Jcoombs

Hey there. I have a 2006 Donzi 38ZR with the bench rear seat and I want to put a sub system in it. I'm not a stereo expert by any means. I had a stereo shop tell me I should mount four 10" (Non Infinite Baffle) JL Marine subs along the back fiberglass panel under the rear seat and build enclosures for them. To give an idea on location to where they would be, when your sitting on the back bench your calves would be against the subs. Half the space under the bench seat is for vests/storage and the other half of the seat is a built in cooler so the enclosures (sub boxes) will fit in those spaces just fine. The subs would stick out of the fiberglass wall under the bench seat but not necessarily mount to the fiberglass wall eliminating the vibration and rattling sound the subs would produce. A friend of mind mounted IB subs to that wall and it rattled God awful and didn't sound good. Has anyone ever mounted a sub system in this boat or similar and if so what did you do and how did it sound? With the cockpit being open and subs facing outwards, I wonder if the bass would ever get low.

Thanks!

Jonathan

IGetWet

4 10s should shake the whole dam boat shake and make ripples on the water nicely. A bit overkill imo because you’ll be taking up all that storage under the bench then. Is the plan to remove the cooler on the port side completely or just drill and mount thru/into it? I have 1 10” in our 38 mounted in the center in the bench, works well enough for us. I really like the bass rumble from the motors while idling. While tied up hanging out at the sand tavern the portable Bluetooth speakers are the way to go nowadays imo, unless you have speakers outside of the cockpit pointed towards the water.

Unfortunately there’s just not many spots for speaker mounting in the ZRs. What I’d really like to do is get some 6.5s up higher where we could actually hear the music better while running.

Jcoombs

Thanks Igetwet. Glad to know you have done the same location site and that it sounds good. Four might be too much but as of now, no one can get JL subs so it doesn’t matter anyways. I wasn’t planning to remove the cooler and didn’t know you could. Is that easy to do? I would prefer to move that if possible. Also, is it easy to remove the center piece of upholstery? The two end pieces pop out but I still haven’t figured how to remove the center one.

What sub do you have? Is it in an enclosure or just a free air application?

thanks!

Jcoombs

I meant to tell you earlier I have six 8” kicker marine coaxial speakers in the cockpit and two in the cabin. Sadly, you have to crank it to hear it when your off the boat. Very hard to compete and almost impossible to compete with any tower speaker boat. Bluetooth speakers are a great idea.

neva satisfied

You can mount (2) 10" subs in each side of the gunnels just behind the bolsters. Most ZRs are wired to one side for a sub in that spot. I had (2) IB JL subs in one of my old ZRs and it sounded fine. You might be able to shoehorn a 12" in there.

Helmwurst

Subs do not necessarily need to be seen to be heard.

Jcoombs

Thanks Neva for the details. I will check that out and keep that in mind. And great point Helmwurst. I would prefer they were hidden actually.

cmoore7

I have 4 JL 7.7"s and 4 6.5"s and 2 10" subs. 2 of the 7.7s are mounted in the custom box on the dash and the other 2 are in the arm rests behind the front seats. The 6.5s are in the factory mounting locations on the floor. The subs are mounted next to each in the rear bench. I never had a box made for them, they just are mounted to the face board of the rear bench, no issues. The 7.7s facing you on the dash by far out perform the rest of the system, just because the music is aimed right at you.

Jcoombs

That’s interesting cmoore7! I like that look. Did a stereo shop build that box on top of your dash? I’m sure those speakers do dominate being that high. When all your speakers are low getting them higher has been challenging. Glad to hear about the 10 not causing any issues. Does anything vibrate badly when it hits on the bench seat wall? Thanks for the pic!

cmoore7

Yes, they made the box custom to my dash/windshield. The only thing the vibrated when they hit is the plastic cover to the battery switches and keys, i just took it out and put the seat cushion back on top.