Marine Audio Recommendations

[blgaudio 10+ year member]

Can anyone recommend a good set-up for my boat? From the factory it had 4 6.5in speakers and a cheapo am/fm cd player.Sound quality def sucks at any volume level. I've upgraded the hu to a pioneer cd/mp3, not sure of the model right off top of my head. I want alot of bass response but do not want to sacrifice storage space, or cut out a hole large enough to install a sub. This is what I have in mind, cutting out the 6.5 holes to fit 6x9's and running 4 6x9's on a 4 channel amp. This is the only set-up that I can think of that will carry enough to be heard over the wind, engine, etc. and give me the desired bass I'm wanting, while not taking up too much space or not hurting my wallet.

The boat is a 1998 Caravelle 1900BR.

As of right now it has speakers under the driver and passenger dash, and speakers mounted just below the back seat.(non-amplified)

What I'm wanting to use:

Speakers

Amplifier

Has anyone used the above products? Can you give me a review?

Thanks in Advance!

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[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

nothing is a substitute for the lows. just get a small sub, like 8" or something with a small sealed box for it.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Sony makes a nice Marine radio...I think Alpine is the best on the market right now....

 

[blackman 10+ year member]

I would suggest something waterproof //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[blgaudio 10+ year member]

I would suggest something waterproof

Haha yeah good suggestion.

Sony makes a nice Marine radio...I think Alpine is the best on the market right now....

I had a Alpine in my old boat and loved it but I just dont wanna shell out the dough for something im going to use four months out of the year. I use the boat in freshwater so corossion is not an issue.

nothing is a substitute for the lows. just get a small sub, like 8" or something with a small sealed box for it.

I may end up just slapping a 10 in there I may have found me a good spot, now the only question is am I brave enough to cut into the vinyl to make a hole??

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

u are brave enough, get to work son

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

... now the only question is am I brave enough to cut into the vinyl to make a hole??

Vinyl?? Fiberglass I hope you meant.

Still waiting on the bravery to cut a 10" hole in my Cobalt, for my Kicker KM10 sub. But ... Kicker 5-ch amp is on its way, so it's gotta happen within the next few days!

 

[mgoblue 10+ year member]

As far as speakers, a buddy of mine just put 4 jl audio m650's with a pdx 4.150 and its sounds very good, real loud and clear. he also put in 2 free air jl audio marine 10's in the back under the rear seat powered buy a pdx 1.600 and it sounds alright, dosent blow you away or anything like that, I think it would sound better if he could seal those subs somehow. the system that this replaced was all kenwood marine products , the jl speakers to me sounded to me 10 times better than the kenwoods, and as far subs I couldnt tell too much of a difference. I also got a chance to hear some of the new alpine marine speakers in a boat I and thought they sounded decent , about like the kenwoods.

 

[pentavolvo 10+ year member]

Highly recommend the polk audio db's have 2 sets in my boat for 4 years now still going strong. You can go with a 2 channel actually just run it at 2 ohm per channel, who needs fade in a boat. IMO going to 6x9s will sound like crap stick with the 6.5s. Maybe add a new speaker location, the under dash speakers are really killing you