Music in Different Zones of the Boat

[Jurgen]

Hi All,

Have a pretty basic Car Stereo on the boat were buying, have a hankering to be able to listen to music in different zones of the boat i.e. Flybridge, Salon Bedrooms etc

Would prefer to have something integrated as opposed to separate stereo's in the different room but budget is ever present.

Has anyone done this on their boats.

Many thanks

Andy

 

[Sishoe]

The Fusion MS AV 700 has four zones.
I have saloon, cockpit and flybridge zones and a final zone which is connected to the sub in the Saloon.
All in all it pretty good.
Just fitted the BT200 Bluetooth device so now can stream from Spotify/Napster etc, via my phone.
If you have a router on board, the head unit can be connected via an Ethernet and then an app downloaded to phone/pad from which you can control volume levels/zones etc.

I have a Kenwood Marine head unit, helm control & Bluetooth device I bought for my old boat but didn't get round to fitting, all new boxed never fitted, If your interested.

 

[Jurgen]

Excuse my lack of knowledge but does this allow you to listen to different media sources in different zones at the same time i.e Ipod on flybridge and radio 4 in thee salon

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I have a simpler solution, again using Fusion kit - zone control for the saloon and cockpit (and hopefully soon, the bow sunpad as well). I wasn't bothered about bluetooth streaming, I just wanted to have an ipod in the unit with all my music on it. The Fusion 700 unit is very nice, but quite expensive; I've got the 600 unit instead. (If you want a really cheap multi-zone solution I also have a 500 head unit to sell).

 

[Sishoe]

Excuse my lack of knowledge but does this allow you to listen to different media sources in different zones at the same time i.e Ipod on flybridge and radio 4 in thee salon

No it doesn't, I don't think you will get that sort of facility out of a car stereo type marine head unit.
I'm sure it can be done, something along the lines of a Sonos type system, with a bridge and router.

 

[Whitelighter]

Afaik the fusion on zones in the sense that you can control the volume in the different zones. I dont think you can have the ipod playing on deck while the radio plays in the saloon, for example.

There are a number of ways of achieving what you want to do but i dont know of anything that is marine specific.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Yep, sishoe and whitelighter are correct - changing the input source on a Fusion zone controller (certainly for the 500 and 600 head units, at least) changes the input selection for all zones.

Here's the horse's mouth:

http://www.fusionelectronics.com/marine/innovation/multi-zone-technology

 

[Jurgen]

Thanks all, thought I might have been a bit unrealistic in my thoughts.

Looks like fusion is the way forward. Have dtv's in the cabin's and dinette etc so can access different media etc so not a massive issue.

The fusion with the blue tooth unit eliminates the need to run wires, that said the wired remote does offer the benefit of being marine compliant

 

[Chill]

Got Sonos at home and it is a cracking system, cant see you would need this on the boat, As all my music is on my Blackberry so I can stream to the main stereo for flybridge or saloon, I also have onboard a Bose Soundlink speaker which can be moved to wherever you want the music. Its rechargeable and the battery lasts ages, the sound quality is excellent. We also plug this into the tv via the headphone socket.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

the wired remote does offer the benefit of being marine compliant

... and you can't drop them in the sea, which is an added benefit

 

[Hurricane]

I recently posted this - a bit more radical but not too expensive.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?421214-Alternative-Audio-Music-System

Quality is great as well.
When we were out on the boat about 3 weeks ago, I fitted a new audio zone in the cockpit.
So, that now makes three zones - Flybridge, Cockpit and Saloon.
Each zone is fed (wirelessly) from one of those cheap AirPlay receivers - see the link.
I've just bought another Fusion Amp and some new Fusion speakers because the Cockpit was so good, I'm going to upgrade the Flybridge system when I next go down to the boat.

 

[Jurgen]

... and you can't drop them in the sea, which is an added benefit

Ha ha, lost 2 blackberries last year, had them in a shirt pocket and leant over to flush the loo, you can guess the outcome lol

 

[intouch1]

maybe you want to check-out the bose soundtouch amplifier or sa-3 amps. you can use These with any type of Speakers you wish. the amps have Inputs so you can drive them with any frontend.
i also have an Airport express connected to mine, so i can airplay with my iPod/iPhone.

i have Setup 3 seperate zones that way on my boat. 2 subwoofers stashed in the engine-room and satellite Speakers in the Corners of the Cockpit and Salon.

alternatively as mentioned by others just get standalone Speakers you can stream to. i would highly recommend dali kubik....or maybe a naim muso. this all depends on Budget.

only downside is that all the above requires 220/240 V, unless you get Units that have internal batteries.

 

[BartW]

We have a Sonos system,
in the saloon 2 x Play1 speakers + Playbar + Sub
in the cockpit, FB and bowbed waterproof speakers driven by 3 x sonos amps,
we have 5 different zones on the boat,
each zone can play music from guests Iphones or Ipod,
or the whole boat can play the same music from one iphone, or our onboard Ipad, or combination inbetween.
we are pleased with the system.
just one warning;
if you play music on all speakers at the same time, you need to connect more then one unit with a cable to the network,
if not, the wireless network might interrupt occasionally (datastream to high)

 

[Hurricane]

@intouch1
I believe that there is another downside.
These Airplay techniques rely on "streaming" the data which inherently, requires "buffering" somewhere in the system.
Running experiments (using the equipment that I tested) I found that different manufacturers "buffered" at different rates.
Not a problem if you are only playing a track to a single zone but when you play the same track to multiple zones, they can get "out of sync".
In a home, this isn't that crucial but on a boat, the zones are often quite close to each other.
I wonder if you found the same problems that I found.

@BartW
It seems from your post that all your equipment is Sonos.
IMO Sonos systems are the best available and (being a complete integrated solution) should work without any sync problems.
I didn't test any Sonos equipment because I didn't want to change my existing Bose kit and I wanted suitable external speakers for the FB and Cockpit.
It would be interesting to understand why they recommend a wire (datastream too high - you say).
Airplay uses a concept of Multicast which, as I understand, shouldn't increase the amount of data when more than one zone is used.
Certainly, in the system that I installed on the boat, all 3 zones can run simultaneously over WiFi and, as yet, I haven't noticed any interruptions.

 

[Chill]

I have just purchased a set of Bose Acoustimas 3 speakers and plan to install them in the saloon. The sub unit does not require 240v but I am not sure where to put it as its quite large. Would it work if I put in under the saloon seating or does it need to be our in the open. Intouch1 says he installed his in the engine room not sure I like the idea of this!

 

[Nigelpickin]

K

I have just purchased a set of Bose Acoustimas 3 speakers and plan to install them in the saloon. The sub unit does not require 240v but I am not sure where to put it as its quite large. Would it work if I put in under the saloon seating or does it need to be our in the open. Intouch1 says he installed his in the engine room not sure I like the idea of this!

I think it would be fine as long as you have air flow, it's vented and access to the controls If it needs a reset.

I have two Bose subs and both are tucked away and sound, for a boat at least, is pretty good.

 

[BartW]

@BartW
It seems from your post that all your equipment is Sonos.
IMO Sonos systems are the best available and (being a complete integrated solution) should work without any sync problems.
I didn't test any Sonos equipment because I didn't want to change my existing Bose kit and I wanted suitable external speakers for the FB and Cockpit.
It would be interesting to understand why they recommend a wire (datastream too high - you say).
Airplay uses a concept of Multicast which, as I understand, shouldn't increase the amount of data when more than one zone is used.
Certainly, in the system that I installed on the boat, all 3 zones can run simultaneously over WiFi and, as yet, I haven't noticed any interruptions.

the sonos system works without any sync problems,
there is a mode used to be called "party mode" that all speakers play the same music in sync.

when we run all zones together the same music, the system is very sensitive for interuptions, I don't know the technical explanation,
but it was the Locomarine guy who told me that for a Sonos multiple zone system, you better connect more than one unit with a cable to the network (instead of just one; what Sonos claims is sufficient)
Locomarine has lots of experience with a Sonos system on their Yacht routers,

its no issue for me to connect 3 units to the network with a cable, as there are 3 sonos amps hidden together in a locker in the saloon,
3 pairs of waterproof outside speakers (not sonos) are connected to these amps
I still need to do this cabling, since the new YR is installed,
I'll report later if any important news or issues

 

[BartW]

I have just purchased a set of Bose Acoustimas 3 speakers and plan to install them in the saloon. The sub unit does not require 240v but I am not sure where to put it as its quite large. Would it work if I put in under the saloon seating or does it need to be our in the open. Intouch1 says he installed his in the engine room not sure I like the idea of this!

as long the saloon seating is not fully enclosed by solid material like wood, you can place the sub underneath.
and I assume that its Obvious that all openings on a subwoofer, need to remain open...the sound has to come out,
sometimes there are additional openings on the rear or on the sides, ....

make sure the sub is not too far from the top speakers, I mean not totally the other side of the room,
because the ballance between top and sub would be too much different on different positions in the room.

I also considered to place our subwoofer under the sofa, but for now its under the saloon table.

 

[rafiki_]

We have a spare Bose 321 system, and I looked at using it in out Azi. However the speaker leads are very chunky, and I coudnt sort a route that hid these properly. The sub is quite large too, and all the leads connect into the sub, so I concluded it would not look right. We use a chargeable sound dock, which travels with us into the cockpit and fly, and as we don't crank the volume, we are quite happy with this. I will look again at mounting Bose speakers in the cockpit, as this looks quite doable without too much deconstruction, but again, a separate sub will not be easy.