Subwoofer

N

NateDogg

New Member
Feb 16, 2009
29
Arkadelphia
Boat Info
230 Signature Series
Engines
454 Merc - Bravo I
I've looked all over, but I can't figure out where SeaRay installed a factory subwoofer on boats like mine. I have ordered a 10" Kicker and it appears the only place to install it would be under the helm. Any tips or suggestions?
 
It may have been installed somewhere in the aft bench seat base... for those boats that have that seating plan, anyway.

There are schematic-type drawings of your boat in the owner's manual - it may give a location.
 
There is too much curviture in the fiberglass for it to be in the aft bench. I actually just called my SeaRay dealer and they couldn't even tell me!

Can you guys think of any issues that would make mounting it beneath the helm a problem?
 
I'm having mine mounted under the helm soon. I had it sitting in a box on the floor last season but it was always walking out and getting in the way. If you have an installer do it they should be able to install it and leave you access to anything critical you may have behind the box.

My current setup is amps under the port side and sub under starboard side.
 
NateDogg said:
There is too much curviture in the fiberglass for it to be in the aft bench. I actually just called my SeaRay dealer and they couldn't even tell me!

Can you guys think of any issues that would make mounting it beneath the helm a problem?
Click to expand...

Do you have a cuddy or a bowrider?

I looked at some old brochures, here at work. For the cuddy version, it was located under the driver's side dash - directly in front of the driver's knees. For the bowrider, I think it was on the passenger side - but I can't really tell. Another guy here thought that's what he remembered.

Were you able find anything in your owner's manual?
 
I have a 1999 210 BR and I put mine under the dash on the drivers side.

I have a 12" Wetsounds sub and it hits pretty hard. I was warned that it can be rough on your gauges but I thought that this was still the best place.

This was the second sub I installed. The first was a 10" Alpine and I wasn't happy with the way it sounded at all. I tried a free air installation (no enclosure, just a board) and it wasn't doing hardly anything. I then built a box that looked great and match the area but it wasn't the correct volume they recommended. They recommended a much bigger enclosure than I was willing to give up (like 4.0 cu ft).

So I got the Wetsounds sub. I started with a sealed box which was a really small size (like .9 cu ft) and it sounded good. But then just for fun I made a ported box (like 1.2 cu ft per the specs) and I thought that sounded even better so I went with that.

I guess that is just my long winded way of saying to just be careful that where ever you put it you make sure you have the correct size enclosure.

And, if you want deeper sounding bass, go with the ported box. Avoid the free air application if you can.
 
Thanks for the input! I think that I'll be putting it underneath the helm. I have a closet that backs up and it will make for a pretty easy installation. I'm going to take pictures of the project to post later.

Lazy:

I have the bowrider.

Sea Ray:

I bought the Kicker marine sub that supposedly has about the same performance in a free air installation or a ported box. We'll see.


Thanks again!
 
Sounds good, Dogg. Just to be clear, if you haven't seen the difference, the cuddy has a different design underneath the helm for the subwoofer (and cabin) than your bowrider has.
 
Here is the link from when I was looking for a place to mount my sub.

http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15937&highlight=alpine

If you want to free air mount it, I liked the idea of having back further in the panel (if you have the same setup). I tried it but the free air enclosure just wasn't cutting it for me.

Originally, I put mine under the cabinet and was even able to peel the carpet off the bottom of the cabinet and fold it forward to cover the front of my enclosure. When I went to the bigger sub I had to redo the box and the carpet wasn't big enough.

I ended up removing the carpet from behind the bow seats to cover the enclosure. Then just replaced that with some indoor/outdoor carpet from Menards. You can't really see that carpet because it is way back in there and I wanted the cabinet to match.

Another tip (again if you have the same set up as my 21' boat) if you remove the cup holder in the starboard bow you can get wires back behind the cabinet. There was a plastic wire loom in the top of the ski compartment where you can run wires across the boat walkway from the stereo to the sub. Once you get the wires through the loom go up to the cup holder and then behind (or under) the cabinet.

I used a shop vac to suck a piece of yarn through the loom. Then taped the speakers wires to it and pulled them through the other side.

Good Luck!!
 
I installed my amp and sub this weekend. Sounds great. I installed it underneath the helm. In my 230 there is a storage cabinet in front of the helm that makes one heck of an "enclosure" even though the Kicker sub was designed for a "free air" installation. I installed the MBQuart amp inside the cabinet as well.

My updated stereo now consists of a Clarion M475 head unit, 4 PolkAudio db 5 1/4" speakers, a 10" Kicker KM10 subwoofer powered by an MB Quart NAU260. Using Amazon my total investment was around $300 and worth every penny!
 
NateDogg said:
I installed my amp and sub this weekend. Sounds great. I installed it underneath the helm. In my 230 there is a storage cabinet in front of the helm that makes one heck of an "enclosure" even though the Kicker sub was designed for a "free air" installation. I installed the MBQuart amp inside the cabinet as well.

My updated stereo now consists of a Clarion M475 head unit, 4 PolkAudio db 5 1/4" speakers, a 10" Kicker KM10 subwoofer powered by an MB Quart NAU260. Using Amazon my total investment was around $300 and worth every penny!
Click to expand...

Do you have pics of the install? I the same year 210 and have the same head unit, with the Polk DB651's and was looking to add a sub and amp this this summer. It sounds good now, but would like to add the sub to the mix. I am intrigued to the use of the storage closet as the enclosure for the sub.
 
It was a fairly easy installation (3 hours). I moved the circuit panel up a little so that the sub wasn't so close to the floor of the boat. The hardest part was crawling in the cabinet and using a jigsaw to cut the hole for the sub. I used a piece of cardboard packaging for a template. I used 10 guage wire with an inline fuse for power from the battery to the amp then a small piece of monster cable speaker wire from the amp to the speaker. Be sure to mount your amp upside down so that you can access the adjustment controls (see pic).
 

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Thanks for the pics. This looks like the route I may take. What model number amp and sub did you use?
 
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10" Kicker KM10 subwoofer powered by an MB Quart NAU260. I bought them on Amazon and didn't pay too much over $100 total. Very nice sound.
 
NateDogg said:
10" Kicker KM10 subwoofer powered by an MB Quart NAU260. I bought them on Amazon and didn't pay too much over $100 total. Very nice sound.
Click to expand...

Great, thanks. I am not looking to rattle the cages, just add some good clean bass to the existing system.
 
This sub will actually do both. Like you, I wasn't going for the annoying drone of wakeboard boats, just a little depth lacking from the Polk speakers.
 
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