Stereo Equipment

[The Dougler]

I'm looking to upgrade the equipment in my boat. However I'm having a hard time finding "good stuff". I don't want anything fancy, just an MP3/Ipod head unit and new speakers I need 2 X 6.5'' and 2 X 4'' or 4.5'' can't remember. Anyhow for speakers I'm not seeing a lot of great stuff out there. There's lots of Pyle, Boss, Jensen, but from my experience all that stuffs crap. Can anyone recommend a name brand speaker and or head unit that they own and have experience with? I'm talking Sony (even though I hate them), Pioneer, Panasonic, JBL, Polk, Clarion or whoever else that's actually well established. Bonus points for links to online retailers. Iboats leaves lots to be desired in this department IMO. Heck up here I can't even find 4'' speakers at Best buy

 

[mpsyamaha]

Re: Stereo Equipment

sony makes some decent and cheap marine headunits with aux inputs... check out west marine.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Stereo Equipment

Amazon has a very good selection and good prices, but there's one caveat. I learned after the fact that units bought there are not considered to have been bought from an authorized retailer, which means warranties will not be honored. That's the case with Clarion any way.

 

[JimKW]

Re: Stereo Equipment

I never play the stereo I have on my boat. Others don't want to listen to my boat stereo. Others who play theirs loud bother me too. Guess I'm getting old.

 

[brick75]

Re: Stereo Equipment

For your 6 1/2" speakers, go with Polk db651. They are rated as marine speakers, and Crutchfield has them on sale for $75. You'd be hard pressed to find a better speaker at this price.

 

[The Dougler]

Re: Stereo Equipment

For your 6 1/2" speakers, go with Polk db651. They are rated as marine speakers, and Crutchfield has them on sale for $75. You'd be hard pressed to find a better speaker at this price.

Those look good. Wonder if they will work with the factory grille's. I'm not one for flashy mounts.

 

[83Evinrude]

Re: Stereo Equipment

For your 6 1/2" speakers, go with Polk db651. They are rated as marine speakers, and Crutchfield has them on sale for $75.

+1 on the Polks, I love mine. Got them on sale at Amazon last fall for $50 per pair shipped.

 

[The Dougler]

Re: Stereo Equipment

+1 on the Polks, I love mine. Got them on sale at Amazon last fall for $50 per pair shipped.

Found a 4'' equivalent polk. Looks like I'm going to pull the trigger on these. Now a head unit will be the other trick. It's stuffed in the glove box so it has to be single DIN, and I'd like the ability for a wired remote at the helm, since there's an existing one anyhow. Suggestions? or hidden models like these polks that I would have never noticed because they are not listed as marine on most websites.

 

[brick75]

Re: Stereo Equipment

For the stereo, it really just depends on your budget. I'd stick with Alpine, Clarion or Sony (probably in that order) and check online for one that fits your needs. Crutchfield and Amazon are two reputable resources that usually offer the lowest prices if you don't have many local spots to shop at.

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: Stereo Equipment

I second the Alpine vote, always is top quality stuff that lasts.

 

[JimKW]

Re: Stereo Equipment

I am really into high end equipment which is the reason I don't want to get into putting a system in my boat. I play music loud and on a lake is not the place for that. If you want some really high end speakers, you should check Focal speakers out:

http://www.focal-america.com/category/speakers/

Not sure you could use them in a marine envrionment though, and they are not cheap.

I put them in a Porsche I had a few years back and they were fantastic. Can not remember the brand of my head unit (Alpine I think) or amp. No subwoofers though. I hate subwoofers in cars, but I do have a Paradign with my home theatre.

 

[The Dougler]

Re: Stereo Equipment

Not looking for super high end or anything, just reasonable mid range stuff. The factory crap in the boat is horrible. I just went out and actually inspected whats in it, and it's all cheap junk I've never heard of. Worst off, is I can't even re-use the covers. Now I either have to find cheap covers for the polks or start looking for something else.

 

[JimKW]

Re: Stereo Equipment

A young guy owned the boat I bought and he has some Bose 6 X 9's in it and he had a subwoofer too when I first saw it. I had him take the sub out, but the Bose are still in there. I think the speakers might be ok, but the head unit sucks. I really never play it though. One Sunday morning I was out by myself on the lake and I put in Dark Side of the Moon and ran it WOT for a while. Boat ran good, stereo sounded like crap and pretty much haven't had played it again except for a little every once in a while at low volume.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Stereo Equipment

A young guy owned the boat I bought and he has some Bose 6 X 9's in it and he had a subwoofer too when I first saw it.

no highs no lows must be bose...

(that saying never gets old!)

 

[NelsonQ]

Re: Stereo Equipment

I second the Alpine vote, always is top quality stuff that lasts.

Dougler, living in the GTA, you get hammered ordering stuff out of the states over $100 (good old Canadian Customs Grab Me Tax)

I can tell you without question, go Alpine for your head unit. Amazing.

I bought mine from BC at Visions.ca

You love it and won`t get hammered the extra 10-30% from customs. Or try ebay but I found it cheaper to buy from Visions.

I sold that boat. Got a brand new one with a Sony Marine and 2x6.5 speakers. Since I just drop $$$ for the new boat, the stereo will be next years upgrade but I`m going Alpine head unit and JBL marines throughout.

I've seen the JBLs on ebay pretty inexpensive (best bang for the buck) but my last stereo had the Alpine marines. They were pretty solid too.

 

[Shife]

Re: Stereo Equipment

no highs no lows must be bose...

(that saying never gets old!)

Ya. Expecting high quality sound from any speaker setup absent a properly sized and adjusted sub is a pretty tall order. I've never been a fan of the Bose car/home audio stuff but their environmental speakers are tough to beat for outdoor use. The rest of their lineup always seemed too gimmicky and overpriced.

Anyways.... As for speakers I recently picked up a NOS Kicker KM620.2 component set off eBay and have been very happy with it. I'm powering them off an old PPI Art Series 50x2. I used Kicker component sets back in my car stereo days in the early '90s and while I can't stand the chintzy grills on these the sound is more than acceptable for the price. I also have a set of Poly Planar 840B speakers run off the head unit to fill in the upper end. I'm using an old JVC car head unit for now until I splurge for something nicer. It's an old crapper so if the moisture takes it out, no big deal.

I'm not expecting to reproduce classical Mozart so a set of horns, a sub, and a 1/3rd octave EQ aren't on the list for my fishing boat.

 

[mogfisher]

Re: Stereo Equipment

The Alpine CDA-9886M would work well for you. Its got the ability to add the MC10 which is like a wired remote, but wireless, sorta. It still needs power and ground but communicates with the head unit wireless. You can also add an RUE-M1RF to it which is a keyfob like wireless remote that is waterproof and floats. You could use it as a key bobber if you like. I think Crutchfield carries all of that.

 

[The Dougler]

Re: Stereo Equipment

The Alpine CDA-9886M would work well for you. Its got the ability to add the MC10 which is like a wired remote, but wireless, sorta. It still needs power and ground but communicates with the head unit wireless. You can also add an RUE-M1RF to it which is a keyfob like wireless remote that is waterproof and floats. You could use it as a key bobber if you like. I think Crutchfield carries all of that.

Thanks for the tip. Crutchfield has all of it, but I wasn't exactly looking to spend "Alpine" money. Right now I'm looking at Kenwood KMR-440U and Sony CDXM60UI. I like the kenwood for USB on the front, which is 1 less additional hole to make during installation.

 

[Shife]

Re: Stereo Equipment

Thanks for the tip. Crutchfield has all of it, but I wasn't exactly looking to spend "Alpine" money. Right now I'm looking at Kenwood KMR-440U and Sony CDXM60UI. I like the kenwood for USB on the front, which is 1 less additional hole to make during installation.

FYI for speakers you can find the no longer produced KM620.2 component set for about $60 on eBay.

The tweeters can be surface, flush, and angle mounted. I didn't have a hole saw handy so I surface mounted mine for now. The crossovers are mounted behind the trim panels next to the drivers. The crossover can be snapped to the back of the driver to simplify mounting if you have enough depth. Like I said, I can't stand the grills, but those can always be changed. For the $54 incl. shipping I paid I am more than satisfied.

 

[truckermatt]

Re: Stereo Equipment

for speakers i just installed 4 new ones in my boat.... i got the from west marine online... thye actually sound very nice. i got 2 6.5" white and 2- 4" white ones.... And now i see they are one sale on the website... darnnit.
heres a link
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=10103&subdeptNum=10333&classNum=10335

for the head unit. it all depends on what options you want... I have a DUAL receiver and it has the USB/IPOD input and i plug my flash drive into it and play from that.