How To Select A New Audio System?

Yes, those are just in the cockpit. I left the OEM ones in the cabin as I never listen to music in there. If I'm staying on the boat, it's because I don't want to drive home - so I end up throwing on a movie or something on my 32" flat screen and crashing.

The two 6.5's are in the top of the arch - facing down - next to the down wash lights.
The 7.7's and 8.8's are on the sides of the arch. The deck is a veritable concert zone when in the mood.

View attachment 71181 View attachment 71182 View attachment 71183


Well done! Do you feel you get good sound spread throughout the cockpit? We use our cabin a lot. Sunday brunch and jazz...

Thanks for the pics, MM
 
Well done! Do you feel you get good sound spread throughout the cockpit? We use our cabin a lot. Sunday brunch and jazz...

Thanks for the pics, MM

Oh ya, I'm a big music fan - so the set-up was critical to me and well thought out from a mixture of proper equipment aspect to get the desired results for the ear aspect. My system was set-up for the interior.....that is for myself and those in the cockpit - versus showing off for those outside of my boat. I also wanted it to look "right", and not screw up the lines and be obnoxious looking....thus you don't see a bunch of cans hanging off the arch or 10 speakers in the arch. The combination works out well in accomplishing those goals.

I will say however, with the new bow seating - it could use a sound source on the bow as the sound is concentrated in the cockpit. It would be easy to hang a couple of 8.8 cans up towards the nose facing back - but it'll mess with the lines, so I'm trying to figure out another option.

I'll be out there today, I'll try to take a better picture so you can see the whole thing.
 
Oh ya, I'm a big music fan - so the set-up was critical to me and well thought out from a mixture of proper equipment aspect to get the desired results for the ear aspect. My system was set-up for the interior.....that is for myself and those in the cockpit - versus showing off for those outside of my boat. I also wanted it to look "right", and not screw up the lines and be obnoxious looking....thus you don't see a bunch of cans hanging off the arch or 10 speakers in the arch. The combination works out well in accomplishing those goals.

I will say however, with the new bow seating - it could use a sound source on the bow as the sound is concentrated in the cockpit. It would be easy to hang a couple of 8.8 cans up towards the nose facing back - but it'll mess with the lines, so I'm trying to figure out another option.

I'll be out there today, I'll try to take a better picture so you can see the whole thing.
Someone on here had a cool setup where the pods were concealed in the anchor locker when not in use.
 
Wylie,
My 330DA is built out with 12 JL 7.7s and two JL 10’ subs. I have three JL amps and a DSP. The only thing I lack is an up to date HU. My current is the stock Sony. There is a helm remote that I use so I want to retain that capability. What do recommend that will improve the sound and offer modern upgrades? If can’t achieve a sound upgrade I would stay with the current setup.
Thanks!
 
If I put 4 Wet Sounds Revo 8 and a Revo 12 FA sub in my cockpit what WS amps would I want? That is very confusing to me. Looks like 4 Revo 6 and Revo 8 FA sub would be great in the cabin, what WS amps here? And any explanation why to be able to select this stuff would be awesome.

MM

Best overall, SDX-4 for the in-boats and HTX-1 for the (2 ohm) woofer. 185W rms to each in-boat and 600W for woofer

Next best Syn-DX4 for in-boats and HTX-1 for (2 ohm) woofer 100W rms for in-boats and 600W to woofer

Best single amp for 12FA and 2 pair 8", SDX-6. 600W rms for the woofer and 185W rms for the four 8" in-boats

Next best single amp, Syn-DX6. 600W rms for the woofer and 100W rms for each 8" in-boat

The mono HTX-1 offers better tuning for an infinite-baffle woofer compared to a bridged setup.

I would not go smaller then a 10" woofer in a boat, IMO.
 
Wylie,
My 330DA is built out with 12 JL 7.7s and two JL 10’ subs. I have three JL amps and a DSP. The only thing I lack is an up to date HU. My current is the stock Sony. There is a helm remote that I use so I want to retain that capability. What do recommend that will improve the sound and offer modern upgrades? If can’t achieve a sound upgrade I would stay with the current setup.
Thanks!
99% of the signal quality is manipulated downstream of the head. Id be hesitant to say any new head would improve the sound, unless there is a clear degradation of the current input signal.

Are you running an add-on blue tooth? If so, is there a clear difference between it and say tuner (on a good clear station? 99.7 and 103.7 are usually strong), USB or CD?

Safe to assume the DSP has a line driver as part of it?
 
Best overall, SDX-4 for the in-boats and HTX-1 for the (2 ohm) woofer. 185W rms to each in-boat and 600W for woofer

Next best Syn-DX4 for in-boats and HTX-1 for (2 ohm) woofer 100W rms for in-boats and 600W to woofer

Best single amp for 12FA and 2 pair 8", SDX-6. 600W rms for the woofer and 185W rms for the four 8" in-boats

Next best single amp, Syn-DX6. 600W rms for the woofer and 100W rms for each 8" in-boat

The mono HTX-1 offers better tuning for an infinite-baffle woofer compared to a bridged setup.

I would not go smaller then a 10" woofer in a boat, IMO.

I am sorry to be so ignorant of the terminology that I am not sure I understand exactly what was said here.

"Best overall, SDX-4 for the in-boats and HTX-1 for the (2 ohm) woofer. 185W rms to each in-boat and 600W for woofer"

In--boats, define this? Is this just for the cockpit? If I add another pair to the cockpit will this work or will I need the SDX-6?

Thanks for your help and patients.

MM
 
I am sorry to be so ignorant of the terminology that I am not sure I understand exactly what was said here.

"Best overall, SDX-4 for the in-boats and HTX-1 for the (2 ohm) woofer. 185W rms to each in-boat and 600W for woofer"

In--boats, define this? Is this just for the cockpit? If I add another pair to the cockpit will this work or will I need the SDX-6?

Thanks for your help and patients.

MM
"in-boat" as in NOT a tower speaker or subwoofer.

If an in-boat is placed in an area that you would want to be on a different volume zone, then that may change the amp suggestion, as a different zone, means we need to have them on different amp chnls.
 
"in-boat" as in NOT a tower speaker or subwoofer.

If an in-boat is placed in an area that you would want to be on a different volume zone, then that may change the amp suggestion, as a different zone, means we need to have them on different amp chnls.

"Best overall, SDX-4 for the in-boats and HTX-1 for the (2 ohm) woofer. 185W rms to each in-boat and 600W for woofer"

Is this just for the cockpit? If I add another pair to the cockpit will this work or will I need the SDX-6?

MM
 
@MonacoMike

Going back and rereading, I think you are looking at doing;

four speakers in the salon/down below/cabin and a woofer? In this case, yes, an 8" woofer would be good for the closed area.

four speakers in the outside seating area/cockpit and woofer?

I would want the salon and cockpit on different volume zones, so they need to be on different amp chnls. I would also want the woofers separated for the same reason, but also, because they are likely going to be different size.

SDX-4 for the cockpit speakers, HTX-1 for a 2 ohm 12". If you are going to add a 3rd pair to the cockpit now or its absolutely going to happen, then go with the SDX-6 now as its a small price difference. With that said, the SDX-4 can drive eight speaker and still deliver 170W rms to each.

Syn-DX4 for salon speakers and 8" 4 ohm woofer. Or, HTX-2 for salon speakers and Stealth AS-8.

This will drive all the speakers with ample power and give you four discrete volume zones.
 
@MonacoMike

Going back and rereading, I think you are looking at doing;

four speakers in the salon/down below/cabin and a woofer? In this case, yes, an 8" woofer would be good for the closed area.

four speakers in the outside seating area/cockpit and woofer?

I would want the salon and cockpit on different volume zones, so they need to be on different amp chnls. I would also want the woofers separated for the same reason, but also, because they are likely going to be different size.

SDX-4 for the cockpit speakers, HTX-1 for a 2 ohm 12". If you are going to add a 3rd pair to the cockpit now or its absolutely going to happen, then go with the SDX-6 now as its a small price difference. With that said, the SDX-4 can drive eight speaker and still deliver 170W rms to each.

Syn-DX4 for salon speakers and 8" 4 ohm woofer. Or, HTX-2 for salon speakers and Stealth AS-8.

This will drive all the speakers with ample power and give you four discrete volume zones.

This is starting to make sense to me. Thanks for the explanation.

MM
 
She now a new problem. Where I want to put the speakers has about 2 inch depth and the speakers are 3-4 inches I want. How do I solve this problem?

MM
 
Speaker spacers.....all of mine have them.
 
Some things of advice I would offer as I have been in the audio business from High End home theatres to car audio competition. Your home is a controlled listening environment. You control the room acoustics volume, clean line power. In a car audio you do some things that are pretty close to a home environment. Now let's look at a boat. Kinda like a concert can't control anything but volume and dbs. That concert doesn't sound anywhere like a well appointed listening room. The boat is the same thing. Speakers pointing down on your head? Never seen this in a movie theater or a concert. So buying what people think is the best brand has no way of sound good in a boat environment. Save your money work on the installation, the layout the voltage and grounds. A dock feed is so noisy and bad electrical. The easy thing is to buy what everyone else has and thinking it's the best. 75% of men are tone dead deaf woman can hear alot better than a man. True fact. So matching levels, having good electrical, and a sound stage set up like a concert stage. You will never see a pair of wilson Sophia's on a concert stage for a reason. Work on design and acoustics of the reverb and sound waves!! Happy Boating!!
 
Some things of advice I would offer as I have been in the audio business from High End home theatres to car audio competition. Your home is a controlled listening environment. You control the room acoustics volume, clean line power. In a car audio you do some things that are pretty close to a home environment. Now let's look at a boat. Kinda like a concert can't control anything but volume and dbs. That concert doesn't sound anywhere like a well appointed listening room. The boat is the same thing. Speakers pointing down on your head? Never seen this in a movie theater or a concert. So buying what people think is the best brand has no way of sound good in a boat environment. Save your money work on the installation, the layout the voltage and grounds. A dock feed is so noisy and bad electrical. The easy thing is to buy what everyone else has and thinking it's the best. 75% of men are tone dead deaf woman can hear alot better than a man. True fact. So matching levels, having good electrical, and a sound stage set up like a concert stage. You will never see a pair of wilson Sophia's on a concert stage for a reason. Work on design and acoustics of the reverb and sound waves!! Happy Boating!!

And therein lies a giant problem with boats and sound systems, Boats rarely have optimal locations for speakers subs and amps for that matter. That is what I'm asking in this thread, how to maximize my sound in my situation. It was bad enough to get the agreement of the Admiral for the boat bucks a great system costs, It is getting harder to get agreement to cut locations for speakers and subs that need spacers etc. She is saying forget a stereo system and move on to new navigation electronics.

MM
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,945
Messages
1,422,731
Members
60,927
Latest member
Jaguar65
Back
Top