Speaker placement

[Englewoodcowboy]

I have been looking at a set of tower speakers for my AR192. I am not as interested in the skier to hear as much as I am interested in improved sound outside of the boat in a cove etc. I know I need to add an amp and am looking at a new 5 channel and adding a sub under the pass console. Where have people placed speakers to get good sound out of other than on the tower and becoming a head knocker? Has anyone mounted tower speakers on the side of the tower? Photos?

 

[d_coyne1984]

I really like how the 242's have the speakers located on the transom, but for us 192'ers we would have to modify the seat cushions which is farther than I am willing to go. I have seen a number of people that have cut hole and installed speakers on the lower part of the transom, and most have said they have never had an issue with water ingress, but it scares me too much to put speakers that low. The speaker woofers aren't designed to hold against those waves that wash up on the lower transom when decelerating. If the speaker surround failed you could be taking on a lot of water before you realized it. But then again, I have never heard anybody say they have had an issue...

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

I have had the same thought, add to it I plan on doing a lot of surfing so it will be swamped (the rear transom) frequently it is just not a wise place. I have also heard of some putting speakers behind the rear cushions which I am thinking about and I also thought about mounting them on the tower sides just above my racks to the inside hoping they will not become a head knocker. As of right now, my immediate goal is to add an amp, clarion has introduced a new 5 channel amp rated for both marine and car audio, it is a slender design and I am thinking it will do the trick by increasing power to the speakers. The stock deck is way under powered for sure...

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

As of right now, I just bought a marine amp, 50w x 4 Clarion. I will see how that does, I am sure it wll be a big improvement over the stock deck. Should be here Monday some time so it may be jamming monday afternoon... I hope it makes it o I can hear the radio decent while under way. I figure later if I decied I need to add a sub and another pair of speakers, I will just add another amp.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

Well I need to figure out how to rename this thread to My Stereo upgrade and continue it from there...
I bought a small 4 channel amp, a Clarion XC1410 to be exact. I wired it up and tested it last night and in my shop it sounds noticeably louder though the overall quality of listening to music in a bath tub remains. I am hoping it sounds a little better when I am on the water and not getting the echo effect of a metal building. That said it is a huge difference going from the stock M502 deck with 19watts RMS X 4 to 50watts RMS X 4. The amp has a built in crossover which I have set flat. The deck has a built in crossover which I set the HPF to 60, I played around running the deck flat and using the amp crossover and the other way around and in my shop how it is now running the amp flat sounds best. The whole hull resonates sound with the speakers so its not the greatest quality as it sits on the trailer, I am hoping that in the water it will deaden that and clean up the acoustics. I can see that I will be adding a sub as well and am looking at an all in one solution, either a 10" Bazooka Tube or the MTX 10" and mounting them under the pass console. The MTX is more compact as it is a box vs a tube but it does not have a marine rating, considering a garage keep my boat and leave the hatches open for a few days after a weekend on the water I think it will be fine and at the price of it, if I need to replace it every few years I am not out much.

The amp is small, lends itself easily to the install and I will add some pics this afternoon after I get it mounted and cleaned up. Like a kid at christmas I had to try it out so it is laying loose, wire everywhere and I need to remedy that before I show it off. This weekend will be a good test, if I can hear the stereo decent while under way I will be tickled. Stay tuned...

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

Anyone used this JBL package? I am thinking I could mount it in the side of the drivers console...

 

[Evil Sports]

Im not a 192 but I think you have most of the same stuff I have, I opted for the Wetsounds sub and HT6 amp, all I can say is WOW it sounds great. I used the amp cross over to shape the sound and that made a huge difference in funneling the right frequencies to the polks. Not sure how the amp you got stacks up but the addition I did was like fire. I have been caught uncovering my boat on the trailer and listening to tunes in it
Im going to add 2 more polks to the cabin since its still a bit hard to hear while under way at 5-6k, at idle or stopped its amazing.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

Im sure I will be tweaking it more once on the water, in my shop nothing sounds as good as it should due to the acoustics of a tin can building. Either way I am happy that it gets much louder and stronger over the stock deck and will see what happens on the water. On your sub, is it in an enclosure? Any pics of it? I am looking for something clean and not too pricey, Ive spent too much already... LOL B.O.A.T.

 

[Evil Sports]

are you talking about how it sounds Outside of the boat? then yes the building will have a impact but if your talking sitting in it, Im not so sure its making a difference

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

I was in the boat and it sounded kind of echo-ish like in a hall. My roof slants low over top of the boat and even before the amp it sounded better outside than it did inside. Actually being outside of the boat it sounded better but my heads not closer to the ceiling either.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

I took a break and went and finished my install. When I relocated the battery I had the cables made an extra foot longer so I can pull the battery outside to connect or disconnect it. Eventually I will replace it with a sealed battery as well.

 

[GTBRMC]

That's a really clean install, @Englewoodcowboy nice work.

I am moving toward a bigger install now, but will have the Clarion XC1410 amp running my four main cabin bathtub speakers when all is done. I was very happy with it in driveway testing last fall. I suspect it will sound much better in open air. Question: what coaxials do you have in your boat today?

Previous discussions about my XC1410 install:
https://jetboaters.net/threads/speaker-upgrade-suggestions.4311/#post-72943
https://jetboaters.net/threads/jbl-mr17-head-unit-wiring-to-clarion-xc1410-amp-question.3706/

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

@GTBRMC Thank you for the compliment. How did the polks and amp sound on the water? Was it enough that you could hear while under way? That is my biggest hope, not expecting excessive loud but enough to overcome the engine (the stock deck and polls could not without major distortion). I am now running the stereo through on the crossover and at 90 on the amp to achieve full volume without distortion and it sounds pretty clean for what it is but it is missing low end set like that, the minute I introduce back to the speakers, it falls off after about 75% volume. It is something I can play with once I get it out and running, if I don't need full volume I can then push more sound back to the speakers. Right now I am using my iPhone to control the radio so I turn the volume down on it and on the head unit I turn it up to 38 (40 being max) and then can slide my finger on the screen and adjust it with the glove box door closed. 190 series boats the head unit is in the pass side glove box with only a IR remote but the door has to be open so it can see and the door does not stay open well while under way playing. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears. I am counting the minutes till I get to leave for a long camping weekend at the lake and going crazy back and forth on the boat with things I want to do and what I can do as of right now.

 

[Evil Sports]

sorry for butting in, Im adding 2 more cabin speakers cause my current set up I have to run it too loud while under way, I believe that is due to the speaker placement

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

@Evil Sports I was thinking about that as well. I'm not sure if I have room to add 2 more but I haven't spent much time looking at that as a solution just yet. Its always one step at a time... Not sure how the noise level from the single vs twins is between your boat and mine but I am curious. I do have a DB meter I could take with me but I have a feeling this weekend it will be all about the fun and R&R I am so desperately over due for.

 

[Scuba_ref]

I really enjoy reading about the stereo installs. I'm not technically inclined with regards to sound systems and a lot of the language you guys use starts to resemble a foreign language. In fact, at the risk of painting myself completely lame, I just noticed that we don't have speakers in the bow section of the boat! Our boat is of course completely stock with regards to the sound system except for the aux jack I added. Now having said that, the sound is so poor that we typically don't run with any music and I am beginning to think that I am missing out on a more full bodied boating experience. I am hoping that if I read about your installs I might get up the gumption to do something about my own poor system.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

@Stefan Fromm Feel free to post up pics of what you have etc. and I will gladly share some advice. I have installed stereos for decades in my personal equipment and I can tell you from experience no 2 systems sound the same in different vehicles. Acoustics in a bathtub is what we have to deal with. I can say that I do like the Polk DB6.5's that came stock in my 192 (they are a factory upgrade over the Sea Worthy speakers all MFG's tend to use on OEM setups) Being somewhat frugal I am certainly trying to make the best of what I have but I also have to look at each item as sometimes its already as good as it can get as is and requires replacement and upgrade. I can tell you I am not thrilled with the Clarion M502 head unit that came with my boat, not very user friendly with a single knob to control everything and not the greatest interface for a boat no less... I think this is why Clarion dropped that model after 2 years, however I have run Clarion marine radios for years and have always had great luck with them so I decided to work with what I have and learn how to use it. The Polk DB 6.5's need power to work well and are rated for 60 watts RMS so going with an amp slightly under that rating is a safe bet. The Amp I am using is rated at 50 watts RMS and falls right in line with the Polks needs much better than the HU that only provides 19 watts RMS per speaker.

 

[GTBRMC]

@Englewoodcowboy I have not water tested it yet. I agree with @Evil Sports and will also be adding a pair of coaxials at pilot & co-pilot to fill out the soundfield aft of the windscreen (Polk db651 coaxials here).

In addition, I will be adding a sub (JL M10IB5 here) & a pair of coaxials on the swimdeck (JL Audio MX650 coaxials here). All of these will be powered by a coming-soon JL Audio M500/3 amp.

I will power the 4 cockpit Polks with the XC1410 and will power the bow pair of Polks from the head unit (a bit of a throw-away there).

I am expecting good, clean cockpit sound while underway with the JL powered JL sub and the 4 Clarion powered Polk coaxials. I will post updates when I get it all done and water tested.

 

[Scuba_ref]

Thank @Englewoodcowboy This is what my stock speakers look like...I'm sure that distortion can't be good for the overall sound. I think at some point I probably need to start from scratch and of course will rely heavily on the experts like you in this forum!

 

[GTBRMC]

Thank @Englewoodcowboy This is what my stock speakers look like...I'm sure that distortion can't be good for the overall sound. I think at some point I probably need to start from scratch and of course will rely heavily on the experts like you in this forum!

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