On-board multi-zone audio

[Magnum]

Over the years I have had a variety of onboard audio systems, some good, some bad. As our 68 was in build when ordered, I didn't get the chance to deviate from the standard equipment.

Princess have been using a cheapo Harman Kardon 5.1 or 2.1 system for the last few years which is quite remarkable for its lack of user friendliness. Furthermore there is no proper integration throughout the vessel, so the saloon, master cabin and outside spaces all run different systems. The HK system takes an age to boot up and although you can stream from your iPad/iPhone if you turn on the master cabin system the pairing to the saloon is lost and vice versa.

The flybridge uses a Fusion system, with 2 speakers 3 feet apart at deck level by the upper helm and is linked to a wired remote in the cockpit and 2 small but OK'ish speakers mounted in the flybridge overhang. If you want to stream audio from your iPad or phone the device has to be on the flybridge otherwise it will be out of range. Technically the HK system is linked to the Fusion system but this is done via the high level speaker output and external volume is subject to that indoors.

In short it's rubbish.

So, I'm going to do it properly with the 75. favourite so far is the B&O multi-room kit which works seamlessly via the boat's wi-fi using an iPhone app as the control. Lovely. The only TV that will fit in the saloon hi-lo mechanism is a 48" which is smaller than the stock Samsung 55". Actually the Samsung kit is fine but the B&O has an integrated 5.1 processor which makes for a much neater installation.

Anyone got any other ideas? It's got to be super easy to use and sound great. That's all!

 

[petem]

Aren't Sonos the leaders in multi room sound systems?

 

[BartW]

another vote for Sonos
at the moment we have 5 zones on Blue Angel,
guests can play music from their I-phone in one or more zones
we can play music from the onboard I-pad, in one or several zones simultaniously,
sound quality is very good,

 

[Magnum]

I have Sonos at home and it is excellent. No surround sound for the TV though.

 

[Magnum]

another vote for Sonos
at the moment we have 5 zones on Blue Angel,
guests can play music from their I-phone in one or more zones
we can play music from the onboard I-pad, in one or several zones simultaniously,
sound quality is very good,

Bart where do you locate the control amps? Centrally or in each zone?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I have Sonos at home and it is excellent. No surround sound for the TV though.

We have a Sonos Playbar at home with 2 x Play 1 speakers and a Sub which provides surround sound for the TV. But then I'm definitely no hi-fi expert so maybe its not what the true afficionado would term as surround sound! It certainly sounds like surround sound to me

 

[rafiki_]

Have you looked at this kit?

http://www.imerge.co.uk/yachts.php

 

[jfm]

Magnum I'm no expert but here's what I did, and I start from the psotion that on a 75 footer you want to be able to play from one source and have every zone on the boat playing it (apart from cabins).

1. I have B+O beosound 5 main unit in saloon. Tb hard driver, user interface, TV with surround sound 4x gas lantern B+O (same as yr s'seeker) spkrs each containing an amp (so need 230v supply) and a sub. That's one zone and can play in isolation

2. Linked B+O amp on aft deck with 2 x Bose 131. This can play only the same B+O source as saloon but has own amp and volume control. I need to add a sub but not got around to it yet

3. Fylbridge has a fusion with 4x speakers plus a fusion subwoofer amp and speaker. This can play independently from an iPhone via cable or b/tooth BUT the B+O saloon system feeds its aux-out to the fusion and then I can have the whole boat paying the same source, but with independent amplifiers (and volume controls and subwoofers) in each of the three zones.

4. I have a spare output from the Fusion and intend but haven't got round to connecting this to a pair of B+O speakers on foredeck. This is a line level output so I'd need the fusuion amp for the foredeck foredeck, and that would give me local volume control on the foredeck too.

I rarely use iPhone as music source because everything in my iTunes is also on the boat's Tb hard drive which is incredibly easy to update off a MacBook. To select music in the saloon I just use the user interface there. Anywhere else I use Creation5 on an ipad, which replicates the saloon display complete with album art etc and it has both a thumbwheel select and a search function to find music tracks. The pro version is best for about $20. The B+O and the ipad talk to each other by virtue of both being connected to the Ethernet main router on the boat. That contains a 4G card so can do Spotify and radio

I'm not an expert and others might say this is rubbish but I naiively think it's brilliant! I realise that B+O don't do beosound 5 any more but presumably you can get something even better now

 

[Magnum]

Have you looked at this kit?

http://www.imerge.co.uk/yachts.php

No, never heard of it. Is it any good?

 

[rafiki_]

I have not experienced the kit myself, but know the original CEO well. Imerge was a Cambridge Uni Scientific start-up, lots of innovation. They were early in to connected systems. Have good funding behind them now. Might be worth looking into?

 

[Hurricane]

You probably wouldn't be interested in my solution but over the years, it has developed into a system that I really like.
Not at the expensive/bespoke end - just several WiFi boxes connected to Fusion Amps - no external controls - all done from the smart phone - WiFi so not hindered by Bluetooth losses.

My point though is to have kit (like JFM) that has several zones (specifically Saloon, Cockpit and Flybridge).
But my key point is that the kit needs to be capable of external use - FB anyway but also the Cockpit.
IMO, this means that probably Fusion is the way to go - mainly for robustness.
Not sure that Sonas have anything that can be used externally but I stand to be corrected.

My system gets away with this by not having any local controls (i.e all controlled from the smart phone/device).

 

[Magnum]

Magnum I'm no expert but here's what I did, and I start from the psotion that on a 75 footer you want to be able to play from one source and have every zone on the boat playing it (apart from cabins).

1. I have B+O beosound 5 main unit in saloon. Tb hard driver, user interface, TV with surround sound 4x gas lantern B+O (same as yr s'seeker) spkrs each containing an amp (so need 230v supply) and a sub. That's one zone and can play in isolation

2. Linked B+O amp on aft deck with 2 x Bose 131. This can play only the same B+O source as saloon but has own amp and volume control. I need to add a sub but not got around to it yet

3. Fylbridge has a fusion with 4x speakers plus a fusion subwoofer amp and speaker. This can play independently from an iPhone via cable or b/tooth BUT the B+O saloon system feeds its aux-out to the fusion and then I can have the whole boat paying the same source, but with independent amplifiers (and volume controls and subwoofers) in each of the three zones.

4. I have a spare output from the Fusion and intend but haven't got round to connecting this to a pair of B+O speakers on foredeck. This is a line level output so I'd need the fusuion amp for the foredeck foredeck, and that would give me local volume control on the foredeck too.

I rarely use iPhone as music source because everything in my iTunes is also on the boat's Tb hard drive which is incredibly easy to update off a MacBook. To select music in the saloon I just use the user interface there. Anywhere else I use Creation5 on an ipad, which replicates the saloon display complete with album art etc and it has both a thumbwheel select and a search function to find music tracks. The pro version is best for about $20. The B+O and the ipad talk to each other by virtue of both being connected to the Ethernet main router on the boat. That contains a 4G card so can do Spotify and radio

I'm not an expert and others might say this is rubbish but I naiively think it's brilliant! I realise that B+O don't do beosound 5 any more but presumably you can get something even better now

Thanks jfm.

I take you have full independent volume control on your fb Fusion? In which case it is being fed correctly by a low level output from the Beosound 5. However, you probably can't select tracks from the via the Fusion, can you?

The Beolab 3 speakers are awesome and they are still making them in black only.

 

[BartW]

Bart where do you locate the control amps? Centrally or in each zone?

the amps for the after deck and flybridge are in the saloon, in a cupboard where the old audio system used to be, (LS cables where there)
the amp for the foredeck / sunbed is under the lower helm dashboard, (closest distance to the waterproove speakers)
the other two systems, are discrete Sonos components (2 x Play1 and soundbar + subwoofer) , they don't have a separate amp.

You can place the amps in any dry space with a bit of airflow, / most convenient for the cabling to the speakers.
They need 230V supply.
You know that you only need acces to the amps for setup, never for normal operation.

I have to say that you need to bring a network cable to as many Sonos units as possible (in my case I linked all Sonos amps with a cable)
because datastream between the units is so high that you might get interruptions of the sound, / slow reaction , when all music and controll commands have to go through the wireless wifi network

 

[Boat2016]

I questioned the lack of Bluetooth range on my Fusion 750 and was informed that the new 760 has rectified the problem, other than that was very pleased with it, would have one again

 

[jfm]

Thanks jfm.

I take you have full independent volume control on your fb Fusion? In which case it is being fed correctly by a low level output from the Beosound 5. However, you probably can't select tracks from the via the Fusion, can you?

The Beolab 3 speakers are awesome and they are still making them in black only.

Yep the fb fusion has its own volume knob - the unit is fed just by the low level output from the B+O. Normally I control fb volume by actually turning the knob, but can also do it from any Garmin screen (all of which replicate/control the fusion) or from i-pad/phone running the Garmin helm app (whereby the garmin plotter screen including touch functionality is directly replicated on i-thing).

No, can't select tracks directly from fusion. But the Creation 5 app on ipad directly and visually replicates the beosound 5, even including album art, so that's how I do it. Of course, I can b/tooth or cable connect (via 3.5mm jack socket located right beside the fusion head unit on the fly dash) an i-device straight to the fb fusion and select tracks from there, if I want music only in the fb zone

The critical things to get on your boat, imho and a very amateurish imho at that, are

4 subwoofered zones. Fly, saloon, aft deck, foredeck (ok, maybe don't need a sub on foredeck)
Ability to play single source in all zones, if you choose
Separate easily reached vol control in each zone
Select tracks from anywhere (for which I use Creation 5 app but there will be other solutions)

 

[Mr Googler]

Have you looked at simrad sonic hub?

No idea on the quality but defo does 3 zones.

Not sure which way you are going on nav gear or vhf but if going simrad, might be worth considering. Also support CZone which looks pretty neat

 

[Magnum]

Have you looked at simrad sonic hub?

No idea on the quality but defo does 3 zones.

Not sure which way you are going on nav gear or vhf but if going Simrad, might be worth considering. Also support CZone which looks pretty neat

The Sonic Hub is a brilliant solution for 2-3 zones and we had one on our sailing boat. It's not really big enough for our next project though sadly.

 

[Magnum]

jfm you have surround sound in your saloon but where is the processor and how is this integrating with your regular audio system? The only way I know of doing this is with a B&O TV.

 

[jfm]

jfm you have surround sound in your saloon but where is the processor and how is this integrating with your regular audio system? The only way I know of doing this is with a B&O TV.

Yep it all works through the B+O tv. Although the TV screen is black/off, the processor is inside the TV and the little text display at top right of TV screen is on, telling you what mode you're in, all the time that you're just listening to music. All works pretty seamlessly, (although as you know B+O commands are sometimes a bit unintuitive)

 

[Magnum]

The critical things to get on your boat, imho and a very amateurish imho at that, are

4 subwoofered zones. Fly, saloon, aft deck, foredeck (ok, maybe don't need a sub on foredeck)
Ability to play single source in all zones, if you choose
Separate easily reached vol control in each zone
Select tracks from anywhere (for which I use Creation 5 app but there will be other solutions)

I agree with most of that. I would say my requirements are :-

1 - Ability to play a single source in any or all zones - saloon, master, VIP, cockpit, fly & foredeck.
2 - Ability to adjust volume of any zone from any zone via iPhone app.
3 - Ability to select tracks or playlists from any zone via iPhone app.
4 - Excellent sound quality with 3 subwoofer zones - saloon, cockpit & fly.
5 - Integrated 5.1 audio for saloon TV.

Nos 1-4 can be achieved easily with a Sonos system. Benefits of Sonos are cost and an outstanding iPhone app.

No 5 can only be achieved (as far as I am aware) with a B&O TV, but there are problems with fitment or small size of TV. With the Sonos system a Playbar could be used but there is no space to mount it.

The B&O IcePower amps are over twice as powerful as the Sonos amps at 2 x 125W. The B&O app is just as good as the Sonos app, I'm told.

I'm starting to wonder whether I should even bother with 5.1 in the saloon. Can't remember the last time I watched a DVD.

Very much a first world problem!