Well, I got the boat in on Friday and worked on it all weekend. First thing I did was swap the steering wheel. Next, I made LED speaker rings (which turned out ok, but not perfect. It was a messy job. Thank goodness my father-in-law has a full woodshop with all sorts of commercial machinery in it.
I then used a VLX amp board and mounted my amps and the distribution blocks. I used 0 gauge wire to feed the blocks this year and 4 gauge to all of the amps. I squeezed the amp board into the ob compartment and then ran my power wires. Next, I removed the factory battery holders/mounts. I placed two D3100 batteries from
www.4xspower.com in the ob compartment against the back wall and wired them to the battery selector switch. I used the factory tie down straps to secure the batteries in place. Next, I ran the RCA wires and power/ground/remote to the footwell under the dash. I mounted the ws420 eq under the dash and hooked it up and hid the wiring. Next, I mounted the amp board to the wall.
I then dissembled my Wetsounds XXX sub box and had to reconstruct it inside the ob compartment. The box wouldn't fit through the hole in one piece. I proceeded with wiring the LED speaker rings and installing them behind the cabin speakers. The rear speakers are recessed so much that you can't really see the lights at night, so I'm going to move those rings up front and simply attach LED strips to the outside of the speaker grill on the rear speakers. Oh, I used all wetsounds xs650 interior speakers in the boat. They fit fine, you just have to cut all of the terminals off and crimp on larger female leads.
Next, I mounted the wetsounds Pro 485's on the tower. They fit perfect. No problems whatsoever. No fitment issues, etc. Still plenty of headroom. Next, I mounted the z5. It was super easy. I just put the center ring mounts on the front tower leg and left them sortof loose. I then put the z5 in the slots on the mounts and pinned them in for security. It was obvious that the planned mounting points for the rear z5 struts would not work with the 485's, so I had to relocate the rear mounting struts. I ended up placing the rear mounting rings on the top part of the front leg of the tower right up against the gusset piece. I used a shorter strut that z5 sent me. If you are going to go this route on your A22, you will need to request the shorter struts from Z5 and an extra set of curve bottom mounting sockets (you could just remove and relocate the sockets that come on the rack, but I left them in place in case the next owner doesn't want 485's and wants to put the struts in the factory locations.
The rack is sturdy as can be and fits perfect with the 485's. I honestly think I have more headroom under this z5 than I did under the one mounted on my 230. I couldn't be happier!
It sounds amazing. I think that the larger diameter power and ground wires, plus the fact that the batteries are so much closer to the amps, makes everything sound cleaner, with less interference, etc. The other thing that's great about this boat and this system is that the power (other than the a/c) comes directly from the battery distribution switch, and does not run through another fuse panel like it did on my 230. If I ever had the xxx pumping and the tower speakers and the cabin speakers going in my 230, it would pop a fuse and I'd have to reset everything. I hated that, and there was no easy way around it, unless I ran tons of wiring all through the 230. Not so with the A22.
I must say that the install was not easy. I'm still not done, because I have to put all clear lenses on the trailer, install the plug in play bags, and swap out the led speaker rings to the front. However, I'm much close to finished than I was on Friday.
I don't have any interior pictures yet, because the boat has not yet been cleaned up from the install. I do have some pics with the cover on so you can see how the z5/485's look. I'll finish up this weekend or one night this week and have some more photos for ya.
I'm super stoked about the boat. I can't wait to get it out and ride behind it.
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