Cockpit speakers and FM radio

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phatton

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Anyone got any good tips for cockpit speakers and FM radio combo? Thinking of just a cheap Halford’s radio and reasonably powerful cockpit speakers but not sure of make.

Phil.

Yacht is a Sigma 38, speakers will be mounted in lazarett.
 
If you only want a radio then the trick is to get an old manualy tuned radio from a car wreckers yard. The advantage is that it doesn't require a continuous current to keep the memory alive and doesn't lose it's tuning when you turn off the battery. (unless you have the memory current on when isolation switch is off) Unfortunately all the CD players these days have elctronic tuning. As for speakers you can buy them separately. You might consider mounting a speaker behind a bulkhead with just a few holes drilled for the sound to come out. (doesn't need many)
You might also consider a potentiometer vaiable resistor sometimes called a fader fro adjustment of volume between front and back speakers, This could be used to make a handy volume control at the speakers.
Incidently you don't need 2 speakers (you can hardly get a true stereo effect when you are helming.) You can just use one speaker line and speaker and switch to mono if that control is available. On older low powered sets you can join the 2 speaker wires together to go to one speaker. Not on high powered stereos though.
Good luck but I think I like silence best when sailing. olewill
 
Hi phatton,

'fraid I disagree with ole will a bit this time. You really can get a good stereo effect with cockpit speakers - I've done it on my Fulmar. I used (after attempts with cheaper 'waterproof' ones) a pair of expensive w/p speakers from Pioneer costing around £85.00. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

They are set in the backrest at the aft end of the cockpit facing each other. This has the huge benefit of their using the cockpit locker on one side and the lazarette on the other to give a proper 'enclosure' effect. So we get excellent sound quality and really good stereo, especially if you are foreward in the cockpit or helming. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The cheaper speakers (we fitted 3 pairs in all!) lasted about two years on average in the Med/Caribbean before U/V deterioration got them and they crumbled. So don't buy cheap on this item as the difference in sound quality between these and the Pioneers genuinely needs to be heard to be believed. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We drive the Pioneers with a standard Pioneer 'do everything' CD/MP3/tuner unit they really does what it says. It plays all types of CD however recorded and is excellent. We bought ours from Pixmania via the Net, great price - fab delivery time (no connection etc)

Incidentally, we have four speakers in the saloon, paired each side so that people sitting either port or starboard hear a proper stereo effect. I had a small relay panel made by a local car radio installation outfit, that allows these internal speakers to be switched off and the cockpit speakers simultaneously switched on, by using a single switch at the chart table. Cost £25 and is worth every single penny.

So, I'd go for a quality car type CD/tuner linked to VERY good quality waterproof cockpit speakers. Any speakers inside need not, of course, be w/p but it still pays to buy quality.

Bit long a post, but hope it helps /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cheers Jerry
 
You could fit the smallest ones available and keep them turned down low when moored. That would be nice /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Hear, hear. Sick to death of having to hear all sorts of music from every direction at 100 decibels.

How about an IPod with some nice headphones? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Lakesailor and adrianm,

Unfortunately you are both leaping to conclusions without seeking the facts, so assume you are generalising.

We never use the external speakers at anchor or (very rarely) in marinas so where is the problem? We are not responsible for others insensitive use of their equipment.

Our cockpit speakers are invariably used at sea, and as we do a fair number of long passages and ocean cruising, the sound affects no one. Furthermore, when the sound in the cockpit is at a perfectly reasonable level for listening when aboard, it is inaudible at half a boat length. I know, I've checked!

Anything wrong with that? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Cheers Jerry
 
Has any one connected the FM radio cockpit speakers and the VHF radio output together through an antomatic changeover switch so if any VHF radio input is received the FM radio is switched off and the VHF turned on. If so how .
 
Thanks guys - will promise to keep the noise down. Good tips on the speakers.

I mainly want cockpit speakers to listen to racing starts and course changes as well as monitor 16 (not in the Solent - digress into Radio Check rage). I will turn that off in the marina!

For me music and sailing go together - I do not play McFly, but Radio 3, that anchor spot, sundowner, Motzart - what could be better?

We need more young sailors, so if they are enjoying themselves at 2am, wear ear plugs, and try not to get too jealous!

P.
 
One point to remember when choosing where to site cockpit speakers: beware of upsetting the compass - a speaker contains a fairly powerful magnet. This is pretty obvious with bulkhead speakers / steering compass, but rear located speakers might well upset Autohelms, etc. It is also worth thinking about where you prefer to sit or stand when using a hand bearing compass.
 
We recently bought a car audio/cd/MP3 player on special offer at Aldi for ~£40
Its really suprisingly good and far better than the JVC unit it replaced. Being able to play MP3 CD's containing several hundred tracks is really handy

The next generation radios have line inputs for direct playback from MP3 players and some even have memory card slots - so far they are all about several hundred pounds.

A remote control would be handy
 
Hi phatton,

You 're probably aware that most modern autopilots have facility for eliminating extraneous magnetic influences, usually by going into a 'calibration mode' then circling the boat once or twice.

Certainly my Autohelm 2000+ easily coped with the speakers sited within 300mm (on the port side) with no problem at all. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The alternative if your A/P is older, is to buy magnetically neutral speakers. There are many about.

Cheers Jerry
 
Based on recomendations on this forum I bought a JVC car radio/CD at Halfords and fitted it only a year ago. Now it turns itself on at every opportunity, often won't accept a CD, and when it does agree to play a CD it won't spit it out. It's getting the heave-ho adn I'm going for a stand-alone battery radio with maybe a MP3 set-up. So be careful.
 
Hi Rogershaw Yes all you need to do is connect both radios to one speaker in paralell. This only follows for low powered cheap stereos. The higher powered one do not ground one of the speaker output wires and this will happen if you paralell the speaker wires of your VHF.
If you have a stereo that has an aux input you can feed the VHF speaker line in to that. A resistor of about 1000 ohms in series will help if the VHF output is too much especially if you put about a 10 ohm resistor across the stereo innput. better still is to fit a potentiometer variable resistor about 1000 ohms total. There are 3 terminals one outside terminal to the VHF the middle to to aux input the third to the negative or ground. This would enable you to adjust the VHF volume in the stereo to make it appropriate when the VHF is set to a suitable level. The potentiometer can be preset and hidden or brought out with a knob for easy adjustment.
To have an auto switch off of the stereo would involve getting into the VHF to find a voltage alive when a signal is received or by having a relay driven by a small amplifier and rectifier to provide DC when you have audio on the VHF this could get quite messy but possible to an experimenter.
reagds olewill
 
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