Marine Audio

[ken_kaniff]

What I'm wanting to do is add a radio to my 1988 Lowe 24' pontoon. The problem is that this boat has no gauges at all and there isn't really any place to install a radio. Does any one know of any enclosed or freestanding cd recievers? or even something that can be bolted down? I'm wanting anything that can but connected to some marine speakers and hooked up to the battery and can run. Or is my only option to build a box to hold a regular marine reciever? help is greatly appreciated

 

[fishie]

Re: Marine Audio

Yea bud check out bass pro shop, I saw several mounts there the other day. They may be right here on iboats. Check it out!

 

[salty87]

Re: Marine Audio

you could go old school on it...car cd player, amp, and speakers mounted in an ice chest. add some jacks on the outside to hook up power from your boat's battery so you don't have to leave anything behind when you're done.

neighbor has speakers mounted under the bench seats on his 'toon. skip the cd player and just use an ipod.

 

[Thunder_SS]

Re: Marine Audio

My sea ray has a old school tape player in it, but I have a tape adapter, so I can hook up a MP3 player via a 3.5mm head phone jack.

Works just as good as a CD player!! Sounds even better.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: Marine Audio

try this...

Also, I picked up a set of 6x9 enclosures at best buy this weekend... on clearence for $17.99. They aren't designed for marine applications, but I couldn't beat that price.

 

[ken_kaniff]

Re: Marine Audio

that water proof enclosed box seems to fit the ticket perfectly... thanks andy

now the ice chest idea has me really interested and might think about that a little more... easily transportable is nice...

any suggestions on marine speakers... i'm on a budget but wanna have some tunes...

 

[glassparguy]

Re: Marine Audio

I put a couple Jenson in my 17footer and it sounds good. Even with a car cd player. Check out westmarine.com. They have some good stuff at cheaper prices.

For a pontoon, you can go car woofers and should be fine. Marine and car audio brands seem bout the same to me. You get what you pay for!

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: Marine Audio

Unless you get a lot of water on your decks auto speakers will be fine and you can get a lot more quality product for a lot less money. Marine anything is more money, a good poly auto speaker will work fine. I would reccomend not mounting them pointed up however, build/buy some boxes for a good pair of 6x9 and you will be pleased with how they sound in small boxes. I have heard brand new marine speakers that were junk but they said marine so they were used anyways. If you had a ski/watersport type boat with alot of splashing, wet people etc in and out all the time it may be different. Good luck which ever way you go definately need tunes.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Marine Audio

Our host, iboats.com, has a good range of marine audio equipment. Try this link:

http://www.iboats.com/Marine_Audio_...ategory--**********.373224971--view_id.248077

 

[Knot Waiting]

Re: Marine Audio

Pioneer makes some very affordable high end marine speakers. MB Quart also makes some very nice marine crossovers. Kenwood, JBL, and Alpine offer decent subwoofers and amps.

I installed 2 12" Kenwood DVC Marine subwoofers in custom boxes, 2 600 watt amps and 6 Pioneer midrange crossovers in my boat... Rocks!

 

[salty87]

Re: Marine Audio

stereos on the few pontoons i've been on have suffered from having the speakers at your ankles, not pointed up any. if you can overcome that, you might be able to use smaller amp. outdoor waterproof speakers are also an option. you could easily rig a way to make them removable. i have a couple of tower speakers i always remove, i prefer removable....they never walk off and last years longer than leaving them out 24/7.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Marine Audio

There is a BIG difference between decent Automobile and decent Marine-ized stereos. In a decent marine-zed stereo, the circuit boards are coated with a coating called conformal coating. This is the same stuff that they cover military electronics with. I just took a stereo out of my boat. It was claimed to be working, but was not. It was a decent quality auto stereo. I replaced it with a Sony that I picked up on clearance at West Marine for $130 (including marine quality speakers). I also got a marine cover for the face plate. The only thing that I wish was that the speakers were flush mount. They required about 2 inches behind the panel. Unfortunately, the panel where I mounted them had only about 1.5 inches so I cut out a mounting ring to space them out from the panel.

By the way, my boat does not have any dash area to put the tuner in, so the prior owner cut a hole through the side of my steering console. Thus I also had to use his location. Looks great and sound great. The only questioon is why does it always take 2 or 3 times longer to do that sort of thing than it should. I have about 10 or 12 hours into the whole installation.

TerryMSU