Adding Amplifier to stock Connext System

[Mach]

I'm looking at adding a Amplifier to my 2018 Limited 242 se. I understand the stock Polks will sound pretty good under a good amp.
Considering adding 2 more speakers in the driver area.

Any recommendations on which amp?

I have pretty decent car audio knowledge but how exactly would I integrate an amp to the stock connext system? (does the connext system have rca outs)


Thanks!

 

[tabbibus]

I'm looking at adding a Amplifier to my 2018 Limited 242 se. I understand the stock Polks will sound pretty good under a good amp.
Considering adding 2 more speakers in the driver area.

Any recommendations on which amp?

I have pretty decent car audio knowledge but how exactly would I integrate an amp to the stock connext system? (does the connext system have rca outs)


Thanks!

242 lse? Same as mine. I was told that the actual head unit is the "remote" in the stern. Connext is actually the remote.

 

[AJack]

if it's the PA4A system, then there are two RCAs (front and rear) coming out the back of the module behind the helm. I purchased a wire harness from eBay - Kenwood (NC Shipping Kenwood Into Radio ISO Wire Harness 16 Pin Aftermarket OEM Radio | eBay), so that I could simply use the harness into the stock's speaker wires.

 

[Mach]

if it's the PA4A system, then there are two RCAs (front and rear) coming out the back of the module behind the helm. I purchased a wire harness from eBay - Kenwood (NC Shipping Kenwood Into Radio ISO Wire Harness 16 Pin Aftermarket OEM Radio | eBay), so that I could simply use the harness into the stock's speaker wires.

No. The e-series has some newer unit in the back. It's more rectangular.

 

[jocolo21]

At least on the 2019 ra70n , doesnt have RCA you have to buy the harness

 

[mainchannel]

I have a 2018 242 SE with 12" connext screen and Fusion RA70. The connext is just a remote. The RA-70 in the stern is the audio system.
I pulled mine today and several extra RCA jacks are cut off including subwoofer out (thanks Yamaha). I ordered 2 more DB 652 off ebay for mid cabin $59.90.
There are other forums showing you can mount the mid cabins in the black area behind throttles and across in black area next to passenger chair.
I am going to order a new wiring harness (due to the RCA's being cut off) and order probably a Fusion 5 CH Amp and maybe a 10" Polk sub.
Going to place Sub in white panel under the 3 cup holders on port side (the fiberglass is very thick there).
Unfortunately probably going to have to rewire all speakers due to all the speaker wires running to starboard stern area?
It would be helpful if wiring diagrams were available?

 

[tabbibus]

please document your project. I want to do just that as well. Do you have any pictures of the RA70 pulled out?

 

[mainchannel]

Here are pictures of my Stock Fusion MS-RA70N head unit and how the installer/Yamaha cut all unused RCA's (Sub out and Zone 1 and 2 Line out)
I will call Fusion and see where I can purchase a wiring harness?

 

[tabbibus]

Oh Yamaha. Sometimes so frustrating

 

[mainchannel]

Installed 2 more Polk Audio mid cabin, fairly easy barely missed wire loom on Port side. 5" hole saw and wires were easy to fish thru.
Sounds great on boat lift wasn't able to run boat, jumped wires from rear mid cabin and did not connect rear cabins back yet.

Found out Connext Balance control is backwards (Yamaha had 50/50 chance).
Also Bow Speakers are connect to tweeters in tower and don't think there is a crossover due to tweeters in tower loud when Fader is moved forward.

Need advice: How do I connect my rear speakers back in parallel or Series? Want to leave bow and tweeters powered by head unit and add Amplifier to power 4 cabin, 2 stern speakers and subwoofer?
Probably need aux volume control for subwoofer.
Do I need 4 Channel Amplifier 2 Channel for 6 Rear speakers and bridge 2 channels for subwoofer?

Hate to keep pointing out Yamaha's quality control but rectangular storage box next to helm had a poor bead of silicone around it (see picture) and rear cabin speakers crimp connections look like they used vise grips (maybe built on Friday)?

 

[jthackman]

Here are pictures of my Stock Fusion MS-RA70N head unit and how the installer/Yamaha cut all unused RCA's (Sub out and Zone 1 and 2 Line out)
I will call Fusion and see where I can purchase a wiring harness?

hi, just saw the same issue in my 2019 ar240. where you able to find a new rca pre-out harness? from fusion, or elsewhere? or maybe a part number?

 

[jthackman]

i guess i'll also need to find a new power/speaker harness...it's missing the blue amp remote on wire

 

[DaveW]

Hi Guys, I'm trying the same project you tackled. @mainchannel, did you have a successful outcome? There is a wire coupler right behind the area where I will cut the hole for the sub (picture attached). Did you use this? Any other advice would be very much appreciated!

 

[Mannibu]

Here are pictures of my Stock Fusion MS-RA70N head unit and how the installer/Yamaha cut all unused RCA's (Sub out and Zone 1 and 2 Line out)
I will call Fusion and see where I can purchase a wiring harness?

Hello, what did you use as ”Amplifier ON” signal since it is not on the original wiring harness (usually it is a blue wire). Just curious, since i am in process of adding an amplifier and Sub myself. (Added a picture of my wire harness coming our of the stereo unit). And yes RCA’s were cut off also. Had to wire in new RCA connection to the sub.

 

[212s]

Hello, what did you use as ”Amplifier ON” signal since it is not on the original wiring harness (usually it is a blue wire). Just curious, since i am in process of adding an amplifier and Sub myself. (Added a picture of my wire harness coming our of the stereo unit). And yes RCA’s were cut off also. Had to wire in new RCA connection to the sub.

I was lucky and none of the connections were cut on mine - the blue "remote on" wire is in the harness just removed on yours. You can contact Fusion and they can ship a replacement harness with all connections including RCA and remote wire. I added a JL Audio MX500/4 amp to my stock Polk speakers and they really pump now. The blue remote wire works perfect to turn on the amp as expected. I'm adding another pair of Polks to the mid-cabin to fill in the sound while cruising and the JL amp can drive all 8 speakers without issue.

 

[Mannibu]

Hello, what did you use as ”Amplifier ON” signal since it is not on the original wiring harness (usually it is a blue wire). Just curious, since i am in process of adding an amplifier and Sub myself. (Added a picture of my wire harness coming our of the stereo unit). And yes RCA’s were cut off also. Had to wire in new RCA connection to the sub.

Here is what I ended up doing:

 

[jefhuf19]

I was lucky and none of the connections were cut on mine - the blue "remote on" wire is in the harness just removed on yours. You can contact Fusion and they can ship a replacement harness with all connections including RCA and remote wire. I added a JL Audio MX500/4 amp to my stock Polk speakers and they really pump now. The blue remote wire works perfect to turn on the amp as expected. I'm adding another pair of Polks to the mid-cabin to fill in the sound while cruising and the JL amp can drive all 8 speakers without issue.

Did you leave the cabin and swim deck speakers wired in parallel (2ohm load) and the bow pair on their own channel? I’ve been debating doing the exact same setup in my first phase of upgrades. Long term I’m hoping to have a MX500/4 running the bow and cabin speakers in zone 1 then another running the swim deck and a pair of towers on zone 2 so I can fade accordingly

 

[212s]

Did you leave the cabin and swim deck speakers wired in parallel (2ohm load) and the bow pair on their own channel? I’ve been debating doing the exact same setup in my first phase of upgrades. Long term I’m hoping to have a MX500/4 running the bow and cabin speakers in zone 1 then another running the swim deck and a pair of towers on zone 2 so I can fade accordingly

Actually I had the swim deck speakers on the "rear" channels so I could turn them off when cruising or not using the swim platform. The cockpit and bow speakers were wired in parallel so they were on while cruising.

I'll be making a slight change. I'll still run the cockpit and bow speakers on the "front" channels 1&2 like they are now, no changes there, but the extra mid-cabin speakers will be run from the "front" as well but on the 3&4 channels from the amp. The amp just needs to be switched to two channel input and wires run as needed. The stern doesn't need to be as loud and I can power them through the Fusion head unit on the "rear" using the stock wiring (just need to run a bypass for the wiring). This way I can still fade the stern out when cruising and keep the cockpit and bow speakers pumping with about 400w total - more than enough for loud tunes. The benefit of the mid-cabin speakers will be two-fold - more volume total plus more sound at the helm and passenger area so we're not blasting the rear-cabin and bow with high volumes when not desired. Passengers in those areas were getting blasted sitting beside the speakers while we still wanted more volume. This should balance it out nicely.

If you get tower speakers, you might want to consider more power for them - they need lots of juice especially if they're bigger units. 70wx2 to the towers isn't a lot of power unless they're smaller 6.5" speakers.

 

[jefhuf19]

Actually I had the swim deck speakers on the "rear" channels so I could turn them off when cruising or not using the swim platform. The cockpit and bow speakers were wired in parallel so they were on while cruising.

I'll be making a slight change. I'll still run the cockpit and bow speakers on the "front" channels 1&2 like they are now, no changes there, but the extra mid-cabin speakers will be run from the "front" as well but on the 3&4 channels from the amp. The amp just needs to be switched to two channel input and wires run as needed. The stern doesn't need to be as loud and I can power them through the Fusion head unit on the "rear" using the stock wiring (just need to run a bypass for the wiring). This way I can still fade the stern out when cruising and keep the cockpit and bow speakers pumping with about 400w total - more than enough for loud tunes. The benefit of the mid-cabin speakers will be two-fold - more volume total plus more sound at the helm and passenger area so we're not blasting the rear-cabin and bow with high volumes when not desired. Passengers in those areas were getting blasted sitting beside the speakers while we still wanted more volume. This should balance it out nicely.

If you get tower speakers, you might want to consider more power for them - they need lots of juice especially if they're bigger units. 70wx2 to the towers isn't a lot of power unless they're smaller 6.5" speakers.

You actually touched on one other question I had about the swim deck speakers. Since they are essentially useless unless docked/anchored and in those scenarios you don't need nearly as much power, if I ran RCA's to an amp for zone 1 & zone 2 to handle cabin/bow speakers, what do you need to do to keep the factory speaker output power flowing to the swim deck? Is it as simple as running new speaker wires from the amp to the cabin/bow (which I plan to do anyway) and then leave factory wiring hooked to swim deck?

Also understood on the towers and power. Since that is down the road I will pick an amp that is appropriately sized to power just the towers as ideally I would get something like Rev8's or JL M6-880 which look like they want 125+ watts per.

 

[212s]

You actually touched on one other question I had about the swim deck speakers. Since they are essentially useless unless docked/anchored and in those scenarios you don't need nearly as much power, if I ran RCA's to an amp for zone 1 & zone 2 to handle cabin/bow speakers, what do you need to do to keep the factory speaker output power flowing to the swim deck? Is it as simple as running new speaker wires from the amp to the cabin/bow (which I plan to do anyway) and then leave factory wiring hooked to swim deck?

In my boat, which could be different from year to year and model to model, the cockpit and swim platform speakers were wired in series. If the cockpit speakers are disconnected from the stock wiring, then the swim platform speakers won't get signal from the head unit as the circuit would be broken. I need to verify the wiring first with my meter but if all goes as expected, a shunt to connect the +/- wires (where they stock wires were disconnected from the cockpit speakers) to complete the circuit will work. But I need to verify wiring first for my scenario. If your swim speakers were on their own channels, then yes just leaving them connected would work as nothing has changed for them.

This is a series circuit:



Notice how the two speakers are connected to each other with only one +/- back to the amp/head unit. If one speaker is disconnected or removed, then the circuit is not complete and the second speaker won't work as it's not getting a signal.

Yamaha wires the speakers like this because the lower power 4 channel head units can't provide the current to drive two pairs of speakers in a parallel circuit where the current draw doubles, plus another pair (six total). Typically the head unit's built-in amp would overheat and pop a fuse or blow the outputs in the head unit requiring replacement.

Wiring them in series doubles the resistance which cuts the current draw in half so a 4 channel head unit can handle driving six speakers. But the two pairs in series have only half as much power output so they're noticeably lower volume compared to a pair running direct. You can set the fader to middle and ensure all volumes for zone 1 & 2 are equal - then listen to the speaker volumes at each location. The pair running direct will be louder and more full sounding at moderate volumes.