Subs in a boat!!!!!

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

Ahhhh ok got it. Only boats we own are outboards //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Boat_guy]

It's not a bad motor but she's out dated big time. I will be using a Alpine CDA 9886m head unit, not sure what I will be using for speakers either JL marine components, or Wetsounds components... Haven't made up my mind.

 

[bbeljefe]

The reason people complain that high xmax subs don't perform well is that they stick them in boxes with too little port area. High excursion means moving more air and when you try to send more air through a vent than it's capable of moving, you create compression in the box & often times, port noise. Regardless, result is poor sound quality or, at best, "not punchy".

Personally, I've not run the X series but I have run the Zv3s and they're very nice subs. They will get stupid on rated but they'll get more than stupid on double rated and, I was never able to heat mineup on double rated power, even in summer.

As for the alleged problem that boats are open... most people demo with their windows down because the bass sounds better and sometimes, it's even better with the doors open. That said, of course the bass won't hit as hard (all other things being equal) in a boat but that just means that overbuilding the sub stage is more important if you're a basshead.

 

[Boat_guy]

We do love our bass but we also like country songs to which sometimes can surprise a guy with how much bass there is in a country song. But what I'm really getting at is, that its seems to be pretty easy to get the dbs in the highs and mids but bass falls short especially at 55 or 60mph. Every marine sub I've heared sounded like Walmart garbage and sad to say yes even JL, but they by far had the best marine sub. But how many ppl really spend time tuning a boat sub not many or atleast around here. That's why I've resorted to car audio subs much higher quality and more to choose from. I settled on Sundown because of customer satifaction and customer service/warrenty.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

what did sundown say when you told them it would be in a boat? no warrenty?

 

[Boat_guy]

I did not contact them but just reviews I've read and there warrenty on their site. I'm not worried one bit about water or moisture damage. Would love to see a Sundown marine line but wouldn't want to see the price tag lol.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

^^ spot on, just so we are clean, will sundown cover your sub if you use it in a boat application? I don't see why they wouldn't but just for piece of mind it's nice to no.

 

[Boat_guy]

When the time comes I'll probably mention it to them I have nothing to hide. Should be a sweet little set up, I thought it was fun rolling up to the beaches just bumpin little bit. I still had multiple people ask what stereo we had in the boat..... Most people couldn't believe it was all done for about 300 bucks.

 

[nismos14 5,000+ posts]

It's a boat go IB.

 

[basswiigee]

I ran two 10's sealed on my ski naut. on a lil kenwood 600, you could hear that clean across the lake so this is gonna be crazy.... keep us updated, ported either way it goes will probably be fine, but the sub will get moisture through the air in port, back of your sub will rust a bit, but you wouldn't have no issues for years to come...

 

[Boat_guy]

The little Cerwin Vega we had in last year looked like brand new when I took it out of the ported box it was in.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

On a boat your not going to have much any cabin gain to help you. How much space do you actually have to use? You may be better served with a more effecient sub with less mechanical excursion limits, but higher sensativity as 40hz in a open air environment is probably low enough on most music. If it were me, I'd be looking into pro audio. It's all water resistant and designed to be run in venues with little to no room gain. Marine audio pricing is more jacked up than car audio and that's saying A LOT. A couple pro audio 8's on a few hundred watts in the right kind of box could easily outperform a sundown Z or X above 40hz, unless you REALLY threw power on that X or Z. Below 40hz, the sundown subs would be better, but your unlikely to get output that low anyway unless you have a lot of room to spare.

 

[Boat_guy]

No one has yet to explain to me why pro audio subs just fall short in the out door environment. We had a pontoon loaded full of pro audio and when you got a 100 yards from the boat the bass fades away but mids and highs still sound great. That same day a guy that had another pontoon had a nice JL marine system on his boat could drowned out the pro audio subs.

And to answer your second question about the 8's I've tossed around the idea of putting two of sundowns x-8 when they come out in the bow of the boat to complete the OMG factor.

I would like to thank every one that has chimed in with there opinion, it's greatly appreciated especially being a boat guy posting in a car audio forum.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

No one has yet to explain to me why pro audio subs just fall short in the out door environment. We had a pontoon loaded full of pro audio and when you got a 100 yards from the boat the bass fades away but mids and highs still sound great. That same day a guy that had another pontoon had a nice JL marine system on his boat could drowned out the pro audio subs.
And to answer your second question about the 8's I've tossed around the idea of putting two of sundowns x-8 when they come out in the bow of the boat to complete the OMG factor.

I would like to thank every one that has chimed in with there opinion, it's greatly appreciated especially being a boat guy posting in a car audio forum.

Sounds like improper execution. What do you think outdoor concerts use, it's not JL audio lol. If they were sealed they would very likely not play low at all. Ported you could get most pro audio speakers down to 35-40hz with a loud flat response although the box may need to be a bit larger. What was the last pro audio setup tuned at or was it sealed? Speaker quality must also be considered, your comparing JL, which makes pretty solid marine and car audio, to what brand of pro audio? I mean if it was pyle or something like that it's going to be leagues behind a brand like B&C or Faital or BMS, etc. It's like comparing JL to Jensen. Box wise, something like a front loaded horn or tapped horn could get very loud without much power, even in a decently small space depending how low you want it to go

Very low bass carries more, which pro audio won't be playing as loudly in most cases, so if hearing a low drone acorss across the lake is your goal then I guess standard speakers would be the way to go as they will play lower in smaller boxes, at the expense of musical output up top. What kind of music are you playing mostly?

 

[Only The Best 10+ year member]

honestly I've installed over 50 systems in boats and what people dont understand is that where you place your subs is the MOST IMPORTANT of all situations... If you want those subs to be heard from behind you, you need to make sure that the direction behind the subs wont be interfered with. Wetsounds makes an amazingly cheap marine sub that sounds phenomenal. If you really want to blow away ANY competition wetsounds is where its at. Hands down. And another things for boats.... the bigger the sub the better. More cone area for open air will travel further or have an array of 4 8's or 3 10's... that will get the blood pumping... The most important thing for a boat installation is the directional aspect of your speakers as well as your subs. When your in a car everything is enclosed and it all resonates within the car... but if your speakers are pointed the wrong way in a boat... they just go out into the open air and you lose all that sound...