Stereo with bluetooth

[cmedsailor]

I don’t have cockpit speakers and I am really reluctant cutting holes to install them. I am a bit confused with what a stereo with Bluetooth can do. Could I “connect” a Bluetooth speaker (I have a Creative D100 for my ipad) with the stereo to listen music from the D100 speaker or the Bluetooth technology means that I can only connect a Bluetooth device (eg my ipad) to the stereo and listen from the stereo speakers?
Thanks

 

[Twister_Ken]

Music in the cockpit is the work of the devil.

Don't bother, or use your iPod with cans.

 

[Sandy]

Music in the cockpit is the work of the devil.

+1

 

[status]

Is it a car type stereo?

We had a bluetooth stereo in the car that connected through the blue tooth to a phone for hands free operation.

I was under the imppression bluetooth is not high enough bandwidth, i.e. not good enough quality for music transmission, although I am probably (as usual) long out of date.

Stuart

 

[Oscarpop]

I understand the sentiment regarding music in cockpits, however it doesnt really answer the OP.

It is something I have been doing research into, and have come to the following conclusion.

1. Do not bother cutting holes for speakers. there are now combing speakers that bond to the indide of the hull and negate the need for speakers that are visible.

2. Over the next year, bluetooth speakers and apple airplay speakers will really take off. This negates the need for any form of stereo in a boat. Bose and B&W do some already. It is very very useful and will allow you to change the technology as it develops, rather than cutting holes in your boat and then finding that when it all becomes obselete a couple of years later, you cant find anything to fit the holes.

Apologies to the Luddite community on here. I know this must sound like a total abhoration to you all.

 

[cmedsailor]

1. Do not bother cutting holes for speakers. there are now combing speakers that bond to the indide of the hull and negate the need for speakers that are visible.

Can you be more specific? I am lost!

 

[cmedsailor]

I was under the imppression bluetooth is not high enough bandwidth, i.e. not good enough quality for music transmission, although I am probably (as usual) long out of date.

Stuart

The quality of my Creative D100 when connected to my ipad for playing music is fine (for me). I would like to able to connect it to a car (boat) stereo too. Since I already have the speaker and thinking to "upgrade" my current stereo I simply try to understand what a bluetooth unit does.

 

[RichardS]

Provided your speakers have a bluetooth receiver built-in or connected to them you can transmit your music from a bluetooth enabled player (mobile phone etc) to the speakers and the quality of mp3 files is not affected.

Our kids both play the music from their phones and iPod Touches over the bluetooth car stereo whilst sitting in the back.

Richard

 

[RupertW]

+1

Oh come on. Sharing a bottle of Jack Daniels with mates in the cockpit after a good night out, playing old Motörhead tracks on a really good stereo. It's what anchoring is all about.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Oh come on. Sharing a bottle of Jack Daniels with mates in the cockpit after a good night out, playing old Motörhead tracks on a really good stereo. It's what anchoring is all about.

Not if you're anchored 50 metres away and planning an 0430 departure to catch the morning tide.

 

[fireball]

A bluetooth speaker will be an amp and speaker device - it will need a power source too.

I'd be surprised if you'll find a waterproof one - but you may not need/want one at the moment.

You would not be connecting thus:
iPod Bluetooth -> Stereo -> Stereo Bluetooth Output -> Bluetooth Speaker

You'd be connecting
iPod Bluetooth -> Bluetooth Speaker

I've not come across a bluetooth "stereo" yet - ie a Car stereo that outputs to wireless remote speakers - but I'm sure they'll be along soon.... but as said - the speakers still need a power source - be it rechargeable battery or wired supply.

I too would be reluctant to cut holes in the cockpit for speakers - I already have 1 redundant speaker (it doesn't work anyway), the other two were already cabled into the stereo.

For the naysayers - sometimes it is nice to listen to music in the cockpit - I find the closer but quieter sound source far better than using the cabin speakers cranked up a bit ... eitherway volume is kept low as I do not wish to disturb others - fortunately the music I normally listen to is suitable to be heard at low volumes!

 

[RupertW]

Not if you're anchored 50 metres away and planning an 0430 departure to catch the morning tide.

Did you think I was serious? I actually do like pounding music when sailing in windy weather sometimes, but it's quiet and in-cabin only when parked. have to admit I've been tempted to be noisier when Ive anchored far from the crowd and found the new boats clustering tight around me.

 

[cmedsailor]

I've not come across a bluetooth "stereo" yet - ie a Car stereo that outputs to wireless remote speakers - but I'm sure they'll be along soon.... but as said - the speakers still need a power source - be it rechargeable battery or wired supply.

That seems to be answer to my question. So, it's a "no" (or "not yet"). As far as power source the D100 speaker works with either batteries or cable.

Thanks

 

[Oscarpop]

Apparently the new Southerly's are being fitted with speakers that bond to the inside of the combing, thus turning the hull into a speaker. I have no further info although it should work.

As for wireless transmssion through bluetooth and alike, it is a lot more advanced than it was.

this site shows what is on the market, but there will be more along next year.

http://airplayspeakers.com/

 

[Boo2]

I was under the imppression bluetooth is not high enough bandwidth, i.e. not good enough quality for music transmission, although I am probably (as usual) long out of date.

This is probably still true though the Bluetooth A2DP profile does ameliorate the shortcoming up to a point.

Boo2

 

[Boo2]

Apparently the new Southerly's are being fitted with speakers that bond to the inside of the combing, thus turning the hull into a speaker.

Might be interesting to play dolphin noises through those

Boo2

 

[gjgm]

B/Tooth seems pretty much line of sight, up to about 10 metres. I havent heard of a car stereo that outputs b/tooth, but I would think you would have a problem with "reception" at the speakers, unless everything is very close together (like in a car).

 

[cmedsailor]

but I would think you would have a problem with "reception" at the speakers,

I wish!!! The LOA is 11.1 meters and the stereo in the saloon is let's say in the middle of the boat (actually it's less from the cockpit).
Anyway, I wish had this problem in a 25+ meters super yacht......I believe I could live without the speakers!

 

[orion50]

do you have a cockpit VHF speaker? If you do that could be a possibility. If not that might be more of a sailing priority. Have a nice day!

 

[jdc]

Music over Bluetooth

You can certainly play music over Bluetooth, and in fact many of us do. First something on the technolgy:

It is a one to several system, but usually, since what is known as a PAN (Personal Area Network) one only has a small number of devices on the go at once. The raw speed was 1Mbit / second for Bluetooth v1, but went upto 3Mbps for v2 and beyond. The maximum assymetric user rate is around 700kbps, for v1 and 2.1Mbps for v2 (aka EDR - Enhanced Data Rate). I wouldn't count on more than 1Mbps continuously however.

Music is stored on files on your phone, PC or iPod in variuos formats, but the most common are MP3, usually at 128kbps, and AAC+ (at a little higher rate than this) on Apple ITunes. So there is no problem with data rate of Bluetooth at all.

However there are 100's of formats for music - Apple doesn't use MP3 for instance, and Microsoft have a whole world of incompatible standards themselves. So what most manufacturers of Bluetooth stereo devices do is convert the stored format to a lowest common denominator format, called SBC, and send this. All Bluetooth devices support SBC. Its rate is ~280kbps, so inefficient, but well within the rate nonetheless provided you don't try to have too many connections at once.

A typical Bluetooth system can run simultaneously a mouse, a keyboard, stereo wireless speakers and a mono wireless microphone, so cockpit audio is no problem. Software is always the weak point however. Bluetooth supports many different use cases, called 'Profiles' - 27 odd when last I paid attention, among them HFP (hands-free, eg for a mono headset or car handsfree kit), HID (human Interface, aka mouse or keyboard or joystick), Obex (object exchange for business cards or small files), SPP (serial port for RS232 replacement) and A2DP which is Audio distribution, the one which we are interested here. Furthermore A2DP is divided into sources and sinks.

To make it work you need both ends to support A2DP and one a source and one a sink.

Many car radio manufacturers build in HFP, fewer A2DP. Whan A2DP it's invariably a sink, ie it expects to have music streamed to it from a phone or iPod. I have a Sony car radio on my boat, and it works fine in this way.

Some PCs, but not all - Microsoft's Bluetooth stack is particularly poor in this regard - support A2DP as a source. Some mobile phones support A2DP as a source: my Blackberry does, all Nokia's do, as I think do all Samsungs. Not sure about other brands, but it's becoming a 'tick box' item so I magine new ones will almost without exception.

Apple iPods didn't in the past, but some are just becoming available. This was because Apple were quite simply exploiting the barrier to competition by using their special socket, which only they are allowed to make and which they sell (at a price rather higher than cost let us say) to anyone wanting to make accessories for ipods. It's nowt to do with technolgy or Bluetooth. However the next generation Apple devices do support Bluetooth, but it's still made hard for us customers in order to protect their revenue from iTunes.

Sony MP3 players do support Bluetooth A2DP and are very good at it.

Some rather good pure Bluetooth accesories have emerged, for instance the speaker brick from Aleph / Jawbone, and many Taiwanese equivalents. However all Bluetooth speakers have either big batteries (D cells) or need a power lead (usually 5V DC), or are rechargeable.

What I have are wired speakers from a car radio, and stream music to the radio from an iPod or my phone or my laptop. What I understood the OP wants is doable, but as mentioned will need power so there seems little point wiring power in permanently when one may as well wire in speaker cable. if one just wants a waterproof bit in the cockpit and to keep the valuable iPod in a waterproof pouch or pocket, then a speaker brick with rechargeable batteries might be an option.

Range: Typically it goes 400m or so LoS. Non LoS it has to diffract around objects but I've no issue in my boat anywhere to anywhere. For the technical, o/p pwr is +4 to +6dBm, and sensitiviy is around -85dBm, so a loss budget of nearly 90dB. Loads for a few tens of meters: if it's struggling in a fibreglass yacht then one or other end is poorly designed (most phones are) and/or broken. 70dB is pretty much the maximum loss for a 10m non-LoS path.

Hope this is useful and not just jargon.