Tuning Amps on 2019 R7 Platinum Sound

[Bradydonohue]

Hello,

We just got our 19 R7 with Platinum sound. I feel like we should be getting more range out of the system especially in the bass department considering we have 2 subs and can barely hear them. Is this something you can tune on the amps? Does this void warranty? Any information would help.

TIA

[Big Block Power]

My suggestion would be to bring it to a high end stereo/audio shop. Where do you live. Who has a good reputation. We have a few in our small city.
The answer is yes it can be tuned. The answer is would they know it got tuned?
Tuning it correctly wont hurt it.

[MnLakeBum]

Hello,

We just got our 19 R7 with Platinum sound. I feel like we should be getting more range out of the system especially in the bass department considering we have 2 subs and can barely hear them. Is this something you can tune on the amps? Does this void warranty? Any information would help.

TIA

Back in the late ‘80s to late 90’s I used to sell car audio gear for boats and cars and also competed in more than a few car stereo competitions so I’ll throw in my two cents. They can turn up the gain on the amps and adjust the crossover but the factory platinum bass isn’t great (I have it in my R5).


You are battling physics. Getting good bass in a boat is tough without some high end 12-15” woofers and lots of power. The inside of a car/suv is a fixed airspace which makes it easy to compress the air within that space and get hard hitting bass from just a single 10” woofer and moderate power. A medium size living room is a much larger space and requires a larger woofer with more power and likely won’t sound as good as the bass from a moderate system in a car. With an open bow boat your basically outside trying to compress an space with unlimited volume which is why it is so difficult to get good bass. Just like an outdoor concert, the only good bass is standing close to one of the larger woofers up by the stage. A large, ported enclosure for the woofer will give you the most bass for the money but the only really good bass I’ve heard on a boat utilized a pair of $900 woofers, custom fiberglass enclosures, and $3000 worth of amps to run them. A great system that resulted in him pissing off his wife and a lot of other boaters.

[tbully]

Going from memory (last year):
1) Make sure your “sub” zone is turned up sufficiently on your head unit
2) There are boost and gain controls under the amplifiers’ panels which are held on my a number of hex screws. My amps are stacked and the amp driving the subs was on the bottom. This meant I had to separate the stack to get to the second amp.

There’s a thread on here discussing which channels had to be adjusted. I put a small write-up together.

Check this: viewtopic.php?f=44&t=1621&p=37526#p37526

[sailor55330]

Hello,

We just got our 19 R7 with Platinum sound. I feel like we should be getting more range out of the system especially in the bass department considering we have 2 subs and can barely hear them. Is this something you can tune on the amps? Does this void warranty? Any information would help.

TIA

Back in the late ‘80s to late 90’s I used to sell car audio gear for boats and cars and also competed in more than a few car stereo competitions so I’ll throw in my two cents. They can turn up the gain on the amps and adjust the crossover but the factory platinum bass isn’t great (I have it in my R5).


You are battling physics. Getting good bass in a boat is tough without some high end 12-15” woofers and lots of power. The inside of a car/suv is a fixed airspace which makes it easy to compress the air within that space and get hard hitting bass from just a single 10” woofer and moderate power. A medium size living room is a much larger space and requires a larger woofer with more power and likely won’t sound as good as the bass from a moderate system in a car. With an open bow boat your basically outside trying to compress an space with unlimited volume which is why it is so difficult to get good bass. Just like an outdoor concert, the only good bass is standing close to one of the larger woofers up by the stage. A large, ported enclosure for the woofer will give you the most bass for the money but the only really good bass I’ve heard on a boat utilized a pair of $900 woofers, custom fiberglass enclosures, and $3000 worth of amps to run them. A great system that resulted in him pissing off his wife and a lot of other boaters.

Bum is spot on here. I used to build car stereos quite a bit (Hey Bum--I got 156DB out of a single 10"--hows that?) It's all a matter of airspace. With that said, My R3 hits pretty well actually given the environment. The RF head units interface pretty well and actually have a fair amount of adjustment in them.

I've "tuned" a fair number of friends stereos (car, boat, home--still have the ole SPL meter) and it's not difficult once you figure out the controls. The frustrating part is when a manufacturer's head unit won't hold the settings. I have a friend with a $100k pontoon and the high end Sony head unit. Every time he powers off the boat, the system goes back to a flat EQ factory setting. Takes 15 mins to redo it everytime otherwise it doesn't sound good at all.