Got a call from the dealer / audio technician today.

[primedoc]

So I let this guy cut a big ass hole (10" under the passenger seat) in my sparkling new blue 242 LS that I have never seen, never been wet (post Yamaha factory lake test) because he called last week to ask what kind of sound system I wanted. I told him "all Wetsounds amps, tower speakers, and a 10" sub under the passenger seat (because he said a 12" would not fit, but a 10" would). Today he tells me that the 10" Wetsounds won't fit without a custom fabricated flange between the fiberglass and the speaker cover since there isn't enough clearance for the back of the speaker under the seat. So I think "nice, I follow ALL of your recommendations and now we have a problem making it work because I listened to you." My choices are to add a (who knows what kind of "custom" flange that Guber the audio guy can fab and delay pick up another week, or go with a Polk 10" sub that will fit. I tell him to go with the Polk. Then this short bus guy says "we'll still be cutting close but I think we can have it ready by Friday." I'm not a patient guy to start with, but these guy are testing my limits. I have a pile of mods that has been growing in size since the first week in February!!

 

[drjames1107]

Sorry to hear that doc. Thats why in my other post i said leave the Audio stuff to "Audio guys" and boat stuff to "Boat guys". My friend just had Wetsounds system installed by his dealer and it sounds awful ( not awful because of the Brand, rather the install ). Hope you have better luck than he did.

I put my 10" wet sounds sub in the cooler compartment it fit perfectly. and no lose of space, cooler still fits.

 

[Julian]

That's gotta be hard to go through.....

 

[KXCam22]

Yeah I feel for you. Its a rude awakening when you find out the pros ain't so pro. That's the second measurement you take when installing a sub: " do you have enough depth?". The Polk will sound really good. Cam.

 

[jawsf16]

Dude that sucks. It will still sound awesome, just try to forget about that speed bump... That awesome new boat should help!

 

[primedoc]

Well if this is the worst thing that goes wrong with the boat then I have ZERO boat problems. You just expect someone to get it right when you cut a 10" hole in a nearly $60k boat! It's the very reason I didn't do this or the underwater LEDs myself...cutting holes in a brand new boat. Honestly, I would have measured 20 times before drilling a pilot hole and this "hammerhead" just put the pedal to the metal and figured out his mistake after the fact. This is the second identical install he has done this week. Identical why? The first guy ordered all Polk equipment. How did he know that the Polk would work? Not because he measured, but because he had done the exact install earlier this week with Polk and not Wetsounds!! What if I tell my patients "this is the blood pressure medication you need." Why you ask? Not because I have any clinical idea of why it should work, but because I gave it to the guy I saw before you and it worked for him so it should work for you to? Can you say medical malpractice lawsuit? I can through clinched teeth.

 

[drjames1107]

Another question? you have the same boat as me. there is a huge space under the passenger seat, my question is where is the hole being cut? he could have built a box umber there and vented it, or just put the HTAS10 already boxed and amped 10" 500watt wet sounds sub in there.

if he hasn't run the tower speaker wires yet, I would supervise that or you might see a bunch of zip ties holding up speaker wire to your new $1300 tower speakers.

The guys that did my friends boat put the amps on the floor in the helm! STUPID!! its a relatively dry area but can get wet. the bow seat cushion storage area leads right to the helm area, so water can get in there.

 

[Lspeedss]

OK.. hmmm. Reminder to self.. keep doing your own mods. Stay away from the " specialist". Check!

 

[jcyamaharider]

All will be forgotten when you go pick it up and splash it for the first time.

 

[Cory]

I can't bring myself to cutting a hole for my 12 inch wetsounds sub, so i am going to put it in a box facing down like Sotally Tober's. If it attracts the women to the pole like his boat does, it should be sufficient for me.

 

[David Analog]

A true mobile electronics specialist will consider dozens upon dozens of issues and think in many deeper layers than a DIYer will. A DIYer is like a 2-dimensional thinker in a 3-dimensional world. They simply don't know how much they don't know. Doing a half dozen self-installs doesn't qualify someone as a specialist. I see and read the amateurish mistakes on forums daily. That's not a wholesale criticism. It is just a fact.
A true specialist will make the identical equipment sound better. He is well worth his fee.
However, I wouldn't label someone a specialist just because they work in the mobile electronics industry.
A rigger at a boat dealership is by no means a mobile electronics specialist. I have yet to meet one. They haven't received formal training in either electronics, audio or installation. It's a 'learn as you go' proposition. When the system is fully functional it is considered finished. They are clueless as to how you tune a system.

Btw, Polk Audio, which is a good woofer, doesn't make an Infinite Baffle woofer like Wetsounds or JL Audio does. This is evident from their Thiele/Small parameters. But a boat dealer wouldn't know this. You CAN still use an air suspension woofer (a low 'Q' woofer intended to be damped in a compact sealed enclosure) in an infinite baffle application with a loss of performance and a reduction in power handling. It is done frequently when a price point must me met and with a moderately powered amplifier.

 

[Detonate]

This why I like to do just about everything myself... I feel like when you are paying upfront for a job you haven't seen done, there is no way to know if it'll be done to your satisfaction.

I let CarToys absolutely destroy my brand new Tundra. Even though I had all the instructions online on how to modify the factory backup camera to work with a Pioneer Head Unit, they managed to fry the video input on the head unit, the amplifier, and the backup camera... Not to mention several platic tabs that they wrecked that to this day still fall apart occasionally.

Same with when we had our kitchen remodeled... So many things that drive me nuts that there is no way I would have done it that way.

So far I've been very happy with the work I've done on my own boat, and will continue down that road. At least when I screw something up, it's my own damn fault!!

 

[maboat]

OK.. hmmm. Reminder to self.. keep doing your own mods. Stay away from the " specialist".

This why I like to do just about everything myself... I feel like when you are paying upfront for a job you haven't seen done, there is no way to know if it'll be done to your satisfaction.

 

[HawkTX]

Ouch! That would make me nauseous!