pass filter was off from the factory on my amps, I've experimented with it on an off. Certainly no point in sending bass to the sound bar or in cabin speakers....might be needed on the bow and stern....

I wonder what it would take to get it professionally "tuned"?

 

[Mainah]

@Julian - If Yamaha is not doing anything from the factory my recommendations could only improve things. Only need to professionally tune one stock setup after that all of the settings will be the same. Yes there are some very slight variations in equipment from the manufacturing process amd yes there are differing end consumer listening preferences but at least things would be very close ideal.

 

[Julian]

I have to assume that Yamaha did set up their first 242X and "tune" it, but I fear they have some gaps in their QA processes on this aspect of their boats. There would indeed be significant differences between each person's tuning preferences. Someone who only wants loud music would likely turn on the bass filter for all speakers so they only drive mid and high - as the 6.5" polks will top out on the bass response before they do mid or highs (like many speakers). Others might tune it for full spectrum sound creation at moderate sound level.

But I agree....having the "spec" that tunes the two above scenarios would be a great place for all of use to start from!

For example, I connected the bass remote and have it turned down to 8-9 because at 10 it was over driving too often.