Pontoon sound system, need your advise

[rb8484]

Hey guys, I have a 24' toon and looking at putting in new speakers and maybe an amp. I am not looking at spending a huge amount of money, looking to get the most bang for my buck.

What would you guys recommend. I have a Kenwood marine deck now, bought it last year. I would like to put in 4-6 6.5 speakers and an amp. What do you all recommend?
Thanks!!

 

[calvinator]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

Kicker fan here!

(1) Kicker 5 Channel Amp.
(4) Kicker Marine 6.5 speakers.
(1) Kicker 10" Sub.

Will sound real nice.

Get Marine Speakers. b/c they tend to get wet from people in/out of the water.
I never bothered getting marine amp or sub b/c those are usually hidden away from people/water.

Will sound real nice.

 

[WaterDR]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I second that....kicker is genrally a good value for the sound.

Just a thought, though, you may not need 6.5s if you are gonna add a sub. The sub is better suited for 5 1/4's and those smaller speakers will produce much better mids and highs.

Anyway, I would contact Crutchfield and ask them.

Make sure you then have the amp set-up correctly with the cross-overs.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I'll put in a pitch for the Infinity Marine line of speakers. I put a set in last year and was very imperessed with the sound they put out of a 50w per channel receiver.

Amazon.com: Infinity Reference 6912m 6 x 9-Inch 105-Watt High-Performance 2-Way Marine Loudspeaker (Pair): Car Electronics

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

New speakers are a good bang for the buck. Put too expensive speakers in a boat, and they have a tendency to be stolen.

I was looking at Best Buy, who had my Sony head unit in my new pontoon boat. With 4 x 12 watts and all the bells and whistles, the price was just $59.95. Wow, things have changed. And it makes good noise.

If you go the power booster, you've got to be careful running down the battery. Most with heavy sounds really need 2 batteries.

 

[rb8484]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I was looking at maybe getting 2 sets of these. Polk Audio db651 6-1/2" Coaxial Car Speakers (Marine Certified)

Any input on them? What size amp should I get to power them? I need to get a new battery for the boat for this upcoming season, so I think I will put a dual battery setup in. Ill have to start another thread on how to set that up correctly when it comes time!

 

[Haerterich]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I added a 10" bazooka powered sub inside the console. Just to add a little extra punch. Already had 6 kicker speakers and amp from the factory. Strange amp setup. It is only a 4 channel amp, so only 4 out of 6 speaker connected to amp. Don't really understand that setup? Overall it sounds great!

 

[cc350]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I was looking at maybe getting 2 sets of these. Polk Audio db651 6-1/2" Coaxial Car Speakers (Marine Certified)

Any input on them? What size amp should I get to power them? I need to get a new battery for the boat for this upcoming season, so I think I will put a dual battery setup in. Ill have to start another thread on how to set that up correctly when it comes time!

I have the Polks in my boats. You'll be glad you got them!! By far the best sounding marine speakers.

 

[rb8484]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I have the Polks in my boats. You'll be glad you got them!! By far the best sounding marine speakers.

Are you using an amp with them?

 

[5150abf]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

There is a fairly new line of marine stereo stuff out that we started using as out high line stereo at work, it bumped Rockford Fosgate so it is pretty good, it is Wet Sounds and they have everything from head units to tower speakers and amps.

I had never heard of them but they sound amazing, never priced them but they should be in line with other higher end stereos.

 

[cc350]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

Are you using an amp with them?

Yes 400 watt pioneer plus 2 10" MBquart subs with 600 watt amp. The system blows away most others on the lake that spent 10 times we did. Even without the subs the Polks are awesome.

 

[rb8484]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

Yes 400 watt pioneer plus 2 10" MBquart subs with 600 watt amp. The system blows away most others on the lake that spent 10 times we did. Even without the subs the Polks are awesome.

Do you know what model amp you have? Is it a 4x100 amp?

 

[cc350]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

PIONEER GM-D8604 600W, it's rated 100x4.
I also run 2 12v deep cell batteries just for stereo amps. and 3 batteries for pontoon and stereo. Never run them down after all day playing. I also keep 5watt solar chargers connected. I boat at Lake Cumberland KY.

 

[rb8484]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

PIONEER GM-D8604 600W, it's rated 100x4.
I also run 2 12v deep cell batteries just for stereo amps. and 3 batteries for pontoon and stereo. Never run them down after all day playing. I also keep 5watt solar chargers connected. I boat at Lake Cumberland KY.

Wow, your running 5 batteries?? You have some money invested in the batteries! I am putting in 2 new batteries in this year.

 

[cc350]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

Well 1 of the 3 powers a trolling motor

 

[dls322]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

i run a Kenwood headunit with USB and 3.5 front inputs and Pandora direct....much better on power consumption to run off a junk drive or through your ipod, cd's will eat more juice sitting and skip while on the heavy waves. I am running 4 Kicker 6.5's. I really don't need an amp with the head unit output. I would defiantly recommend running 2 batteries and running them through a marine switch. That way when your floating you can turn one battery off and just use one for the radio, that way you know you have a charged battery to start the motor. A sub and amp would be cool but it think they are overboard for a boat and just drain you battery more then they are worth, especially since your in an open boat not a closed in room or car....my .02

 

[Cycleman07]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

Clarion also makes great stuff. I have a 6 speaker system with 10" sub amped.

 

[rb8484]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I ordered a battery switch last week. I ordered 2 pair of the Polk DB651 yesterday, got all 4 speakers for $119 shipped, thought that was a pretty good deal! I installed a Kenwood deck with USB and Pandora last summer. Now if the weather would warm up, I can start this small project. I also have a few other mods to come!
I just finished putting new carpet on the toon a few weeks ago and had a full cover made for it.

Cant wait for boating season!!!

 

[wiegs]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

I'm planning to run four polk db651 speakers and polk 10 inch sub. Powering with jl audio 5 channel amp. Not spending extra on marine amp since it will not get wet under the console.

 

[rb8484]

Re: Pontoon sound system, need your advise

Im going to get a polk amp, they are marine rated. Its not so much water getting on them as the high humidity on a boat. The polk amps are not that much, the one im looking at is $130