www.iFourWinns.com

The WS-420SQ is an awesome addition to any system, but its significantly more hardware then the Kicker dual-zone ZXM-RLC. The WS-420SQ offers 3 independent zone control control: tower, in-boats and sub, plus master volume. its also a dual EQ in one chassis. No other marine unit on the market like it. Both units are a pre-amp line driver, so you get a little bump in the signal to the amp.

Fade through the head-unit can work, but it can be a little cumbersome on the fly to go into the menu on some head-units to find the fade.

Thanks for the info.

It's really the tower speakers that we use the most when we're out playing so I think I'll be able to just set the cockpit speakers down a notch or two and leave it alone for the most part.

If not, dual zone looks like a good solution for minimal investment.

Thanks again.

Well, I installed the new Kicker speakers to replace the OEM ones.




Ran into a bit of a surprise when I finished the bow speakers and moved to the helm where the OEM speaker is fitted right tight to the hull. The Kicker speaker is at least a 1/2" deeper than the OEM unit so now I'm waiting on speaker ring adjusters to give me an inch of depth...




Should be nice when finished. Even though they are still running off the Sony unit, they sound waaay gooder.

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2011 H200
MerCruiser 5.0 MPI/Alpha 260 hp

I would be interested in seeing the finished installation with the rings included and also get your impressions of how they perform.
I had the same depth problem with Fusion speakers in the radar arch and opted for two regular depth speakers and two shallow mount speakers. The shallow mount speakers are "acceptable", but I would replace them with matching speakers for the other pair, but was concerned how they would look and perform with the rings attached. The other issue was I could not not find any Fusion rings (in Canada) and thought colour matching might be difficult.
Let us know how it turns out.

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Ernie Follis
It'll Do II
Four Winns 348 (2005)

Well, the 'universal fit' 1" depth increase speaker rings showed up the other day and I put them in tonight. I got them on eBay where they advertise the rings are for 5.25" to 6.5" speakers. I had to open the rings up a little bit with a dremel but then they installed fine.

Upon completion, it would appear that I should try to find a larger diameter ring to meet flush with the outer edge of the speaker grill...but...summer is coming and I want to boat now so it's on to installing PerfectPass.




BY THE WAY - the speakers DO sound amazing now that they're mounted solid and not touching the hull...funny.

Why not do a custom cut white HDPE spacer that fits both the speakers 6.98 OD and 5.0 ID? Or, an acrylic ring with LED strip. Just need to know the min thickness required.

Other than not knowing how to craft that with limited tools, it turns out that if the rings were any larger, they would not have fit flush against the wall of the boat without some more customizing to deal with the corner radius...also, I did think about acrylic rings with led but the speakers already have LEDs in the grill so I didn't want to get too silly...

What are those small lights you have, in front of your speakers?

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2011 Four Winns H180 SS.
Aussie built Mustang 2800.
SOLD - 1997 Four Winns Horizon RS

That's my single courtesy light skin believe.

I totally understand the dilemma. Hard to see how close it is to the radius. You could seek out a local plastics supply and fab shop and have them made for you. White HDPE would look so inconspicuous.

Agreed...I had thought about some white vinyl tape around the rings before installing and may still do that later...but really wanting to move on to Perfect Pass and LED lights at the moment. Might come back to the stereo for a power amp and a powered sub later in the season.