Silly Audio Question: Tower Construction

[PastMaster32]

So... I wanted to add some tower speakers to our 2020 AR195, 8" Rockville cans. The Admiral (my wife) poo poo'ed a standard install on either hoop as seen in the second picture since it will intrude too much in the cabin. Had a crazy idea to try a swivel mount outboard on the cross members as seen in the first picture.

Question: Has anyone found out if either cross member has been notched so cables can be routed through them? If I was fabricating them, I would only notch the cross members and leave the tubes solid. So I realize I have a better chance of seeing God than having an easy way of mounting them as I envision.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Scott

 

[mtudb24]

I believe the white top / anchor light wiring is going down the starboard side of the tower I would assume you can just fish your tower speakers following that wiring and there is hole that goes into the gunwale as well when you tilt your tower forward.

 

[2kwik4u]

My Admiral had similar concerns. We went with a high mount sound bar. No bass, but lots of volume, and we're no audiophiles, to it works.

To answer your question. I'm not certain if the cross bars are open or not. i would expect that the cross bars are open, but I doubt the vertical hoop tubing is open. That's just based on how Yamaha does most of their work, if they don't need it, it's likely not there.

I would think that if you mounted the cans outboard on the rearmost hoop, a small "pigtail" of wire wouldn't be completely offensive. It's what I did for the sound bar. Here's some pics from when I had my tower off a few years ago. Maybe they'll help?

The front hoop is open for certain. I can't find any pictures of the rear hoop from this angle.


Soundbar mounted with a small pigtail of wire to get into the tower. I would do something similar if mounting cans outboard.


Heres a closeup of what that looks like.



Second thought is how often you fold your tower. If you do it often, AND need to fit in a 7ft opening like I do, then you'll want to remove the tower stops. When you do that, there is a portion of the tower on both sides that touches the windshield. You'll want to make sure wherever you mount your cans either doesn't interfere, or swivels inside and leaves clearance.

My flag holder is inside the windshield, and it took me a few tries to position it so I don't have to monkey with it when the tower goes up/down. This is what it looks like fully folded down, with the tower stops removed. (Nevermind the dog, she was just tired, she's fine )


Finally, this is how I store the boat for the winter. Tower stops are installed and are "all the way up" so the tower stays up off the cover. You can tell it stays well above the windshield. If this is as far as you let the tower down, then your outboard mounting should be in good shape.


Good luck and be sure to keep us posted on what you end up with!

 

[PastMaster32]

All I can say, is while it isn't impossible, I wouldn't recommend it... I will post final pics, but the hackery involved to surface mount and drill into the hoops aren't worth the effort. For the record, the hoops are not notched for the cross members. Therefore an oval hole needs to be drilled in the cross member and a long bit to try to get into the hoop. Going to have to do a little welding... But it will be done tomorrow...

 

[PastMaster32]

So it is doable...

 

[2kwik4u]

Super clean installation, that's for certain. Definitely solves the "head bonking" problem too.

Are they easily removeable, or do you not lower the tower far enough to have an interference with the windshield?

With that said. Here's a picture of mine all the way down (stops removed, tower sitting on steering wheel) going in the garage. I'm guessing those might still clear. Interesting.

 

[PastMaster32]

Super clean installation, that's for certain. Definitely solves the "head bonking" problem too.

Are they easily removeable, or do you not lower the tower far enough to have an interference with the windshield?

With that said. Here's a picture of mine all the way down (stops removed, tower sitting on steering wheel) going in the garage. I'm guessing those might still clear. Interesting.

View attachment 218647

Thanks, not exactly clean. Would not recommend. I had to run 2 12 gauge wires for the speakers and 4 16 gauge RGB wires so I needed a half inch hole. Because of the angle, I ended up drilling through the welds on the opposite side a bit. About 3/16" that I will either JB Weld or if it that doesn't work, I will have to bust out the MIG welder.

That being said, the cans I have would definitely hit the windshield if I had to lower it that much. There are quick disconnect cans from JBL and JL, but I am not sure if they have a flat surface mount solution.

By the way, I love the polished tower and windshield trim. The anthracite pain on my window trim is really chewed up, and once I get the new Sea deck in, that's my next project

Regards,
Scott

 

[PastMaster32]

Thanks, not exactly clean. Would not recommend. I had to run 2 12 gauge wires for the speakers and 4 16 gauge RGB wires so I needed a half inch hole. Because of the angle, I ended up drilling through the welds on the opposite side a bit. About 3/16" that I will either JB Weld or if it that doesn't work, I will have to bust out the MIG welder.

That being said, the cans I have would definitely hit the windshield if I had to lower it that much. There are quick disconnect cans from JBL and JL, but I am not sure if they have a flat surface mount solution.

By the way, I love the polished tower and windshield trim. The anthracite pain on my window trim is really chewed up, and once I get the new Sea deck in, that's my next project

Regards,
Scott

Super clean installation, that's for certain. Definitely solves the "head bonking" problem too.

Are they easily removeable, or do you not lower the tower far enough to have an interference with the windshield?

With that said. Here's a picture of mine all the way down (stops removed, tower sitting on steering wheel) going in the garage. I'm guessing those might still clear. Interesting.

View attachment 218647

Oh and come to think of it, with the swivel flush mount Rockville can mount, (which you would need) you could just rotate the cans down toward the water and it would clear with your setup