Multi Zone Control

[austin65]

I have a 2008 Yamaha AR230 with the following equipment
JVC KD-X37MBS Receiver
6 6.5 in boat speakers (two on swim deck)
1 10" Rockford M1 mounted behind drivers seat
4 8" Tower speakers
1 5 channel 750watt Rockford Marine amp
1 4 channel Boss Audio 3700 Watt amp (Not currently installed)
2 Rockford 200 x2 amps (not currently installed)

My question is how to control the tower speakers separately from the boat. the back of the receiver has a Rear, Front and Sub RCA ports. I have Roswell dual zone controller and hooked it up in conjunction with splitters and it worked, but it severely effected the quality of the sound. I took it to the local sound shop and they told me that I can't use it the way I had it. They told me to run the front channel rca's to the amp with the in boat speakers as well as the subwoofer RCA and then the rear channel RCA's to the tower speaker's amp and then use the splitters to make it so i have signal to both the front/rear inputs on the amps. They then told me i could use the roswell dual zone controller to hook to the receiver and the rear channel(tower amp) and contol the volume that way. I did that, and it all works fine, however i can't have the tower speakers on without the boat/subwoofer going.

Is there any options with the equipment I have? Or do i need a multi zone receiver? I would get one, but i'm limited on space to mount a new deck because of the space taken by the single din. I can't find any multi zone single din's that aren't a grand or more.

Thanks for the help.
oh the rockford amps are just extras. I don't think they can power the tower speakers unless I use them both. which means more wiring that i don't want to run across the boat. So i use the 4 channel Boss.

Thanks!

 

[jcyamaharider]

Honestly I would use a wetsounds WS-420-SQ. It will do everything you want it too and more.

WS-420 SQ | Wet Sounds Marine Multi Zone 4 Band Parametric Equalizer - Wet Sounds

Wet Sounds marine stereo systems and equipment provide crisp, high-quality audio that`s loud enough to be heard whether you`re fishing a local pond, water skiing on a lake, or tubing on the ocean. Enjoy unparalleled protection from water damage with Wet Sounds state-of-the-art equipment.

www.wetsounds.com

 

[austin65]

Thanks for the reply. Does that allow you to turn the tower speakers up but leave the boat speakers down? The tower speakers go much louder than i want the boat speakers going. I looked at the pictures and it looks like the boat/tower are controlled in the same volume knob and then there's a main volume that controls everything?

 

[austin65]

Scratch that, I now see those knobs actually have two knobs in one. Makes sense now. I'll give it a shot, thanks for the help!

 

[jcyamaharider]

Yes, you actually have full control over tower, sub, and interior speakers. I went one step further and separated the front of the boat with the rear of the boat.

 

[austin65]

Oh nice, do you happen to have any pics of the unit installed? i'd love to see where that fits and what it looks like.

 

[adrianp89]

I think that unit looks like sh*t and is god ugly in almost every install I have seem.

If want just zone control, you can flush mount some bass knobs.

https://www.amazon.com/PAC-LC-1-Remote-Amplifier-Controller/dp/B0002J226O/ref=asc_df_B0002J226O/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241989349889&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10318445494514661292&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9012157&hvtargid=pla-437262578878&psc=1

 

[austin65]

I'd rather do that, I like the control features on the WS unit but you're right, it's big and old school looking. I've had multiple people tell me to do bass knobs, but how does that work? The tower is on its own 5 channel amp, then the boat and subwoofer are on another 5 channel amp. The boat's amp already has a subwoofer knob on it to control the subwoofer. I can use the RCA dual zone knob as a second controller, but it makes it so i have to turn the deck up to turn the boat/tower/subwoofer up and then i have knobs to turn the tower and the subwoofer down, but not the tower too. if that makes sense. i'd like to be able to have the tower on and the boat not on. or much more quiet at least.

 

[adrianp89]

I'd rather do that, I like the control features on the WS unit but you're right, it's big and old school looking. I've had multiple people tell me to do bass knobs, but how does that work? The tower is on its own 5 channel amp, then the boat and subwoofer are on another 5 channel amp. The boat's amp already has a subwoofer knob on it to control the subwoofer. I can use the RCA dual zone knob as a second controller, but it makes it so i have to turn the deck up to turn the boat/tower/subwoofer up and then i have knobs to turn the tower and the subwoofer down, but not the tower too. if that makes sense. i'd like to be able to have the tower on and the boat not on. or much more quiet at least.

If your deck has three outputs, I would do front for interior, rear for towers, and sub for sub. Those base knobs just go inline of the RCAs.

 

[austin65]

If I did that, would I just leave the volume up to max on the deck and control the volume through the bass knobs?

 

[AZMark]

How did you have the Roswell controllers set up and how is that different from the bass level knobs? Aren’t they the same? What sounded bad?

My plan was to use the Roswells when I add mid cabins and amps to my boat.

 

[adrianp89]

If I did that, would I just leave the volume up to max on the deck and control the volume through the bass knobs?

That's essentially what I did on my SX210..... I was able to change volume levels extremely quickly.

 

[AZMark]

That's essentially what I did on my SX210..... I was able to change volume levels extremely quickly.

No sound quality issues?

 

[adrianp89]

No sound quality issues?

None. In theory there shouldn’t be any either.

 

[austin65]

How did you have the Roswell controllers set up and how is that different from the bass level knobs? Aren’t they the same? What sounded bad?

My plan was to use the Roswells when I add mid cabins and amps to my boat.

I had the input put into the rear channel (which may have been the issue as I now believe the front's are stronger) and then I got splitters to hit the front and rear inputs on the amps. I had just finished running amps to the boat speaker and sub and it sounded great, but then when that got installed it sounded distorted at higher volumes. the sound shop just told me I can't use them and I can only really use those to control one amp. I may go try it again and put the inputs on the front RCA output instead. I'll let ya know. If not, i'll either get some bass knobs, which are very similar to what i already did, or get the WS-420-SQ and stop throwing money at it.

 

[austin65]

None. In theory there shouldn’t be any either.

I like to hear that, could have been because I put the cables to the rear channel instead of the front? Guess we'll find out. I'll try to swap them tonight.

 

[Cambo]

Boats need equalizers due to all the different size speakers and I have had them in other systems this time I installed two. This gives me two sub woofer zones and 4 other zones

 

[jcyamaharider]

Bass knobs don't give you control of the eq, that's why the 420 is WAY better. Ugly or not they serve a purpose allows for more fine tuning

 

[adrianp89]

Bass knobs don't give you control of the eq, that's why the 420 is WAY better. Ugly or not they serve a purpose allows for more fine tuning

The 420 hardly gives you any EQ controls. Literally a 4 band and you don't even know what the Fqs are and its set to a 12dB slope. You can do some light tuning, but you cannot do "fine" tuning. Most radios these days have significantly more than what the 420 offers. If you want EQ on a boat get a Rockford DSR-1 (about the same price but magnitudes better in regards to tuning). This gives you any crossover points you want with 7 different octave selections, a 31 band EQ per channel, and digital time alignment.... all on your phone.

 

[adrianp89]

I like to hear that, could have been because I put the cables to the rear channel instead of the front? Guess we'll find out. I'll try to swap them tonight.

This shouldn't be an issue.... double check your fade is centered and gains are set equally on the amplifier.