Need to figure out rear facing speakers

[2kwik4u]

I'm not above buying quality stuff, I'm just not wanting to get Audiophile level equipment. Now that I look around, getting a set of tower speakers is gonna be $750 once I factor in an amp and wire. I had in my head these were $250 sets, not $500-$1k sets. Just misaligned expectations on my part I think. Of course the last time I bought anything audio related was well over a decade ago for a little pickup I had. I've just bought "the good stereo" in every car since, and that's been enough for me.

Talked it out with the wife last night. We definitely want to do something before our "adult weekend" with some friends (12 couples, 5 boats) in early August. She likes the idea of the soundbar, and had some ideas on how to address the bimini top when it was in the "stowed" position. Those included rotating the bar out of the way, covering it with a split pool noodle (is there anything these things AREN'T used for), and stowing the biming "backwards" on the lower mounts to slightly reduce the height and get away from the bar. I'm really on the fence between traditional tower speakers, and a soundbar. I think I've ruled out putting speakers on the transom or behind the seats at this point. Neither of those feel like the "right" answer for me. Probably because I'm nervous about screwing up the upholstery.

Speaking of Amps and Mounting.....How does everyone mount thier amps? Do you just carpet a piece of marine plywood, and mount the amp to that? What do you secure the amp to? Most of the fiberglass seems to thin to screw directly into. Don't particularly want to drill through holes for amp mounting. How does that work? I assume the amps can live in the storage area just foreward of the glove box right?

 

[wallacerb]

I used a piece of starboard from home depot and cut to size and rounded edges to give a smooth look. Stainless screws through the fiberglass is easy and will hold alot more than you think..

 

[wallacerb]

Amps should stay close to the head unit to minimize length of wire, power and RCA's from the back of the head unit

 

[CraigAR]

My second time around I used pressure treated plywood and covered it with carpet. Also mounted it with stainless steel hinges.

 

[Jaylex]

Those towers he's selling are your best bet then.

IMHO those soundbars are ok, but not as robust as traditional tower speakers, but that could just be me. I also looked into adding a soundbar and point it fwd to get more sound in the bow, ultimately I just added bigger and better speakers with a TON of power.

There is no right or wrong way to do this as long as your ears/ (wife) are happy.

 

[2kwik4u]

Thanks for the feedback and info. The wife and I have decided to have drinks in the boat (in the garage) after the boys are in bed tonight and discuss options for sound.

 

[wallacerb]

Nothing better than mutual decision making... awesome!

 

[Scuba_ref]

"Drinks" huh!

 

[Drift Away]

Its always best to do like @wallacerb, @Jaylex and i do. Make it really loud. You can always turn it down, you can only trun it uo so much without the right stuff.

 

[BlkGS]

I'm not familiar with the layout of our boat, but you might want to consider just putting an amp on the existing speakers. If you're looking for sound near the boat, this may get you there. If not, you will have the amp for future tower speakers already. Heck you could even leave it powering the inside speakers and run the towers off the head u it if you wanted to try it.

 

[wallacerb]

Thanks for the feedback and info. The wife and I have decided to have drinks in the boat (in the garage) after the boys are in bed tonight and discuss options for sound.

If you want to talk specifics or just get advice feel free to give me a call.. 910-554-4554... no pressure

 

[Speedling]

I've been contemplating getting some speakers for the tower for awhile. Thought I had my setup figured out, and was just waiting on "budget committee" approval. Finally got approval, and realized I had a flawed plan, need to re-imagine the system and get it done.

Overall goal here is to get sound out of the back of the boat while at anchor and lounging. I don't want to bonk my head, and I don't want to spend a fortune. Would prefer to not cut fiberglass. Tower mount makes most sense to me. I'm 6'2" tall and clearance between my head and the tower is already down to just under 1/2" when standing normally, so placement and size are a concern

Previous plan was a powered WetSounds Sound Bar attached to the "rear" of the tower on my AR190. This was chosen so that I didn't have to worry about bonking my head on the speakers, and I didn't have to wire in a separate amp for the speakers. The sound bar was an excellent choice, or so I thought, as it's about the same thickness as the top tube of the tower, and I wouldn't have to duck to get under it, and it wouldn't protrude above the tower enough to interfere with the bimini top.........I thought it was great until I realized that the stowed bimini occupys that space when strapped to the tower. CRAP, now the sound bar isn't going to work.

Next option is traditional tower speakers. I figured I could mount them on the outside of the tower just under where the bimini passes by the tower. I would have to install a secondary amp to drive these, and I'm not super enthused about that, but it is what it is at this point. The problem with this plan is that I have to fold the tower each and ever time I get the boat into/out of the garage. The side mount speakers must be easily and quickly removeable. I can't find a swing mount, or quick release mount anywhere. They all require tools that I'm sure I would lose/forget in short order.

I could probably survive with a set of standard tower speakers inside the tower pushed all the way to the uppermost/outermost area. I'm still fairly certain I'll bonk my head on a regular basis with those. Especially when I'm helping anyone into/out of the water on the rear of the boat while doing watersports. I don't want any head bonkage if I can avoid it. I really would like to avoid the separate amp as well if I can.

I've seen some others mount "pods" t0 the fiberglass just behind the tower mounts and point those backwards. I'm not enthused about the look of that, and not sure I want to go that route, but I'm running out of other options/thoughts on what to do to get sound back behind the boat. I really thought I had it figured out with the sound bar idea. Dangit.

Anyone have any other thoughts on ways to get sound back there?

Ya know, when i measured all my stuff i did it so my 6'7" BIL wouldn't hit his head.
My suggestion is wire it where it is most convenient which seems to be the top bars towards the outsides.
Learn to duck a bit. Not that big a deal.

 

[Drift Away]

I'm not familiar with the layout of our boat, but you might want to consider just putting an amp on the existing speakers. If you're looking for sound near the boat, this may get you there. If not, you will have the amp for future tower speakers already. Heck you could even leave it powering the inside speakers and run the towers off the head u it if you wanted to try it.

There is no way in hell you can run a set of towers off the head unit. Youd blow them up in a matter of days from under powering them.

 

[BlkGS]

There is no way in hell you can run a set of towers off the head unit. Youd blow them up in a matter of days from under powering them.

You dont blow a speaker from underpowering them, you blow a speaker by feeding them clipped signal. If you're trying to hear it over engines and wind noise, yes you will probably feed them a clipped signal. If you're just trying to put some music out the back of the boat while sitting or swimming... not as big an issue.

Tower speakers are just marine speakers in an enclosure with a clamp attached. Nothing different about them compared to the normal speakers in the boat.

 

[Drift Away]

You dont blow a speaker from underpowering them, you blow a speaker by feeding them clipped signal. If you're trying to hear it over engines and wind noise, yes you will probably feed them a clipped signal. If you're just trying to put some music out the back of the boat while sitting or swimming... not as big an issue.

Tower speakers are just marine speakers in an enclosure with a clamp attached. Nothing different about them compared to the normal speakers in the boat.

The head unit put out about 15 watts. JL take a min of 25 clean watts. It would sound like shit without a amp and a waste of time and money. You turn it up past 25-30% and it will sound like death. The stock speakers are nothing but junk. Whats the point of spending money if you cant hear it while moving?

 

[BlkGS]

The head unit put out about 15 watts. JL take a min of 25 clean watts. It would sound like shit without a amp and a waste of time and money. You turn it up past 25-30% and it will sound like death. The stock speakers are nothing but junk. Whats the point of spending money if you cant hear it while moving?

The OP said he wanted to have it to put music on the back of the boat. It sounded like it was for relaxing and what not.

And let's not forget, on HU power you can hear the speakers over the engine. Not great, it it can be done. There's no reason a set of higher sensitivity speakers couldn't be run as tower speakers off the HU to out a quite decent amount of sound out.

Its definitely not the loudest, best sounding, or any other superlative solution, but it could be done. And if you start with the amp, you could run the future towers parallel with the boat speakers off the amp anyways at 2 ohm (assuming you buy acceptable equipment for that).

Anyways, my point is start with an amp and go from there. It's the foundation of your audio system.

 

[2kwik4u]

Well, somewhat of an about face on this one.

Wife and I had drinks on the boat (in the garage due to rain) Friday night after the boys were in bed......yes real drinks and maybe the "drinks" hinted at above.

Anywho, the decision was made to hold off on buying anything at this point. We don't want to rush into a decision only to turn around and want something different. I blame you guys here. She read through parts of this thread and basically agreed that this is something we'll want done right and once. Meaning that she knows I've went for the "upgraded stereo" on my last few vehicles, and wants the boat to have equal quality sound. That obviously changes scope and budget from the original post.

So.......I'll be back when the winter bonus comes in from the office and we'll revisit designing a good all around system that I suspect will include new cockpit speakers, something for the tower to throw sound out the back, and maybe a sub.

Thanks for all the comments and tips thus far!

 

[Drift Away]

Well, somewhat of an about face on this one.

Wife and I had drinks on the boat (in the garage due to rain) Friday night after the boys were in bed......yes real drinks and maybe the "drinks" hinted at above.

Anywho, the decision was made to hold off on buying anything at this point. We don't want to rush into a decision only to turn around and want something different. I blame you guys here. She read through parts of this thread and basically agreed that this is something we'll want done right and once. Meaning that she knows I've went for the "upgraded stereo" on my last few vehicles, and wants the boat to have equal quality sound. That obviously changes scope and budget from the original post.

So.......I'll be back when the winter bonus comes in from the office and we'll revisit designing a good all around system that I suspect will include new cockpit speakers, something for the tower to throw sound out the back, and maybe a sub.

Thanks for all the comments and tips thus far!

Good ideal. This shit gets expensive and you only wanna do it once. Once you get into a serious set up the tendency is the keep adding and adding until you're just about out of room.

 

[2kwik4u]

So, another about face. Came home from a business trip to find she had ordered us a Wetsounds Stealth 10 Ultra HD soundbar. She found the link I had saved for the refurbished unit, and pulled the trigger and ordered it. Had the neighbor measure the tower and ordered the correct clamps as well for it. I briefly dug it out of the package and wired it up in the boat last night. Sounds VERY loud, but as expected a little less than full (only 4in speakers).

Hope to mount it up properly and wire in tonight. Test run on the lake tomorrow.

 

[sethman919]

So, another about face. Came home from a business trip to find she had ordered us a Wetsounds Stealth 10 Ultra HD soundbar. She found the link I had saved for the refurbished unit, and pulled the trigger and ordered it. Had the neighbor measure the tower and ordered the correct clamps as well for it. I briefly dug it out of the package and wired it up in the boat last night. Sounds VERY loud, but as expected a little less than full (only 4in speakers).

Hope to mount it up properly and wire in tonight. Test run on the lake tomorrow.

been thinking about the core version since i already have wires in the tower for speakers. really like how low profile it is. i dont need a crazy amount of volume my current speakers a massive.