I had some time this weekend to check out the wiring of the Premium Clarion soundsystem on my '04 342. This system consists of three sets of 6.5's and tweeters (1 set in the berth, two sets in the cockpit), and two subs. I have a few observations and questions:

1) Seems as if the berth speakers are run directly off the head unit.

2) The two amps are wired in this manner: one for the left side speakers, one for the right side speakers, including the subs.

Q: Wouldn't it make more sense to run the 6.5's and the tweeters off of one amp, and the subs off of the other amp? Would 4 6.5's and 4 tweeters be too much for one of these amps?

3) One of the tweeters on the port side doesn't work.

Q: Am I correct in assuming that this is simply a case of the wiring from the 6.5 to the tweeter being the problem, since the 6.5 still works and there is only one set of wires for that 'set' going to the amp?

4) Port side subwoofer sounds as if the crossover is set incorrectly, as it is attempting to put out vocals and puts out substantially let bass than the starboard subwoofer

Q: Does anyone know the proper switch settings on the Clarion amps for crossovers, L, R, mono, etc.? I've attempted to download the amp's manual on the clarion website but I cannot find it listed. Does anyone have one or know where I can download one? I'm not sure of the model # of the amp but I'm sure it's the standard marine amp that Clarion / Baja used at the time.

Answer to Q 1: this is normal

Answer to Q 2: What monkey wired this up? the subs should be on their own amplifier

Answer to Q3: tweeter could be cooked but wiring the setup right might solve that issue.

Answer to Q4: See answer to Q3, wiring things up correctly will solve this.

And finally: Take pics of the amps and speakers especially any switches on the amps and PM me. I'll give you an email addy to send the pics to and get back to you with some suggestions.

Gregg,

Thanks for the help. It took a while but I found an installation manual for the APX 480M amps. There is actually a diagram in the manual showing how to wire the amp to set it up the way it's set up believe it or not.

I still think some day I've got some free time I'm going to wire the subs together on one amp and the component speakers on the other amp - should give me a cleaner sound...

Craig, I went through the same problems. For some reason the boys at baja do not have a clue how to wire the stereo systems. I would imagine it is probably just easier to wire them that way at the factory. I called a local guy who ripped all the wire out and rewired the correct way. I also went with better speakers but it all depends on how crazy you want to go. Offshore audio is the company and he is considered the best in this area in my opinion.

Mike,

I like your system - I may try to experiment with the re-wiring first, then if the sound doesn't get any better, I'll just find someone to rip it out and re-do it.

I've done most of my cars myself so I can probably do the boat - shouldn't be too hard.

Guys,

Turns out the problem was that they wired the component speakers wired to the bridged subwoofer terminals (which is why there was nothing coming from the tweeter - it was above the crossover cutoff - thankfully).

But the sub was wired to one of the full-range terminals.

When I wired it correctly, it was clear that there was damage to the sub - most likely from having to try to re-produce a full-range signal...

Dealer will take care of it since it's a) under warranty, and b) clearly someon'e error during production.

The moral of this story - even if you think your stereo sounds good - you may want to trace the wiring and check things out just to make 100% sure...

That's what my brain was thinking was wrong when we PM'd each other. I don't think anyone's done a factory stereo right, even my Fountain's speakers were wired out of phase when I got it. Can't wait until I can make the sound system a priority with that thing. Glad they're going to take care of it.
I think they knew that boat was going to Pitt...........and being from Ohio...............they did this on purpose!!!!