which cockpit speakers and where to buy

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markhomer

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Am considering fitting cockpit speakers for my stereo . planning to put them into steering console pointing out from sides , so sound will bounce of cockpit sides (low down) , guessing that magnetically shielded is a must as gps ,compass above .

Seen some in tinternet , clarion and fusion , only needing around 100 watts .


any recommendations , what have others fitted , advice from experience gratefully recieved

cheers
 
Have Alpine in the saloon (6.5") and they sound great. Have fusion in the cockpit (5" i think). Don't sound so good but I guess the size matters thing comes into play with speakers. For a nice sound I would say it's worth looking at Alpine and JBL. Alpine definately do a marine range and I think JBL do. I only mention JBL because I used to use their gear in PA rigs and their speakers were very good. That said my only other advice would be to hear them before you buy.

http://www.outdoorgb.com/c/waterproof_speakers/ - yup JBL do do waterproof
 
I wouldn't spend too much on outside speakers. The grilles will often degrade in UV anyway. Even shielded should be checked for causing variation, by offering up first. I would have thought that mounted in cockpit sides, somewhere where people don't sit, would be better. It's unlikely that you will bounce sound of the sides in open air. That is another reason why speakers don't sound so good good outside, unless it's a big system. Reflection will be very low. Have a look here;

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/b...ions=false&ref=globalsearch&_requestid=127616
 
Galago said:
Can you post on here, please, where you're going to be anchoring every weekend?
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May be they won't be playing their music loud at anchor :rolleyes:

We have ours facing forward, and might have some music on at anchor, but unless you we're rafted along side yo would struggle to hear it, by the time we are at the shrouds it's our of ear shot on a calm day.

We have a couple of 5 inch Fusions iirc (or the could be 4 inch) they sound great and because we have them mounted on an open transom space we get good bass.
 
snowleopard said:
Thank you. The thought of someone pushing out 100w of sound in a marina or anchorage is horrendous. Where can I buy a ship-to-ship missile?
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Forget 100W from 5" or 6" cockpit speakers, that's just a figment of some copy writers' imagination. :)

I think that noise from yachts is one of those things that doesn't actually happen much in reality? I enjoy music of all kinds, or maybe a football match but always ensure it can't be heard from outside the boat.

What did worry me was when my nipper wanted me to fit two speakers, an amp and sub on his rib. I can assure you it never happened!!

Where are the rest of the emoticons?
 
Oh flipin heck ive riled the dinosaurs , 100w in todays money is next to nothing , old wattage ratings of speakers bare little comparison to new wattages old was much more powerfull watt fot watt by a good few magnitudes

Small speaks in my experience also sound a lot better at no more than a fraction of their potential.less distortion .

Not wanting to have raves in the cockpit , jist a wee bit of music or god forbid a talking book , of a nice evening dram in hand .

A ship to ship missile is a tad more anti social than my plans .

Check out cardos post above these are what I was thinking of ,
 
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markhomer said:
Oh flipin heck ive riled the dinosaurs , 100w in todays money is next to nothing , old wattage ratings of speakers bare little comparison to new wattages old was much more powerfull watt fot watt by a good few magnitudes
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Crikey! Surely the definition of a watt has not changed since I was a hi-fi buff 40 years ago!

There was always marketing "fuzz" about whether manufacturers were quoting RMS, peak, average, typical power ratings and at what distortion level but RMS (root mean square) was always regarded as the bona fide measurement and, presumably, that has not changed?

Richard
 
RichardS said:
Crikey! Surely the definition of a watt has not changed since I was a hi-fi buff 40 years ago!

There was always marketing "fuzz" about whether manufacturers were quoting RMS, peak, average, typical power ratings and at what distortion level but RMS (root mean square) was always regarded as the bona fide measurement and, presumably, that has not changed?

Richard
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A lot of stuff these days quotes peak watts.
Marketing ftw!
 
markhomer said:
Am considering fitting cockpit speakers for my stereo . planning to put them into steering console pointing out from sides , so sound will bounce of cockpit sides (low down) , guessing that magnetically shielded is a must as gps ,compass above .

Seen some in tinternet , clarion and fusion , only needing around 100 watts .


any recommendations , what have others fitted , advice from experience gratefully recieved

cheers
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waterproof cones will never sound fantastic as the moving cones are quite heavy, but the fusion ones I had were fine for the cockpit.

To get the best ensure the back is sealed from the front. The back of it in a box is good like Snooks has.

Make sure the 2 are in phase, ie the connections on both are the right way round or that will kill the bass.

I wire the cockpit speakers through a waterproof, double pole rocker switch. This allows them to be quickly and easily switched off without going into the menu of the hi fi to find the fader.

Don't worry about the numbers. When looking in the shop, big magnet=good. Big cone = good. Separate little cone = good. Even better, alpine do waterproof component speakers, so you can mount the little cone remote from the big one. this is good because high frequency sounds are directional, bass sounds are not. So you can have the little speakers mounted to point at your ears, with the big bass ones mounted down low somewhere.
 
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Elessar said:
I wire the cockpit speakers through a waterproof, double pole rocker switch. This allows them to be quickly and easily switched off without going into the menu of the hi fi to find the fader.
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A benefit of the Fusion radio is it has different zones. I can quickly adjust all or only one zone's volume by a quick press of the volume knob.
 
Cardo said:
A benefit of the Fusion radio is it has different zones. I can quickly adjust all or only one zone's volume by a quick press of the volume knob.
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Interesting. had a lovely alpine made for ipod unit in the old boat, this one has a crappy sony on the "one day" list to replace - will look at the fusions.

Have bought whafedale diamond bookshelf speakers for the cabin, not installed yet. £49 in richer sounds. They were highly regarded back in the day, should sound tip top for that money even now - if you have the space get along to richer sounds.
 
Elessar said:
Interesting. had a lovely alpine made for ipod unit in the old boat, this one has a crappy sony on the "one day" list to replace - will look at the fusions.

Have bought whafedale diamond bookshelf speakers for the cabin, not installed yet. £49 in richer sounds. They were highly regarded back in the day, should sound tip top for that money even now - if you have the space get along to richer sounds.
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Anyone that's curious about Fusion radios, Yachtmail tend to do some really good deals on them -
http://www.yachtmailchandlery.com/fusion-ms-ra200-package/
I bought my Fusion MS-RA200 with speakers and iPod dock from them. Looks like they're still doing a similar deal, at a cheaper price even.

The MS-RA200 is a nice little radio, caters for two zones.
If you want to spend more dollah, you can get the newer, fancier models that can be controlled from a modern Raymarine plotter.
 
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