Summers comming and more stereo questions!
 

ok, how should you pair an amp up with speakers. Im trying to find somthing thats gonna sound good, but not brake my wallet. Heres somthing I found on ebay that cought my attention. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB....cWAT.m240.lVI

That includes wires and everything but the head unit.

That's not a bad deal if you're on a budget! If you decide to go for it, let us know how it works out!

I think thats a smokin' deal $289.00 bucks? Almost to good to be true. I'm looking to upgrade my stereo from the stock Mariah cassette stereo, and I've haven't seen a set of speakers and amp even close to that yet. and Claroin to boot. WOW

im going to order it somtime this week. Im also going to buy another 4 channel amp to run the clarion speakers. I really hope this is going to sound good. The kicker is the $45 bucks to ship!!!

yeah, that's how they're starting to screw everyone on ebay, with the over the top shipping fees.

The additional 4 channel is a great idea to balance everything out.

Hey guys,

I have stereo questions and didn’t want to start another audio thread. My present speakers are black and don’t seam to be marine type. I also want to add a subwoofer. I found a 12” Sony a Wal-Mart. Do you think since I am fresh water only it would be ok to use? Also, I really hate to cut a 12” hole in my boat, have any of you found another way to place a woofer without cutting! The amp I can place in the cabin so I won’t need marine. Dieselwiezil you will have a nice setup where are you mounting your subs.
Thanks for any thoughts.

John,

Black speakers don't necessarily mean they're not marine rated. My Polk Audio's are black and marine rated. What brand do you have installed? Even though the amp would be protected quite well, boats see a much higher level of humidity that can corrode the wires, connections, and components in much less time than a marine rated version. I had an indash that wasn't marine rated that quite after a year. Pulled it out and it looked fine. So I ended up taking it apart and found the entire circuit board rusty, corroded, and looking terrible.

I installed a 10" sub in the bench seat. It wasn't a fun job cutting the hole, but I'm extremely satisfied with the results.

John, im with you on cutting holes, but I guess its just another one of those things... I intend on putting my subs under my rear bench as Ryan has stated. I think it will be a very nice/clean install. Im going to have to cut the front holes for the 6.5" and I would like to put a pair behind the captains chairs. I plan on ordering that set of audio componets tomarrow and maybe installing this weekend.

One thing to remember when working with this stuff is to use solder terminals where you can, heat shrink, and liquid elec tape is a great thing to have too.

A great solution for a sub is a Bazooka brand marine sub. It's a round plastic enclosure that can be placed about anywhere. They sound great also. As a audio guy I don't really recommend mounting a subwoofer in a panel unless you are building an enclosure behind it to spec.

John - on your question about marine rated speakers. There are 2 key things that make a speaker moisture resistant. Having a rubber surround around the cone of the speaker as opposed to foam and having a poly type cone instead of paper.

I actually have my boat torn apart right now getting ready for an install. I'm using a Poly-Planar 2-zone system. 1-zone in the cabin and 1-zone above deck with separate amps and sub for each zone.

Jason's right. I've got a 10" subwoofer in a bandpass box placed behind my rear bench. Even though the speaker is enclosed, it's a marine grade sub. Paper cones and foam surrounds won't last at all in a marine environment, especially if it receives a lot of sunlight and moisture.

I'm using the stock Infinity Reference Speakers that were installed when I bought the boat, and a Clarion XMD2 head unit. I've got a 600w amp for the sub, connected to one of my ACC switches on the dash so it can be switched on and off.

Be sure to seal all connections with something like Liquid Electrical Tape. As you'll find out, Mariahs don't like exposed wiring much. For some reason Mariah didn't seal up the factory wiring in the greatest way, so corrosion is a little bit of an issue, but easily remedied by cleaning the contacts.

Thanks for all the info,
Guess I will pay the extra up front for marine grade. Otherwise sounds like I would be paying more later. Definitely think the bazooka is the way for me! I hadn’t thought of that.

well all my stuff has arrived and now im contemplating where to install the 2 10" subs. I really cany bring myself to cutting holes under the rear bench. Does anyone have thier subs mounted under the spotter and capitans dash?

I had this same dilemma. I also thought about installing under the consoles, but then I realized how difficult it would be to build a box around the sub. Eventually, I decided the easiest, most logical choice was the bench. Cutting the hole made me want to cry... I couldn't stop thinking of the "what if's" - what if I cut it too big, what if I don't like the sound, what will this do to resale, etc.

I can now say it was one of the best improvements to the boat. I consistently have friends asking me to use my stereo instead of theirs because it sounds so much better. I also have women "fighting" over who gets to sit on the bench seat - well worth the price of cutting a hole!!!

Ryan, do you have aniy pictures of your setup?

I only have this one that I found on my phone. The boat's in storage for the next month still, but I can get more pics at that time if you remind me.

This was taken before I found a grill for the sub, so it matches the others and is somewhat protected now.

Just remember, the more "thump" in your stereo, the more "click" in your ignition switch after floating and listening to your tunes all afternoon! :eek_animated:

Isn't that the truth!!! I forced myself to run the 5.25's off the in-dash so I didn't need 2 amps (or one big honking mofo). Still sounds great in my opinion. Good thing about my amp... it will start cutting out if the voltage gets too low. A great reminder to start it up and let the batteries charge.

I'm getting new batteries this spring because I think one was going bad anyway. I'm also considering one of those relays that charge both, but separate them between starting and component use.

Isnt that the purpose of 2 batteries? Would adding a gell cell (capacitor) to the system to increase longevity of battery life.

A gel cell or AGM battery would be better as a dedicated battery for your electronics. Gel cells or AGM have the advantage of not being damaged when completely drained. Your standard flooded or wet batteries do not like full drain / charge cycles. It decreases their life every time you do that.
I don't know what kind of charger you have but mixing different types of batteries can present a problem for some chargers so make sure you check into that.

The other option is just to use a standard wet starting battery as your primary battery and then add a standard wet deep cycle battery for your 2nd and put them on a switch. Switch to battery 1 when starting and battery 2 when docked.

If you only have 1 battery now, adding a second is the best upgrade you could possibly do. Nothing like worrying about being stranded in the middle of the lake somewhere.

well the stereo and amps, and subs are about 95% installed and sounds GREAT. Subs are under the bow seats, amps are behind the intrument cluster up real high away from any water, and the 6.5" are mounted on starboard around the cockpit. Probably should have gone with some higher end 6.5" for more clarity, but these sound really good.