Down Fire Zone Control Issue

[Brandon 0]

Hello all, I have a 2016 RI217 with the down fire audio system. My zone controller knob has been doing something odd and it has been this way since i got the boat a few weeks ago. I will try to explain. The zone controller knob, as most of you know, is suppose to control the inboard and down fire speakers independently of the back firing speakers. This allows you to not blast the inboard guests but the surfer can get as much volume as he/she likes. Somehow instead of doing that my knob controls the sound to the left and right of the boat (including the tower and in the boat) acting like a balancing knob. The little knob controls the left side of the boat and the larger knob control the right side of the boat. I have pulled the wires for the knob and they are all attached properly (as labeled). This leads me to believe something else is mixed up somewhere that i am not able to spot. I took this boat "new" with 5 year warranty so this is ultimately on the dealer but with the current state of everything it was best to just get my boat for use while i could. If it is just a wire someplace i would love to fix this one myself.

 

Does anyone know what is going on? 

 

Thank you

[Troy 234]

RCA's got swapped. I installed a knob like this in my boat. Easy to get RCA's swapped.  Have the radio going and unplug 1 RCA at a time from the knob and see what stops working then move it to where it is supposed to go. 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Troy

[Brandon 0]

On 4/7/2020 at 11:30 AM, Troy said:

RCA's got swapped. I installed a knob like this in my boat. Easy to get RCA's swapped.  Have the radio going and unplug 1 RCA at a time from the knob and see what stops working then move it to where it is supposed to go. 

I have tried that but i didn't have the sound going while i was doing it......... I am sure you are right. There can only be so many combinations or plug orientations before it is set up right. It is driving me nuts!!

[Brandon 0]

Follow up, the way I have it wired now I can have full volume on all speakers and i can turn off the rear firing speakers but I can not have just the rear speakers on and turn the in boat speakers down. I found the below image that describes the functionality of the knob.

 

 

[Troy 234]

Interesting. So I installed mine in my boat and one in my buddies 2020 Vi24. I wired both the same way. Rear firing on one knob and the inboats (and downfiring on mine, he doesn't have downfire) on the other. I can turn either all the way up or down by just twisting the knob. We leave the master volume on the radio at one level and then just turn the speakers up or down via the Dual Zone Volume knob. The nice thing about that knob is you can configure it any way you want.  

[Brandon 0]

On 4/13/2020 at 9:29 AM, Troy said:

Interesting. So I installed mine in my boat and one in my buddies 2020 Vi24. I wired both the same way. Rear firing on one knob and the inboats (and downfiring on mine, he doesn't have downfire) on the other. I can turn either all the way up or down by just twisting the knob. We leave the master volume on the radio at one level and then just turn the speakers up or down via the Dual Zone Volume knob. The nice thing about that knob is you can configure it any way you want.  

That is the configuration that I want and exactly how it is intended to be used! I think I haven't tried all of the possible wiring configurations to get what i want yet. What i do know is that plugging everything in as labeled does not work. It only puts the right speakers on the big knob and the left speakers on the little knob. It is frustrating for sure. Still working on it.

[Troy 234]

you might have to move around RCA's on the amp also. The downfireing and inboat amps need to be "y"ed or piggy backed.  When I wired mine, the inboats and the Downfiring are on one amp. the rear facing are on another amp.  just need to see where the RCA's go.  If you were in DFW area, I'd look at it for you. 

[Brandon 0]

38 minutes ago, Troy said:

you might have to move around RCA's on the amp also. The downfireing and inboat amps need to be "y"ed or piggy backed.  When I wired mine, the inboats and the Downfiring are on one amp. the rear facing are on another amp.  just need to see where the RCA's go.  If you were in DFW area, I'd look at it for you. 

The problem has to be at the amp. I got in there today and messed with literally every configuration at the knob connection, no luck.

POSSIBLY CONFUSING STATEMENT, I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE: The best I can get is the inboard/down fire speakers on the little knob and and and the back fire speakers on the large knob. That sounds like the proper configuration but let me explain. I can not "turn up" the back fire speakers on their own. I can turn them all the way down with the large knob or turn them all the way up.  The "all the way up" i am referring to will only go as loud as I have my in board/down fires. So the little knob is acting as a master volume for all speakers and I can turn the back firing speakers off or down. What I am looking for is independent control for the back firing speakers and in boards/down fire, as god intended.

Do you have a crude drawing or sketch of how the wires are supposed to be at the amps? I have three and all of this is factory.  I am a novice sound guy obviously and don't want to mess it up completely and have no sound. 

[Troy 234]

That's weird.  So if you have the little knob all the way down, the big knob all the way up, you have no sound?

I'm going to DM you my number. Maybe on the phone we can figure this out. 

[Brandon 0]

1 hour ago, Troy said:

That's weird.  So if you have the little knob all the way down, the big knob all the way up, you have no sound?

I'm going to DM you my number. Maybe on the phone we can figure this out. 

Yes exactly! Conversely I can have full volume on all speakers with the little knob up and turn the back fires all the way down with the large knob.

 

I'll look for your number, thanks!

[knot4sail 0]

I have a 2016 Ri237 and need to add more base to the rear facing speakers. Radio is out of warranty so i don't mind adjusting the gain, just don't know which amp to adjust. Any ideas? I have 3 amps and I assume one is for the sub.

[Troy 234]

To find out which amp is which.  Have the radio playing and unplug the RCA's (note where the rca's are plugged in and colors) from the amp and listen to which speakers stopped playing.  

[Wylie_Tunes 146]

Gain will not add any bass to the system, but will lead to blow drivers. With that said, I would not suggest increasing bass to any tower pod. This will surly lead to over excursion, resulting in a mechanically damaged driver. A tower pod can only effectively reproduce mid-bass to a point.