Axis A22 and JL W7

ATTENTION SOUND GURUS!!!!

I'm putting a JL W7 with a JL 1000/1 in my new 2011 Axis A22 this year and am looking for advice on the best placement/enclosure to make this setup sound the best it can. Looking for the most bass possible.

From just putting a Wetsounds XXX sub in my boat last weekend, good luck. A ported box will give you the most volume, but it takes up a lot of room. The box I had to build for the XXX would not fit under the footwell area. If you don't have a heater, you'll have more room than I did. I'm not sure of the air space requirements for that sub. As someone else posted, if you end up putting it in the ob compartment (take note that the opening is less than 13 inches tall so you have to assemble the box inside the compartment) you can open the chillax seating to vent the compartment.

Kevin,
Its tight under the driver's side and the W7 takes a big enclosure, a little larger than a typical 12". Even with a sealed box you would have to sacrifice the molded ABS bucket that comprises the footwell.
You can fit something in the port side storage compartment and place a vent in the pass-thru surface to allow the bass radiation to flow from that locker.
Its always better to take what the boat gives you and let the available enclosure dimensions dictate the best woofer to match. Proceeding from the opposite direction usually produces compromised results.
A good point was made about the access opening. You could probably insert two independent 10W6 bandpass enclosures and have something that would hit considerably harder than a single sealed or bass-reflex 12.
David
Earmark Marine

As chattwake and david pointed out, there isnt a ton of room under the drivers side. You could fit the normal 10 or 12 but with the xxx or w7 yeah, I don't know how well that will work out. We put a 10 behind there and made a custom plexi panel and re-made the heater tube outlet for it. We cut a slit in the bottom for the carpet to roll into and put a recessed wetsounds logo to vent the area. We have been happy with it, but I don't know if you would be able to do that with the w7. Good luck. The panel we made didnt really sacrifice any footroom honestly. I was worried about that but I can't tell a difference or am not sitting any differently than in another boat. You could put it in the ob and then get a heater tube cap and cut a hole in the side to vent lol. Thats about the only thing I could think of other than opening the OB. The new Axis' open up instead of to the side so that may work out better.

Thanks for the info guys! Sounds like the concensus is that the W7 requires too much box to stow anywhere nicely on the Axis... Would I be better off using a smaller sub(s) with a better box? Again I am looking for the best sound quality possible. What has sounded the best for you guys that I could also use in my Axis?

Why not put a box in the ob compartment? It does take up a lot of room though.

Chattwake, do you have the dimensions on that box? I'm really not worried about it taking up too much room, just looking for a great sounding sub(s)! Looks like thats a pretty tight fit in there!

Here's how we did ours. I have also seen a 12 in that area.
BTW, our sub isnt firing like that, its turned sideways and fires under there..

Greg, that looks really good! How does it sound? Did you port it at all?

Honestly, it sounds really good. Of course it wont hit like the xxx but I was planning for it not to anyways. It is enough for us and it matches in well I think. The plexi is actually a little misconceiving. The wetsounds logo is raised, so it vents through that, and at the bottom there is a slit for the carpet to roll into, there is still a gap so it acts as a vent too. We put weatherstripping around it to prevent rattle. I have no plans on upgrading. I can get some vibration off the side of the wall in the water and can hear it when riding.

There's actually quite a bit of room behind and on top of my box. Also, remember I have 2 3100 series batteries in there and 3 big amps. If your batteries weren't as big, you could push the sub back against the back wall and have more room up front. I may ultimately rearrange things in the ob compartment at some point.

Here is an Axis that I just got a pic of with a XS-12 under the footwell. Looks great.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Thanks for all the input guys, you are helping a ton!

Tim, That looks like a great set up! How does that sub compare to my W7 in size and needed box space?

Wow that picture of the XS12 box is awesome!

Kevin,

Our XS-XXX is a super woofer in line with the W7. Those types of woofers need larger enclosures and more power. So like Chat's boat, would wind up having to go into the passenger area. The XS-12 is a great all around woofer that works well in a smaller box and would fit under the drivers.

So you can go with a regular woofer in that location or go to a super woofer but it will be more work and be under the passenger area and you could do as david mentioned and vent the area as well. So you get more output without having to open the seat back.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim,

In your opinion (since you know waaay more than I do about how things will work and sound) what is my best option? I already have the W7 and don't mind putting it anywhere in the boat (losing storage is not a worry). Should I have a box made for the W7 and put in under the passenger area, or is that space just not able accommodate such a large sub? I'm just looking to have the best sounding sub set up possible on an A22...

I'll just point out again that you don't have to open the seat back to vent the ob compartment because of the chillax seating, which opens a large vented connection to the ob compartment

chattwake,
Would you mind providing a few more details about the chillax seating and its construction.

David
Earmark Marine

After some thinking I think using a W6 under the helm is my best and best looking option. Tim, what are the dimensions of the box that you are using and is it ported?

David:

Chillax seating is very similar (or same?) to what the supra's have in their walkthrough where the walkthrough section pivots up and locks into place to become a seat, opening up the under passenger side area to the rest of the boat.

Kevin,
Two identically sized woofers of different brands/models will have different parameters and so the recommended enclosures may be different, especially when you get into ported enclosures.

David
Earmark Marine

Well, the "chillax" seating refers to the seatbacks that flip up towards both the bow and the cabin. It gives a place to lean back against for someone sitting with their backs against the walkway areas. The seats flip up and lock in place. The area under the seats is hollow and carpeted. There is a carpeted opening under the seat backs (when raised) goes all the way up to the bow of the boat and extends back underneath the observer's seat. The area under the observer's seat also opens up into the Ob compartment itself. In other words, when the seatbacks are raised, the sound can travel, unimpeded, from the ob compartment out into the cabin of the boat.

I'll try to take some pictures and post them up this week.

David, I am not sure if this is what Chatt is talking about but a lot of the vertical seat bases are this open style like in the pic. If the observer storage area opens into the seat bases like this then it wouldn't need any ports made.

This is Chillax seating:

Does the observer storage area actually open up into that areaand does the seat being up like that open a huge hole to step in? If so it is kind of a terrible design. The Mob V I had with the same type of seating didn't have either of those things happen when the extra(chillax) seating was lifted up.

No there is not a huge hole. I know on the 09s there was a removable trim piece you could take out and then you had a huge hole. Made the sub sound great though. On our 2010 the trim piece is gone and it is just one solid piece and no way of making a hole. However when you put the seats up you can hear a big difference in the sub. The other issue right there is the plug and play front bag comes all the way up under those seats so when it is full the sound from the sub gets muffled again. So basically popping those seats up when in party cove or whatever gives you the best sound from a sub in the ob compartment.

There is an opening in my boat when the seat backs are up. I fail to see how that is a terrible design, considering the fact that you wouldn't try to walk through the area where the setbacks are with the setbacks raised anyway. Also, the design grants access to the area where the plug n play center bag goes....

The way the moomb play ben was desinged was that the bow cusions were 2 pieces. One for each half of the bow. This appears to be the way the Axis is. The moomb had one long piece of fiberglass that went from were your butt sits next to the observer all the way to the start of the bow area. This piece of fiberglass was hinged so the whole thing lifted up. Then there were 3 individual cushions on top of it. One for you butt, one for the seat back that lifted and then the 3rd that was the farthest forward in what I would consider the walk way. What youa re describing is that when that middle cushion(the one that lifts to become the seat back) is litfted it just leaves a hole down into the storage where the plug and play ballast sack goes. The just seems weird to me. It probably wouldn't matter 99% of the time but I could still see someone accidently stepping in it when walking from the bow back to the main cockpit. It really seems weird to me that there is an opening from the observers storage area to the storage area under the chillax seating. If that is the way it is though then there is no reason to add a port as long as you know you need the plug and play empty and chillax seat up to get full sound.

You would have to step over the seat back which would be a giant pain in the ass and misstep pretty bad to step into the hole. It is MUCH easier to just put the seat back down. You are right though just 2 seat cushions and each one raises up individually of the other. In a 110 hours of use on our axis last year plus how ever many hours we spent just hanging out no one stepped into that hole. I mean I agree it is possible but like you said 99% of the time it is a non issue. The hole has to be there though for the way the plug and play sac works. Basically when the sac is full it bows up both of those seats. It is a little of a design flaw though in that if someone were to sit down VERY hard on one of the chillax seats when the bag was full it could pop from one of the hinging mechanisms poking into it. I know a lot of axis owners have gotten around this worry by just putting a little piece of carpet over the part of the hinging mechanism that touches the bag. Hopefully Axis has fixed this minor flaw in the 2011s but I have no idea. Plus like Chattwake said you have to use that hole to get to the hoses to connect the plug and play bag. I would take some pictures of everything to post up if our boat wasn't 60 miles away in storage for the winter.

Again, I'll get some pics when I get my boat back from being detailed.

The chillax seating design is no more of a flaw that removable seat cushions in some boats or a garbage can door on the 230. If you're careless enough to step in an opening caused by the removal of a seat, the opening of a garbage can, the opening of a rear hatch, or the flipping up of seat backs, you don't belong on my boat anyway. I mean, it's not like my friends and I (when we have a sober drive and in the right environment) don't party on the lake and get a little inebriated from time to time, but I've never had a problem with someone stepping into a hole caused by x,y,z, on any of my boats and getting hurt.

I like the fact that there is an opening between the ob compartmetn and the center storage are (which is where the plug n play bag center goes if you add one. It made it soooooo much easier to wire the eq and run various wires to the front LED's.

Originally Posted by stepintoliquid

Tim,

In your opinion (since you know waaay more than I do about how things will work and sound) what is my best option? I already have the W7 and don't mind putting it anywhere in the boat (losing storage is not a worry). Should I have a box made for the W7 and put in under the passenger area, or is that space just not able accommodate such a large sub? I'm just looking to have the best sounding sub set up possible on an A22...

Sounds like following what Chat did would be the best option. I forgot that the seating on the Axis is all opened below. And you have the chillax center seat. So it will already have a large venting area. All other boats are sealed so you wind up having to add large vents.

I would measure what you think will fit for your W7. Ported if you can fit it. And go for it in that passenger OB.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Tim, that sub enclosure for the 12 looks real good. No sacrifice of space and well laid out! I like!

Chatt, I really am blowing it out of proportion. I am curious as well to see a pic of what it looks like when the seats are flipped up and how the oberserver storage area opens into the playpen storage area.

Tim, do you have any more pics of that enclosure? Like out of the boat? I'm just curious to see how it was all constructed. Very cool looking setup!!!

Thanks Tim, I will play with some of the ideas and post pics when im done!

Originally Posted by timmyb

Tim, do you have any more pics of that enclosure? Like out of the boat? I'm just curious to see how it was all constructed. Very cool looking setup!!!

No I dont. But if you email me, I will get you in contact with the dealer who made it. twhite@wetsounds.com

Tim
Wet Sounds