Winter Stereo Upgrade Project - Exile Setup

[chpthril]

I am hoping to get the sub knocked this week. I have to head to Ohio on the 18th, and I won't be back until the 26th. Here is a pick with the amps trying to figure out how I want them. I am following in your footsteps maj.

Looks like its coming along nicely The walk-thru wall in the port mid-ship storage has a glassed in composite board just for mounting amps. If you want to go to the out side wall, you will need to build an amp wall. This route makes for a very clean install as the wall gets mounted to hull with standoffs. This creates a nice raceway for the wires to hide behind.

[hyphen79]

Looks like its coming along nicely The walk-thru wall in the port mid-ship storage has a glassed in composite board just for mounting amps. If you want to go to the out side wall, you will need to build an amp wall. This route makes for a very clean install as the wall gets mounted to hull with standoffs. This creates a nice raceway for the wires to hide behind.

CHP, the walk through wall on my boat didn't feel like it could really hold any thing. So I decided to go with a setup similar to what Majestic did on his boat. The plan right now is to create an amp wall like you talked about, and then I plan on having the amps raised off of that about 1/2 an inch. This way it will help hide the wires, and give the amps some room to breathe. Pictures to come of the amp installation in the next week.

[Brianinpdx]

Hyphen - looking really good. I promise by the time your done, you'll know EVERYthing bout your stereo. Majestic knows what I'm talking about. it's a lot of effort and work, but in the end it will really be WOW!.

Enjoy!

-Brian
Exile Audio

[Hardy6pack]

Looking really nice. I'm sorting out what I'm going to be doing. Can't wait. I think going with similar set up as you with but doing the hybrid.
Keep up the sweet work and keep posting picture and feed back to help me out on mine.
Thank
Kenny

[chpthril]

Looking really nice. I'm sorting out what I'm going to be doing. Can't wait. I think going with similar set up as you with but doing the hybrid.
Keep up the sweet work and keep posting picture and feed back to help me out on mine.
Thank
Kenny

Kenny,

The Exile "Hybrid" was really s stop-gap setup until the larger XM9 was due to release. If you want a system that will be both pleasing near-field and have the projection for wake-boarding, then 1 or 2 pair large HLCD's like the XM9's is the way to go. If you are looking for simply a surf/party cove setup, then 2 pair of coax based speakers like the SXT-65 is the ticket.

IF you do decide to stick with the Hybrid, then I highly recommend doing it with two amps: one for the XM7's and the 2nd for the SXT-65's. It also is a good idea to have a means to dial down the XM7 while surfing, etc. This reduces some of the inherent harshness of the small HLCD's.

[hyphen79]

Kenny,

The Exile "Hybrid" was really s stop-gap setup until the larger XM9 was due to release. If you want a system that will be both pleasing near-field and have the projection for wake-boarding, then 1 or 2 pair large HLCD's like the XM9's is the way to go. If you are looking for simply a surf/party cove setup, then 2 pair of coax based speakers like the SXT-65 is the ticket.

IF you do decide to stick with the Hybrid, then I highly recommend doing it with two amps: one for the XM7's and the 2nd for the SXT-65's. It also is a good idea to have a means to dial down the XM7 while surfing, etc. This reduces some of the inherent harshness of the small HLCD's.

x2 on this - I recall a conversation I had with Brian at Exile about this. The Harpoon can handle it, but if you want those XM7s to really scream you are going to want them on an their own dedicated amp.

I wanted the Hybrid setup, and I am still contemplating it, but if you look at my tower it's going to be TIIIIIIIIIIGHT fit. Majestic's boat has a 102" beam where I have 96". Those extra 6 inches makes a difference. Just a thought.

Looks like I won't have any updates before I head to Ohio. Work has me SLAMMMMMED this week, and my schedule next week is starting to fill up all ready.

[chpthril]

The Harpoon can handle it, but if you want those XM7s to really scream you are going to want them on an their own dedicated amp.

Actually, the Harpoon cant handle it, for two reasons. One, running 6 speakers puts the amp seeing a 1.33 Ohm load. On an amp that stated to not be stable below 2 Ohm p/chnl, this leads to the amp going into protect mode if pushed. 2nd, the Harpoon is under powered to effectively drive 6 speakers to their comfortable range.

[Hardy6pack]

What about running 2 pair of the SXT-65 and A pair of XM9 with two Hypoon amps? I'm looking for all around sound, surfing, boarding, party cove, and hanging on shore. I first looked into the wet sounds 3some but really like the quick connect. Thoughts?

[chpthril]

What about running 2 pair of the SXT-65 and A pair of XM9 with two Hypoon amps? I'm looking for all around sound, surfing, boarding, party cove, and hanging on shore. I first looked into the wet sounds 3some but really like the quick connect. Thoughts?

Just an FYI, The Wet Sounds TC-3 clamp is a quick connect.

The XM9 will deliver what the 4 SXT-65's gave to the XM7's. No need for 6 pods and 2 amps.

[Hardy6pack]

Just an FYI, The Wet Sounds TC-3 clamp is a quick connect.

The XM9 will deliver what the 4 SXT-65's gave to the XM7's. No need for 6 pods and 2 amps.

Thanks
Makes my descision that much harder.

[majestic]

x2 on this - I recall a conversation I had with Brian at Exile about this. The Harpoon can handle it, but if you want those XM7s to really scream you are going to want them on an their own dedicated amp.

I wanted the Hybrid setup, and I am still contemplating it, but if you look at my tower it's going to be TIIIIIIIIIIGHT fit. Majestic's boat has a 102" beam where I have 96". Those extra 6 inches makes a difference. Just a thought.

Looks like I won't have any updates before I head to Ohio. Work has me SLAMMMMMED this week, and my schedule next week is starting to fill up all ready.

I can assure you my XM-7's scream off of one Harpoon. If I thought I needed more I would add another amp but it is not needed. My Harpoon has been driven hard and never gone into protect mode.

[majestic]

Looking really nice. I'm sorting out what I'm going to be doing. Can't wait. I think going with similar set up as you with but doing the hybrid.
Keep up the sweet work and keep posting picture and feed back to help me out on mine.
Thank
Kenny

Kenny- here is the link to my Hybrid system;

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16071

I am running all 6 pods off of the Harpoon and no issues all last Summer.

[hyphen79]

Kenny, it's from majestic's thread that I got most of my ideas for my setup. He is went through all the things that I am going through with my current install.

[Brianinpdx]

Kenny - I received your email an responded this morning. For the forums sake, I'll go over those answers for everyone's benefit.

First off the hybrid is a fantastic setup. By no means is it a stop gap to the XM9 setups. Nothing is black and white in the stereo world. It was not that far back that numerous people stated publicly the Exile Hybrid setup cannot at done because it mixes technologies and such. My suggestion is have a listen before anyone dismisses it. You'll probably walk away saying wow! The Hybrid setups like Majestics are always head turners again and again. Don't take my word for it. Ask the people running them. Or better yet, the people that have listened to them...hehe.

This design is aimed at the boater that wants a smaller enclosure on his tower (read head bumps), demands Sound Quality and still wants fantastic performance at wake distance. This is a SIX enclosure setup. Many people ask me about doing 1 pair of XM7's and 1 pair of SXT's. This is not a good idea because the XM7 still dominates the SXT unclose and afar. When used on a 2-1 basis, things change dramatically. From a sound quality point of view, the SXT is hard to beat. Period.

From an amplifier point of view, we recommend running the hybrid setup with 2 harpoons. 1 for the SXT's and another for the XM7's. Some of the Malibu guys use the XM9 in the setup because its physically stacked, and it then must be bi-amped because it requires a lower crossover point than the smaller SXT's / XM7's. Can you run the Hybrid setup with 1 harpoon? Yes you can, and you'll see many guys like Majestic that have zero problems with it. This is PRIMARILY due to location. I would not suggest guys in Texas run a 1 harpoon Hybrid setup. It's just asking for trouble. Can the amp run at 1.3 ohm load? Yup. Pretty amazing. But again, in parts of the country like Texas, You will thermally exceed its ability to cool itself. Answer = run 2 harpoon. This is the way Exile lists it on our website.

Now, this begs the question about XM9's all together... versus the Hybrid. Again its not a black and white thing here. We designed the XM9 in a slightly bigger enclosure and optimized its design to have mid bass punch. Other brands have a bigger enclosure that would provide more of a boom sound, but we value mid bass punch over lower freq boom because we are going to assume your going to have a subwoofer in use in the system. This is not to say, the XM9 is bass poor by any means. As compared to the XM7, its a substantial upgrade really packs mid bass punch.

So whats better? Really hard to say. You have to look at all these factors, and weigh the costs associated with them. Both are excellent choices. Hybrid gets more complicated amplifier wise, and the XM9 is more forward approach.

Hope that sheds some light on the topic. PM me if you have any other questions.

-Brian
Exile Audio

[duffymahoney]

I am getting ready to clean up my amp install, do you have better pictures of behind the amp panel? How did you hook everything up?