2kwik4u
Jetboaters Fleet Admiral
- Messages
- 7,378
- Reaction score
- 9,438
- Points
- 542
- Location
- Georgetown, IN
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2017
- Boat Model
- AR
- Boat Length
- 19
Got it "temp" installed this weekend. Have a few thoughts.
1. The Ultra 10 DOES NOT fit properly on the AR190 tower without additional brackets. The length of the soundbar is such that it lines up perfectly with the horizontal supports between tower tubes. You can't mount it "inline" with the tower. It either has to hang underneath, or over the top, Or you have to make additional mounts/brackets for it. I went ahead and bought the extra brackets ahead of time just in case. They have to be used. Once mounted it's nice and stable, and only took about 4" of headroom. What headroom it did take, has sharp corner unlike a set of traditional tower speakers. Not 100% certain I like this setup, but at 6'2" tall I'm unsure if I'll really LIKE any setup. It's a compromise for sound.
2. The electrical hookups are dead simple. 12v+, Ground, Aux cable for signal. With that said, I have a ground loop going somewhere in the system with the boat running. Not sure if this is because I cam straight off the batter, or if I need to tie the radio ground to the soundbar ground. Going to experiment with this later this week and see if I can't get that to go away.
3. There is NOT a hole drilled on the port side for wires to pass through between the tower and the hull. To get to this hole you either have to remove the tower to drill down (even my right angle drill was too large), OR measure damn good on the inside and drill up. I'll be waiting until winter to pull the tower off and drill the hull and fish the wires. Until then they are "ghetto rigged" with zip-ties to the tower. Looks like hammered dog crap, but works.
4. I'm mounting mine "upside down". The only real indication is that the logo is upside down on the unit. Otherwise it looks/works just fine. The power/signal wires all exit out of the starboard side if "right side up". Putting the unit "upside down" allows the wires to exit on the port side, and reach the battery without modification. I suspect I'll have to modify the power lead when I fish the wires, as the fuse won't fit through the tower, however I want to keep those to a minimum if possible.
5. Sound.......It's good. It's nice and loud. Plenty clear. it really throws the sound out behind the boat. They list a 40hz response at the low end, however with 4" speakers, it's exactly as you would expect, lousy. The low's are simply not there, and really, that's OK. We had a group of three boats out on saturday. I was able to turn the bar up a few clicks and we could easily hear the music 50-60ft behind the boat. It was loud and clear enough to hear easily, but not so loud as to interfere with conversations. We had my 4mo old on the pontoon beside our boat and it was still "quiet" enough for him to take a nap towards the bow of that boat. It was nice to not have the cockpit speakers cranked to 11 to get the sound out behind the boat. I think a set of dedicated tower speakers is an obvious upgrade. More surface area on the cones to move more air will give a much fuller sound. Case in point, the guys with the 24ft Centurion showed up for awhile. Full Roswell audio sound package with no less than 8 speakers on the tower, (2) 15in subs, and probably 8-10 8in drivers in the cockpit. At 1/2 volume he was able to quickly and easily drown out my boat. That's fine with me. I've got about 20% of the money wrapped up in mine.
OVERALL.......I think it's a solid device if you want a very simple and small way to get some sound behind the boat. Installation wasn't terribly difficult, the sound is acceptable for floating behind the boat, and the pricepoint is low ($550 for a refurb unit, $750 for brand new). If you're an "audiophile" then it's probably not for you as a stand alone device.
I only have one picture at this point. I keep forgetting to float a camera out on the water with me to get better pictures. It looks better in person with the wires "tied" up out of the way.
1. The Ultra 10 DOES NOT fit properly on the AR190 tower without additional brackets. The length of the soundbar is such that it lines up perfectly with the horizontal supports between tower tubes. You can't mount it "inline" with the tower. It either has to hang underneath, or over the top, Or you have to make additional mounts/brackets for it. I went ahead and bought the extra brackets ahead of time just in case. They have to be used. Once mounted it's nice and stable, and only took about 4" of headroom. What headroom it did take, has sharp corner unlike a set of traditional tower speakers. Not 100% certain I like this setup, but at 6'2" tall I'm unsure if I'll really LIKE any setup. It's a compromise for sound.
2. The electrical hookups are dead simple. 12v+, Ground, Aux cable for signal. With that said, I have a ground loop going somewhere in the system with the boat running. Not sure if this is because I cam straight off the batter, or if I need to tie the radio ground to the soundbar ground. Going to experiment with this later this week and see if I can't get that to go away.
3. There is NOT a hole drilled on the port side for wires to pass through between the tower and the hull. To get to this hole you either have to remove the tower to drill down (even my right angle drill was too large), OR measure damn good on the inside and drill up. I'll be waiting until winter to pull the tower off and drill the hull and fish the wires. Until then they are "ghetto rigged" with zip-ties to the tower. Looks like hammered dog crap, but works.
4. I'm mounting mine "upside down". The only real indication is that the logo is upside down on the unit. Otherwise it looks/works just fine. The power/signal wires all exit out of the starboard side if "right side up". Putting the unit "upside down" allows the wires to exit on the port side, and reach the battery without modification. I suspect I'll have to modify the power lead when I fish the wires, as the fuse won't fit through the tower, however I want to keep those to a minimum if possible.
5. Sound.......It's good. It's nice and loud. Plenty clear. it really throws the sound out behind the boat. They list a 40hz response at the low end, however with 4" speakers, it's exactly as you would expect, lousy. The low's are simply not there, and really, that's OK. We had a group of three boats out on saturday. I was able to turn the bar up a few clicks and we could easily hear the music 50-60ft behind the boat. It was loud and clear enough to hear easily, but not so loud as to interfere with conversations. We had my 4mo old on the pontoon beside our boat and it was still "quiet" enough for him to take a nap towards the bow of that boat. It was nice to not have the cockpit speakers cranked to 11 to get the sound out behind the boat. I think a set of dedicated tower speakers is an obvious upgrade. More surface area on the cones to move more air will give a much fuller sound. Case in point, the guys with the 24ft Centurion showed up for awhile. Full Roswell audio sound package with no less than 8 speakers on the tower, (2) 15in subs, and probably 8-10 8in drivers in the cockpit. At 1/2 volume he was able to quickly and easily drown out my boat. That's fine with me. I've got about 20% of the money wrapped up in mine.
OVERALL.......I think it's a solid device if you want a very simple and small way to get some sound behind the boat. Installation wasn't terribly difficult, the sound is acceptable for floating behind the boat, and the pricepoint is low ($550 for a refurb unit, $750 for brand new). If you're an "audiophile" then it's probably not for you as a stand alone device.
I only have one picture at this point. I keep forgetting to float a camera out on the water with me to get better pictures. It looks better in person with the wires "tied" up out of the way.
