Just started digging into the 2021 SX250/AR250 audio system

[Wheelspin]

The rear speakers in the cabin area have plenty of room to size up to an 8. I don't think you could get away with it in the stock locations at the front or on the swim platform. Those are pretty tight.
I could measure it though to be sure.

 

[NewGuy]

I'm still bummed about wasting what should have been a perfectly fine amp.

 

[VitaminSea]

Tagging @jacoviii for his knowledge and insight here. I believe he’s extensively looked into how to integrate the stock WS amps when updating ones setup.

*Apologies in advance if my memory doesn’t align here.

 

[Wheelspin]

New Guy: Agreed. It's been made into a paperweight.
I would say it also wouldn't be great to even use a line output converter off of it. With the unknown DSP in the amp you are going to get a funky signal that way too. Pretty much left me with no option to yank it entirely.

 

[anmut]

New Guy: Agreed. It's been made into a paperweight.
I would say it also wouldn't be great to even use a line output converter off of it. With the unknown DSP in the amp you are going to get a funky signal that way too. Pretty much left me with no option to yank it entirely.

Could you contact WS and see if there's a way to set it back to default?

 

[jacoviii]

Thanks @VitaminSea .
Ok I have sourced all of the connectors if any one wants to make it plug & play. I have ran a line driver in front of the WS amps with little to no added noise but, a great boost in audio on the high and lows. I did my testing with my '18 242x WS HTX4 & HTX6. ON the boats with only HTX4 & 6 the cabin speakers are ran in parallel... so 2ohm. The stern is 4ohm. If you have a 252 with both amps you could run a WS-420 EQ and pick up some tuning ability. If you are running a boat with just a HTX4 Rockford makes a nice line driver that boosts the highs and lows. On the 242's Yamaha and WS ran the sub output from the HU to the HTX6 amp but did not use it. They picked up the sub signal though the DSP.

BUT boosting the power will still not get you sound under way you need to add speakers mid cabin first.
SO first thing first add a pair of speakers mid cabin near the drive's/ 1st mate's seat.
I would wire the bow and the stern at 2ohm and the new mid cabin and read cabin to 2ohm. This is the lowest cost way. Then when you decide you want more just add a new amp and the wires and speakers are there and ready to go.

I'm trying to find a local 250/252 boat to test the audio setup out.

 

[Wheelspin]

I was originally going to ditch the factory line level wires, but since the speakers I went with have separate tweeter wiring I'll leverage them for that. That's the inside harness in this pic. Now it's just simply connecting these RCAs in place of the plug. I figure if you have to wire a new pigtail anyway to connect the factory plug to RCAs, it's not saving anything vs just skipping a step and wiring the RCAs anyway.
So black plug here is getting snipped.

 

[Wheelspin]

Replacement speakers are going a bit more robust... Heh heh

 

[jacoviii]

Could you contact WS and see if there's a way to set it back to default?

NO ONE not even WS will adj the amp's DSP.

 

[Jeebus]

wow. Got my 250 yesterday, and boy is that sound system trash. Pretty disappointing to say the least. Gotta replace it all.

 

[anmut]

wow. Got my 250 yesterday, and boy is that sound system trash. Pretty disappointing to say the least. Gotta replace it all.

Yamaha really cut corners for the 2021 production year it seems.

 

[Wheelspin]

Jeebus, yep. That was exactly what I said to our salesman when we got ours in and checked everything out. "Whelp, that stereo is all going in the trash immediately." Really want to put the new stuff in, but it's 28 degrees today, and down into the teens at night again for a few days here, and I am just not very tolerant of that with no shoes.
I got my DSP last night though, and I am going to work on the wiring harness tonight. I really like the idea I saw in another thread of mounting everything on a PVC board sheet and then just installing that all in one go too.

 

[Jeebus]

Im in the process of ordering equipment right now, My boat is wrapped up for a few more days because its getting cold over night, and god damn yamaha cant seem to produce a cover yet for the 25' models.

I have some pretty basic questions so im gonna shoot them here.

Power wire routing. The batteries are on the port side, the amplifier is on the starboard side. What is the most effective route with out running un necessary feet of wiring to the boat, is there a wire routing area that works well? or is just through the engine compartment and up behind the starboard paneling? Is there a suitable ground connection up by the stock amplifier? or should i just plan on running power and ground from the battery to the amp location?

My goal / plan is to run a 5 channel amp. I would like to run the Cabin 4 speakers off the "front" output of the amp, and the rear swim deck speakers off the "rear" output. Being that my 4 front speakers are each 4 ohm, that will give me 2 ohm load on the right and left side" then for the swim deck speakers, since they are also 4 ohm, i see those running each 4 ohm right and left side. Subwoofer will be running at 2 ohm. My amplifier has just standard "front" "rear" and "sub" inputs. I know i have to lop that harness off and hardwire RCA inputs, but whats my best bet for the subwoofer signal?

Thakns for all the help!

 

[1WetBoat]

There's a good chunk of posts on running the cabling but the general rule of thumb to save a little bit in the cost of the wiring is to go across the fuel tank compartment down the middle of the boat. Saves you a couple of feet when running it. You will also have to run both power and ground from the batt up to the amps. Unlike a car, there is no chassis ground on boats.

 

[Wheelspin]

That's how I am planning to do it. (as 1wetboat says) Power and ground through the tank compartment. Bonus: Forces me to remove the bolts for that hatch, and I will put anti-sieze on them. I have read some nightmare threads about trying to get them back out later on, and they are seized solid.

Jeebus, that's how the factory six cabin speakers are wired, so should work perfectly.
I am going to be running a DSP, which will get me the extra RCAs for a sub signal. But you could simply use an RCA splitter to split the front or the rear RCAs before the amp and feed the sub input that, assuming your amp has a low pass filter for that channel.
High pass the cabin inputs and, low pass the sub inputs, assuming the amp allows configuring individual channels like that.

If it does not, a simple f-mod type low pass would cut it to only sub signal for it too:

Amazon.com: Harrison Labs FMOD Inline Crossover Pair 150 Hz Low Pass RCA : Electronics

Amazon.com: Harrison Labs FMOD Inline Crossover Pair 150 Hz Low Pass RCA : Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[Jeebus]

Awesome, i had not even noticed the tank compartment mentioned before, and i did quite a bit of searching before hand. I must not have been using the right terminology to search with.

I got all my stuff ordered, going to hopefully be able to start the install in the next couple weeks!

 

[Cambo]

Maybe the engine hatch new design deadens the sound better and you don't need 4 amps to hear it while driving

 

[Jeebus]

well, sitting in my drive way, no engines running, with the wind blowing and the stereo up as loud as it can go, i can hold a conversation pretty easy. its not loud, or even remotely loud. I had to check to make sure i was using it right becuase i figured there was no way this was all it had. No way you can hear it crusing out on the open water with the engines at full rpm and wind blowing.

 

[Wheelspin]

And even if it WAS loud enough to hear, there is just NO dynamic range to it. It just all mid range. I am totally not kidding, a totally stock base model Prius sound system *utterly* crushes it for mid and low bass. It's... not good.

 

[212s]

And even if it WAS loud enough to hear, there is just NO dynamic range to it. It just all mid range. I am totally not kidding, a totally stock base model Prius sound system *utterly* crushes it for mid and low bass. It's... not good.

Could just be wired poorly - if a speaker is out of phase, it will cancel the bass and sound dull and flat.