Speakers back covers

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cmedsailor

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I am thinking of installing stereo speakers at the cockpit and since the back of them will be inside the lazarettes I would like to cover them with speaker back covers. Anybody knows where I can find such covers (google found some “poly planar” ones at Amazon but only in US)?
 
Those covers will "do what it says on the tin" - they will protect the rear of the speaker from damage. What they will not do, is improve the sound quality. If any thing, they will make it worse! If you want decent audio quality the loudspeaker needs to be attached to a closed box - of a size that meets the manufacturers recommendations. Too small a box and the speaker will lack bass response, better to err on the big side. There is, of course, a whole art in designing loudspeaker boxes. Your best bet, is a ply box (at least 10mm thick), around the size of a shoe box, and line it with some of the wadding designed for the purpose (although you could use rock-wool roof insulation).
 
mikefleetwood said:
Those covers will "do what it says on the tin" - they will protect the rear of the speaker from damage. What they will not do, is improve the sound quality. If any thing, they will make it worse! If you want decent audio quality the loudspeaker needs to be attached to a closed box - of a size that meets the manufacturers recommendations. Too small a box and the speaker will lack bass response, better to err on the big side. There is, of course, a whole art in designing loudspeaker boxes. Your best bet, is a ply box (at least 10mm thick), around the size of a shoe box, and line it with some of the wadding designed for the purpose (although you could use rock-wool roof insulation).
Click to expand...

WIll the speakers sound better without any rear cover at all?
 
cmedsailor said:
WIll the speakers sound better without any rear cover at all?
Click to expand...

If they are installed on a large surface with some empty space behind them, then probably. The key features are 1. to prevent you hearing the sound coming from the rear of the speaker - which will tend to "cancel out" the sound from the front, especially at low frequencies, and 2. not have any nasty resonance. A smaller box will hive a higher resonant frequency, and will not reproduce sounds below that frequency.
 
from my time playing about with car stereos in competition...

general speakers for this kind of installaton are 'free air' so do not require an enclosure - they do this so you dont have to make an enclosed space. if you do enclose them, its all about volume of the enclosure to depend what you get out of it,

As daft as it may seem - if you can find a plant pot that may suit your needs - and seal the edge around the connecting join to make it air tight. as for putting someting inside it - wadding from a pillow is ideal, it maintains usable volume for the speaker, yet dampens down any hollow vibration you'd get from said driver.
 
Most marine speakers are not great anyway.
A small sealed box will lower their efficiency, i.e. less sound per electrical watt. But that which does get out may be just as good.
A useful compromise may be to leave an open slot on the bottom or whichever side of the box can't be seen.

Sometimes the locker or whatever they are backing onto resonates horribly and a sealed box will help that.
It's worth a try unless you are finding the amp is already not powerful enough.
 
lw395 said:
Most marine speakers are not great anyway.
A small sealed box will lower their efficiency, i.e. less sound per electrical watt. But that which does get out may be just as good.
A useful compromise may be to leave an open slot on the bottom or whichever side of the box can't be seen.

Sometimes the locker or whatever they are backing onto resonates horribly and a sealed box will help that.
It's worth a try unless you are finding the amp is already not powerful enough.
Click to expand...

A slot will act as a port for airflow - which will also change how a speaker sounds dramatically.

i spent months experimenting with ports - it gets quite complex to get a good sound from just leaving a gap.
 
symondo said:
A slot will act as a port for airflow - which will also change how a speaker sounds dramatically.

i spent months experimenting with ports - it gets quite complex to get a good sound from just leaving a gap.
Click to expand...
Yes it will change things, but the port in this case is inside the locker, so not much of a path to the listener in the cockpit.
Some people get good results operating speakers with very low box volumes, particularly full range things like portable radios.
A lot of people liked the sound of e.g. early Roberts DAB radios and FM portables, I think having fairly rigid cases often of wood can be useful.
You are right it can quickly get very complex though.
And two speaker enthusiasts are unlikely to agree what's best.

Practically, a small port can be a good idea when the speaker seal leaks, it stops the water level reaching the coil....
I boxed mine in with a small port, it sounded better than before, but the backs of those speakers were in the aft cabin, not a locker.
 
The Fusion system on my boat has quite small cockpit speakers which have perforated rear covers, perhaps allowing the sealed cockpit lockers to help improve the sound quality (which is fairly good).

IMGP0835_zpsvva5qled.jpg
 
yoda said:
Just to be a bit different, you may wish to consider something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vidsonix-...oof-Speaker-/271985731034?hash=item3f539ce5da

They avoid the need for a pair of big holes in the cockpit and are robust so don't need a rear cover. Important to make sure they balance with any other speakers on the system.
Just a thought!

Yoda
Click to expand...

Yes I am fully aware of these and followed a relative thread some time ago. In fact all these years since I bought the boat (9 year now!) I have been very very reluctant to cut holes (still I am). But I haven't quite understood how good these trasnducer things are.
 
'Yes I am fully aware of these and followed a relative thread some time ago. In fact all these years since I bought the boat (9 year now!) I have been very very reluctant to cut holes (still I am). But I haven't quite understood how good these trasnducer things are.'

I find them quite satisfactory to listen to music in the cockpit, don't expect brilliant quality but quite acceptable in my mindi guess if you don't like them you can always chnage to normal speakers but once a hole is cut then there is no going back.

Yoda

Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?450917-Speakers-back-covers/page2#X2MO7pslSY8c61Ke.99
 
To waterproof the rear of you speakers paint with nail varnish...

A box on the back can potentially cause condensation if there is no circulation... (So if your going to do this paint it anyway)

A box will drammatically reduce the speakers life. the driver is affected by air pressure/force. An air tight enclosure behind the speak will do no good.

If you want better sound in the cockpit add some speakers close to the companion way and crank it up.

Sound quality is massivily important to me. I spent a fair amount of time as foldback mix and patch bitch. knowing a little sound systems I wanted a component system on the boat. The boat unfortunately is not big enough. So i hunted high and low... I have Pioneer TS-A1723i. These were the best that I heard on visiting the local ICE Centres.

Marine speaker are particularly poor in my opinion and hugely over priced I got these for £45/from eBay. And liberated some nail varnish from Fiona my better half.

The speakers was also voted no.1 in various car audio competitions in 2015...

I don't work for Pioneer. I never have worked for Pioneer... But everybody wants good sound quality for an affordable price. Don't they
 
I bought a pair of these - they don't mess with the sound quality, they don't cause condensation, and they are rock solid when installed. The feet bond onto the back surface of the GRP with epoxy or Sika so no holes required but then you can unscrew the guard at a later date if necessary. I can now drag sails, dinghies, buckets, anchors etc. in and out of the locker without worrying about the speakers. FUSION SPEAKER GUARD 316 Stainless quality protection for 4" speakers inc Fusion | eBay

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