Building the boat hifi. Help needed

[Jaramaz]

bass reflex, closed or what

Why then do good house speakers always have a hole in the back?!

They don't. Not always, there are some different loudspeaker basic designs:
- closed box
- bass reflex
- and a multitude of rather special solutions as horns etc

Closed box loudspeaker is nice, has a rather flat frequency response. Drawback is the somewhat lower output power (compared to bass reflex) and sometimes a bit damped working mode - which is possible to hear. A closed box is very easy to put together, not very critical, just see to that it is really closed and put on a lot of damping material.

Bass reflex has higher efficiency (higher sound level) and generally has a lighter sound, higher over tones are not as damped. But frequency curve is not as good, which one may try to compensate with the filters.
Bass reflex tunnel is a critical part of the design, either one has the knowledge of one has to use trial and error (mostly error, unfortunately).

Horns ... are magic. Very high efficiency, as the horn is also an impedance adapter between the loudspeaker and the air. Sound is usually great, design and manufacture very difficult.

/J

 

[fluffc]

Having read the rest of this thread, to answer the original question - these Kef's will be okay to use. They have quite a wide dispersion angle, and a reasonable frequency response. As others have mentioned they won't be 'Hi-Fi', but you could do a lot worse than these speakers.

Do put in a reasonably sized (stranded core) cable between amplifier and speaker (at least 1.5mm2), to avoid cable losses and improve the sound quality slightly. Ignore 'Oxygen Free Copper' cables unless you feel like splashing out... (You get more bang for your buck by buying a larger stranded normal copper cable).

As others have suggested, box speakers are better - and I also had a pair of JBL Control 1's on the boat, connected to a car stereo. One of these I had on a longer lead, and could be placed in the cockpit. Although not 'waterproof', they are quite rugged.

 

[Marine Reflections]

I am now getting to the point where I am putting together a stereo package for our boat.

I am keen on these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KEF-Ci50R-Brushed-Ceiling-speaker/dp/B001134RDG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_15

However I am not sure about the ohms thing. These are rated at 6 ohms, but I am not sure how they will sound with a standard 12v car stereo. I have this in mind.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/mfi-ipod-car-audio/dsx-s100#/TechnicalSpecs.

Can I get your thoughts.

Cheers.

They will work, but would be best to stick with 4 ohms, as this is what your stereo will be sending out, square peg round hole and all that.

Plenty of places to put speakers in a boat and achieve a decent sound.

What boat do you have and where were you thinking of installing?
Are you looking for one set of speakers to cover as much of the sound range as possible?



Speakers will sound different with different head units.
Just my opinion... I would not choose a Sony head unit, they didn't achieve the nickname 'Pony' for nothing, avoid! Go with Alpine for your head unit, even if you keep to the same budget.

Agree with the wiring comment, get the wiring right to get the most from whatever you buy.

 

[CreakyDecks]

Personally I would choose a stereo that can play MP3 files stored on CD, rather than one that requires an MP3 player to be plugged into it. It's just one more battery to go flat!

PS. Be careful where you cut big holes in a boat!

 

[noelex]

Personally I would choose a stereo that can play MP3 files stored on CD, rather than one that requires an MP3 player to be plugged into it. It's just one more battery to go flat!

PS. Be careful where you cut big holes in a boat!

Mp3 players that will play from a USB stick are better again.
No moving parts during playing, less power consumption, no skips and it's harder to get salt water from wet hands in the player.

There are even car players with no cd playing provision, the sealed construction is very good for a boat.

 

[mdonnelly]

I bought a Polyplanar waterproof MP 3 kit from MarineAV and installed it above the companionway. Works extremely well.
www.marine-audio.com/products/mp301kit-poly-planar-waterproof-mp3-package.php

mark