What would you buy for a boat?

[chipco3434]

I would like to upgrade the stereo in my boat. I would like 4 channels for a pair of speakers in the cockpit and a pair in the cabin. I listen to classic rock and classical music. I reckon that there might be a need for a "bass channel" also. I have built chip amps, Alephs and speakers but I think this is a "buy" situation. I don't want to learn how to speak "SMPS".

As for power, who knows...

The wattage figures confuse me. Forty or fifty watts per channel on my home arrays will make your ears bleed. I suspect this might be fine for boat audio also.

let's hear what you have to say.

[Cal Weldon]

Consider using marine speakers. They are better than they use to be.

[fury]

Understand that in a car (and boat) environment, there is a lot more noise then sitting in the comfort of your quiet home. Extra power is generally needed to overcome this. Having said that, 50wrms per channel should be sufficient.

You may be best looking at a 5 channel amp as you're after a sub channel too. This will make installation far easier then having 2 seperate amps.

There are many amps on the market, i'd have a hard time recommending you something specific, but as an example consider Audison SRx5 or Audison LRx5.600 as these are relatively small and efficient. Not to mention great sounding.

Just make sure you install the amps in a way that no water or condensation will effect them!!!!

Good luck!

[chipco3434]

I think that more information might be helpful...

It's a sailboat.... not much noise. We sail on the Great Lakes. Fresh water. Below decks and electronic spaces are VERY dry. No real need for anything waterproof below decks in the salon.

[Cal Weldon]

If it's moored, it might still be a good idea to use marine speakers. My only experience is with the west coast so I could be wrong but even if moored in a boathouse, the humidity still dictated the use of them, including inside the cabin. If it's on a trailer you can probably get away with regular auto speakers.

EDIT: If it's very dry in the cabin you're too conservative of a sailor.

[anatech]

Why not go for a composite cone type such as Vifa or Peerless (less efficient)? In time they may have trouble, but I suspect that would be long in coming.

Vifa woofers used to freeze, but I can't imagine you worrying about that.

In this way you can design your own and enjoy the music more fully.

-Chris

[jp88]

I think to make specific suggestions we need more information. What is your budget? What are your goals? Do you also need a head unit? How many speakers do you need? I am very familiar with marine audio as I am a marine electronics tech/installer. I have had pretty good luck with clarion marine stuff. If youl tell us a little more about what you want to do I think we can help you.

[chipco3434]

Cool. Here ya' go.

Boat is a 35' Beneteau sailboat. I would like speakers in the main salon, speakers in the V-berth, and speakers in the cockpit. For the V-berth, I can A-B those so that all the other speakers are off at night and just the V-berth are playing. For the cockpit and the salon, those could be front/rear fade, depending on where I am. I can build the V-berth and the salon speakers. The cockpit speakers almost certainly have to be placed in the transom or the the footwell with access from the lazarettes. Those would be "outdoor" stuff.

All the gear would be below deck.

Budget? Reckon on $400 for amps. The rest like drivers and boxes are DIY stuff, and compartitively, that cost is what it is.

Thanks!

PS... I would much prefer knobs over buttons for volume and fade. And , I run XM on the boat.

[Perry Babin]

I second the use of Peerless drivers. I had a pair of the CC line woofers in the doors of an old truck for years and they had no problems. They were exposed to whatever humidity/moisture that was present in the unsealed doors. They would be perfectly fine in your installation. The peerless tweeters are also very good but I generally use Vifa tweeters.

If you go for the separates option, the loudspeaker forum here will probably be a great help.

I've used madisound.com for most of my purchases and the service has always been good.

[jp88]

If you are replacing your head unit I would probably recomend the clarion marine M455 (I know you probably don't need the marine hu with it inside but with this hu you can get a wired waterproof remote like the cmrc2-sb and mount it in the cockpit so you can change chanels or tracks there)

If you want to go with a marine amp the clarion apx480m could probably do exactly what you want. for the cockpit spkrs I would go with the clarion marine cm1635 which is a 6.5 inch component set They sound pretty decent and hold up pretty well to a outdoor marine environment.

If it was me Id probly use a good quality volume control for each room (if you are using one source unit) as this will allow you to control the volume indepenantly or turn off certain areas if so desired) Niles makes a realy good one.

For an amp Id be tempted to try one of thos aura buyout amps from pe for the price I don't think you can go wrong.

sorry I went on kinda long hope I was of some help