Yamaha 212x Stereo

[Buckeye Boater 79]

Hello,
My wife and I purchased our first boat last weekend a 2019 Yamaha 212x. I was curious on what the specs are on the factory stereo?
It just says custom tuned wet sounds stereo?
8 speakers, wet sounds sound bar, not much more info that that.
Anyone heard the stereo? Does it sound good or do changes need to be made.
Anyone know what size speakers and amp it comes with?
Can you control the separate speaker zones from the Connext screen?
I will not be picking the boat up for several months, so I was trying to figure this out in the meantime if I needed additional equipment, amps, etc.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[JDRacing]

The hardware that comes with your boat is pretty good. The four cabin speakers are 6.5" Wet Sounds 65i's (now apparently called the "Recon 6"). The soundbar is the Stealth 10 Core (5 speakers per channel), the swim deck speakers are 5.25" Wet Sounds, the sub is a Wet Sounds 10", and the amp is a Wet Sounds HTX-6, 100 rms per channel at 4 ohms, 6 channel amp.

I have a 2018 212X with the same hardware, but the wiring was not designed correctly by Yamaha. Also, sets of speakers were wired in series, I believe because it was based on the prior Polk systems, but hopefully for 2019 things are set up in parallel, which is how Wet Sounds recommends it should be wired. If Yamaha's wiring mess has been corrected on this boat for 2019, I think the system should sound pretty good from the factory. In my case, I spent dozens of hours fixing the issues Yamaha built into the 2018 212x. But it sounds awesome now.

The Connext system allows you to fade front to rear and right to left, plus loudness and equalizer preset choices.

Here are some threads about my journey with the sound system as delivered from the factory:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/2018-212x-audio-system-brand-setup-change-from-2017.19663/

And adding mid-cabin speakers and a second amplifier:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/mid-cabin-speaker-placement-opinions-appreciated.20196/

Feel free to PM me if you want to get on a phone call to discuss additional details.

Jeff

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for all of the info. It sounds like you really did your homework and know all about this boats stereo system. I really hope they have the wiring issues figured out on the 2019 boats. I guess I will have to wait and see (or hear).
If the wiring was correct from the factory, do you think you would have ended up adding more speakers and an add'l amp? Is it really needed?

How difficult is it to add a second amp if needed? I see your other thread said that they were custom inputs for the amp that came in the boat. Did you have to modify that?
I have not messed with car stereo's in 10 or 15 years, so I will definitely be a little rusty.

We were planning on getting a new Yamaha AR210 and I read that the stock stereo was not very good, so I was already planning on adding an amp and speakers. I already bought a 5 channel JL 1000 watt amp and 4 of the Wet Sounds Revo 6, so I may plan to add these to the existing stereo on the 212x. Unfortunately they are the white speakers with the stainless grills, so they will not match the speakers that come on the 212x. I guess I will just have to get over my OCD.
You said you switched out your existing speakers with the Revo 6. Do they really sound that much better?
Maybe, I will just buy two more sets of the Rev0 6 like you did and replace the 4 existing 6.5 in the cabin.
Did you just keep the stock speakers in the rear of the boat? How do they sound after you had the wired correctly?

I was also thinking about adding some kind of controller, so that I can turn off the sound bar and rear speakers if wanted and turn them up separately when towing a rider, without having it to loud in the boat for everyone else.

How difficult was it to work the lights on the speakers to the cabin lights? That is a good idea.

 

[JDRacing]

You have a private message. Sounds like you're already well on your way.

Jeff

 

[JDRacing]

I'll give you my best shot answering some of these questions.

I think, if wired correctly (parallel sets consisting of (1) the main cabin/bow speakers and (2) the sound bar/swim deck speakers) and with the DSP amp settings properly configured, the Wet Sounds system that comes with the boat should sound pretty good. Don't know for sure, because I've never heard it set up properly from the factory. Hopefully your boat will be wired in parallel and correctly.

I had two main reasons for installing the second amp. The first was that I wanted the sound bar to have its own R/L amp channels. Several have reported on here that it really wakes up the sound bar when you split it off, and I can confirm this as well, now that I've done it. Second, I had already been thinking about adding mid-cabin speakers at some point. I was out of channels on the HTX-6 DSP. And yes, regardless of whether the boat was correctly wired, the mid-cabin speakers made a significant difference. I ran the system with all speakers split out onto their own channels before adding the mid-cabin speakers, and while it sounded great, adding mid cabin speakers was a clear upgrade. I described the results in the second thread I linked above.

Adding a second amp was a bit of work. As described in the threads above, it included securing seaboard to the starboard aft storage, making up new power and ground cables, and speaker wire harnesses, routing, fusing, etc. As far as using some of the existing DSP wiring, I didn't touch the input side, and I wouldn't recommend doing so. Instead, I simply kept the output speaker wires running from the DSP to the speakers I wanted to leave on that amp (rewiring them from series to end up with each speaker on the DSP amp having its own channel), and made up new harnesses for the added HTX-6 amp. It was a lot of work. And there was additional work because we wanted to use the lighting feature of the Revo 6's, which involved making up more harnesses (which had to be fused, as recommended by Wet Sounds).

I think the Revo 6 speakers sound better, particularly at higher volumes. They are much beefier than 65i's, now called the Recons. And yes, the swim deck speakers are 5.25 inch speakers which match the Recon 6 in construction, except for the size. They are Yamaha OEM speakers which are not on the Wet Sounds website. I'm hoping Wet Sounds will make some Revo 5.25's. I've floated that request to them, and that may be in the works.

As I've said many times before in other threads, although I spent way too much time and money straightening out some Yamaha factory wiring issues on this new boat (sound issues and otherwise), 10 hours into its operation I'm a really happy 212X owner, and we are having a great time with it.

Jeff

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

Thanks for all the help! I can’t wait to pick our boat up to see how we like it. I’m pretty sure I will eventually end up with 6 Revo 6’s like you did.
I hope I do not have to deal with the wiring nightmare that you had to deal with and i am happy with the stock set up.
I do not know anything about boats, so I guess I will have to dig into once we get it to see how hard it will be to run the add wiring the the additional amp, speakers, and lights.

 

[cbpagent72]

The hardware that comes with your boat is pretty good. The four cabin speakers are 6.5" Wet Sounds 65i's (now apparently called the "Recon 6"). The soundbar is the Stealth 10 Core (5 speakers per channel), the swim deck speakers are 5.25" Wet Sounds, the sub is a Wet Sounds 10", and the amp is a Wet Sounds HTX-6, 100 rms per channel at 4 ohms, 6 channel amp.

I have a 2018 212X with the same hardware, but the wiring was not designed correctly by Yamaha. Also, sets of speakers were wired in series, I believe because it was based on the prior Polk systems, but hopefully for 2019 things are set up in parallel, which is how Wet Sounds recommends it should be wired. If Yamaha's wiring mess has been corrected on this boat for 2019, I think the system should sound pretty good from the factory. In my case, I spent dozens of hours fixing the issues Yamaha built into the 2018 212x. But it sounds awesome now.

The Connext system allows you to fade front to rear and right to left, plus loudness and equalizer preset choices.

Here are some threads about my journey with the sound system as delivered from the factory:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/2018-212x-audio-system-brand-setup-change-from-2017.19663/

And adding mid-cabin speakers and a second amplifier:

https://jetboaters.net/threads/mid-cabin-speaker-placement-opinions-appreciated.20196/

Feel free to PM me if you want to get on a phone call to discuss additional details.

Jeff

I have a 18 212X and I always thought the system sounded really bad. How did you identify the issue with the wiring and how did you fix it?

 

[JDRacing]

As noted in the first thread I embedded above, I played around with the balance and fader on the Connext, because, like you, I thought the system didn't sound right from the factory. As noted in the embedded thread, in some cases right was left, and left was right, and the sound bar had substantially different audio output levels. An easier way to do it is with this website: www.audiocheck.net Use your phone to connect to the Connext via Blue Tooth, and then play some of the test files, listening to each speaker for the results. These two were the most useful for me: Left / Right Stereo Sound Test (Online) (tests the right and left speaker output) and Online Stereo Polarity (Phase) Sound Test (tests the polarity/phase of the speakers--use the guitar recording file). You can use the fader to somewhat isolate the speakers you are testing for R/L and phase when you play the test tones.

If your boat was wired like mine, the sound bar and the swim deck speakers are not close to correct. Again, this link (suggest you read it all the way through) tells you some of what I found: https://jetboaters.net/threads/2018-212x-audio-system-brand-setup-change-from-2017.19663/

As far as fixing it, I basically rewired all of the amp-to-speaker connections throughout the boat. As part of the process, I added a second amp and a pair of mid cabin speakers.

But simply getting rid of the series wiring setup Yamaha installs from the factory and converting pairs of speakers to parallel wiring with the single amp the boat came with should make a substantial difference. As part of that process, you will also be fixing the swim deck/sound bar wiring problem.

I'd be happy to get on a phone call with you if you'd like to discuss further. Let me know and I'll PM you a phone number.

Jeff

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

Finally picked up our 2019 212x! We braved the cold temperatures and took it out on the water yesterday for the first time to get everything figured out. The boat is pretty awesome so far. The stereo sounds decent, but the bass is pretty disappointing in my opinion. I want to add another sub and possibly a few more 6.5’s to the boat. Looking at the fusion head unit and the amp, there appears to be no regular RCA’s. How are people adding additional speakers without replacing the head unit and amp. I can not believe Yamaha would chose to use equipment like this so that we can not easily add onto the existing stereo. Maybe I am missing something here? Anyone else on here figured out how to easily add another amp and sub to the existing Yamaha wet sounds stereo?

 

[JDRacing]

I'm interested in the answer to this one as well. Yamaha apparently switched to the Fusion head unit on the 212X in 2019 to replace the the Polk unit my 2018 has. The Polk has RCA outputs, so adding an amp was pretty straightforward.

The wiring diagram and installation info for MS-RA70 is available online, and may provide some assistance. There are several related models, and I'm not sure which one you have ("N"model and "NSX" model). If all else fails, perhaps try Wet Sounds customer support in the OEM group there.

Jeff

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

I'm interested in the answer to this one as well. Yamaha apparently switched to the Fusion head unit on the 212X in 2019 to replace the the Polk unit my 2018 has. The Polk has RCA outputs, so adding an amp was pretty straightforward.

The wiring diagram and installation info for MS-RA70 is available online, and may provide some assistance. There are several related models, and I'm not sure which one you have ("N"model and "NSX" model). If all else fails, perhaps try Wet Sounds customer support in the OEM group there.

Jeff

Yeah I have the NSX in mine. I pulled it out and there are no normal RCA’s that I can see without completely pulling the harness thru the boat. I can not get my had back far enough to tell. I may try wet sounds to see if they can give me any help with this. Here is the back of my Fusion on the back of the boat.

 

[JDRacing]

Suggest you download the manual for the NSX online. I was looking at it and it seems like there might be a harness that plugs into the back of the Fusion with RCA leads for an amp. Google RA-70NSX and the manual will come right up

 

[ilangtry]

Think this is this harness you’ll need for the Fusion

https://jetboaters.net/threads/sx240-sound-upgrade.21400/post-371967

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

Suggest you download the manual for the NSX online. I was looking at it and it seems like there might be a harness that plugs into the back of the Fusion with RCA leads for an amp. Google RA-70NSX and the manual will come right up

If that is the case, how about on the amp side? It just has some harness too. There are no normal RCA’s on it either. Does wet sounds make another harness with regular RCA inputs?

 

[JDRacing]

The OEM amp uses what is called a DSP connection to the head unit. And yes, Wet Sounds makes an identical amp with the usual RCA inputs that you buy to add on as a second amp. The model is the HTX-6, if you want 6 channels.

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

The OEM amp uses what is called a DSP connection to the head unit. And yes, Wet Sounds makes an identical amp with the usual RCA inputs that you buy to add on as a second amp. The model is the HTX-6, if you want 6 channels.

Do they sell the harness separate for the amp the comes in the boat? I have a JL 1000/5 amp that I want to add if possible.

 

[JDRacing]

No idea. Probably need to talk to Fusion and/or Wet Sounds.

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

I called and spoke to wetsounds and they said this is a proprietary harness just for these boats and they do not sell anything for this amp. Sounds like I may be out of luck with this amp.
He recommended possibly adding a second amp from the high level of the fusion with a converter. Trying to see about ordering the high level harness, since it did not come with it.

 

[JDRacing]

One of my Wet Sounds amps is being fed the speaker/high level signal from the Polk head unit in my '18. The other amp (which I added) is line level. It works great, once the amp's levels are properly set. I think you're on the right track.

 

[Buckeye Boater 79]

Awesome! I have never tried any like this before. Are you able to control the volume on your boat speakers inside vs the tower speakers and rear speakers? My head unit has the four speakers and sub on zone 1 and the sound bar and two rear speakers on zone 2. I want to add another sub and some tower speakers to the new amp on zone 2 so that I can turn zone 2 up louder for the person wakeboarding, without turning it up to loud for the people on the boat. Hopefully this will be possible if I hook the converter up to one of the rear HL channels.