Boat Stereo Project
I wish I had some progress photos as this was a fun project. The entire system was designed by yours truly. I selected equipment including signal processors, amps, speakers with one goal in mind . . . SCL . . .Sound as Clear as Light. I learned a couple things from my last installation. It was a nice system as well but it had emphasis on SPL . . . Sound Pressure Level. So let's take a look . . .
Power and Ground. I am running off two Deep Cycle Batteries in parallel. Because off current demand and a 25ft run I am using the largest power cable I could find, 1/0 gauge. I am fused close to Battery source using a Blue Sea Systems 100 Amp Breaker.
I still have a hunger for SPL so I want to be sure to get as much current as needed from two batteries. I don’t have a photo showing my power distribution block that takes these 1/0 Gauge runs to my Amp and Signal Processors. I used Rockford Terminals that accept 1/0 Gauge and feed 4 Gauge power cables to each amp, 8 Gauge for each Signal Processor and a homemade separate remote “power on” circuit for each component.
I am hooked on this old Sony Head unit (CD-XMP70). For my needs it offers the most important versatility . . . aux in, sat in, 10 disc changer compatible, a disc tray(not a disc slot), and its remote capabilities and a few other technologies. It has all kinds of outputs and crossover capabilities that I simply don’t use. I use the volume control, front line out and line in for sat, cd, aux. I have connected Sony’s 10 Disc CD Changer, Sony’s XM Satellite Tuner, Sony’s Wired Remotes, And Ipod on the inputs.
Next is signal processing . . . The first connection from my L/R Line Out of head unit is Audio Control’s 2 Channel Overdrive.
Overdrive raises Sony’s pre-amp signal up to 24 db. This insures a higher power yet super clean signal transfer to amps down line. No head unit offers this kind of output drive power. This is important in the long and multiple cable runs that come with multi amp systems in Boats. Overdrive insures I get maximum dynamic range, sound clarity and reduced noise floor. Noise floor can be noticed in that hiss a system can have when you dial up the volume and you are between tracks on a CD. I have Zero noise at max volume. This is a result of the Overdrive, its gain amp, its quality internal grounding plus a direct wire to batteries.
I am using a Audio Control EQL.
This is one of the very best EQ’s. Too many reasons to mention all but here are a few. Most important is Input and Output level matching. It has wide range dual bandwidth adjustments. Six bands for low end and seven bands for everything else. Internal high quality grounding reduces interference in all Audio Control components. All equalization adjustments were made using a sound analyzer, microphone at helm, and pink noise generator.
Final processor is Audio Control 24XS.
The 24XS Electronic Crossover, like all Audio Control components, is super good and uses proprietary 24 dB/Octave Linkwitz-Riley crossover technology. The short verse is this crossover does a better job of separating your sub bass from all other signals. There is also a subsonic filter that will help reduce power robbing in frequency ranges you simply can’t hear or use in a boat cockpit. I use it.
So now I am done processing signal. What I have is a higher level 2 channel signal than any head unit could provide. With all the line matching, quality internal grounding, direct battery connections I should have eliminated any opportunity for outside interference. I am also using better quality shielded audio cables to reduce any unwanted interferences. This is the critical audio path because next is high power amplification. Anything in my signal that I have been concerned with so far is going to be amplified.
I am using four amplifiers. Each amp is four channel and each amp has bridging capability and more adjustments than I need. I am not using the head unit fader in this system as I will be controlling front/center/midship/rear volume levels with power assignment and tweaking of amp gain controls. The majority of power will be distributed to three front speakers and subs. Front speakers will create the “stage” while rear speakers provide the “fill”.
Below is a shot of the Amp Rack I built.
Each amp is powered using 4 Gauge power cables from the 12 Volt Power distribution block. These are short six foot runs.
OK . . . Speakers . . . This can get personal. I can’t say what is the best. I can tell you what my ears like. So here is what I did after listening to many “Marine Speakers”. I selected Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1 Car Audio speakers. I use the same brand/model quality in all speakers. This is important in a multi speaker system. I want sound to blend seamlessly front to back and adding another brand or sound tears the seam. This is a rule in Home Audio Surround Sound and is a rule I follow at home, in the car and on the boat.
I have installed eight Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1's. What I like about the Kappa Perfects is the quality of drivers and the crossovers use the Linkwitz-Riley 24 dB/oct technology I talked about earlier. Short verse . . . Highly defines and separates what signal range gets sent to the Tweeter or the Mid Bass driver. These speakers are “over the top”. They rock but really highly defined. The best of both worlds for me.
Up front I am using a left and right as well as a center channel.
Center channel up on my dash is a Kappa Perfect 6.1 in a box I built.
Without this Center Channel one would have what I call “around sound” . Sound all around you is what most boats have because of speaker mounting choices. Moving sound up and in front of your face will give you a sound stage presence much like a staged concert. Weather you do it with a pair of speakers or one speaker as I have, this is an inexpensive and easy upgrade for any boat system. The Infinity Center Channel generously powered and bridged to two channels of amplification. I still have separation from each of the Left and Right speakers but have added presence up front with lead singers, lead guitars, pianos and more. After all the lead singer does not stand and sing to you left ear. He/She Grabs you by the ears and sings your face off. I consider this my most important speaker and I sound matched (brand/quality) to front L/R speakers. BTW . . .Back in the older days this center channel was called “Third Channel Logic”. Similar technologies were found on early Dolby Surround Receiver and it was used to simulate a surround mode when your source material was not Dolby encoded. In short . . . One matched Amp, One matched Speaker, one incredible difference.
Midway through the boat is a second pair of Infinity Kappa Perfect Two Way Separates mounted in the sides of arch.
While the higher mounting for these mid ship drivers was a better sound solution there was still, well, “Around Sound” present. I also added Center Channel using a the same Kappa Perfect 6.1 drivers. I front Loaded the Tweeter into the Woofer grill. I fabricated an offset to angle drivers rearward so as to not interfere with front staging. This addition is used to help reinforce the forward stage for rear passengers on boat.
This Center Channel addition was the only modification I made to this system from its original draft. I did not have this need on my last boat because cockpit was shorter.
Mounted low in rear is a pair of Kappa Perfect Two Way Separates.
The mounting location is poor but they provide the rear fill I was looking for. This rear pair is powered down using just two channels of amplification. They play at a substantially lower volume so they don’t steal from the forward stage of sound. They really fill up this boat cockpit when the volume is demanded.
I am using a pair of 10 inch JL Audio Infinite Baffle Subwoofers in the most rearward part of the boat.
Infinite Baffle is a compromise as compared to a properly constructed enclosed, ported or vented Subwoofer. Infinite Baffle Subs can get sloppy in their sound and rattle everything. One thing to consider if this is your choice is the baffle or mounting face. Anything you can do to reinforce this mount is going to help. The other thing to consider is power. Power can be your trump card. Forty percent of my total power is reproducing sub bass and keeping control of my Subs.
I am also running one 10 inch Sub up front in the most forward location I have.
It too is Infinite Baffle, reinforced mounting, and powered heavy. One thing I learned from my last boat project is one Subwoofer location is not enough. Due to the outdoor nature and the way Bass is reproduced you end up with large drop outs in volume as you move forward or back in your boat. There is always a sweet spot. There are no walls in a boat to reinforce Bass. I want sweet spots everywhere. Two Subs will do.
New Remote on dash.
New Transom Remote
Some random thoughts:
I don’t get too carried away with precision listening on the boat and there are some sound upgrades that just don’t pay dividends. For example. . I worked in a higher definition music server in exchange of the IPod interface. Using the well regarded Music Fidelity V-DAC external DAC and Flac files from a Laptop PC rather than the typical mp3, mp4, and apple lossless variations from same or IPod I was pressed to hear much difference. The problem is the ever present outdoor environment. I am trying to listen and birds are chirping, water is waving, wind is light but blowing. All this distraction minimized any sound quality dividends.
It is difficult to reproduce great hifi sound outdoors. It is even more difficult in a boat. Most of the problems I run in to are speaker placement. You can’t get far enough away from them and/or you are standing on one. I found the approach of front center staging the sound took a load off of everything else. Guest that sit on one side or another don't get blown away by a left or a right channel in this system design.
I feel strong about using same brand speakers throughout your multi speaker boat system. This will increase the chance of seamless sound front to rear.
Another problem with outdoor sound is bass and sub bass reinforcement. There simply are no walls to contain the low stuff. If you can design into your boat hifi I recommend one sub forward and one sub aft. Forward port and aft starboard if your floor plan will allow. This will greatly reduce drop outs and holes in your sound.
I also feel strong about the Line Driver for any boat system with the long cable runs and multi amp installs. I would use the Audio Control Overdrive in a one amp install with a three foot cable. The benefits are too large to not spend $125.00 on this signal processor.
Hope you enjoyed!
I wish I had some progress photos as this was a fun project. The entire system was designed by yours truly. I selected equipment including signal processors, amps, speakers with one goal in mind . . . SCL . . .Sound as Clear as Light. I learned a couple things from my last installation. It was a nice system as well but it had emphasis on SPL . . . Sound Pressure Level. So let's take a look . . .
Power and Ground. I am running off two Deep Cycle Batteries in parallel. Because off current demand and a 25ft run I am using the largest power cable I could find, 1/0 gauge. I am fused close to Battery source using a Blue Sea Systems 100 Amp Breaker.
I still have a hunger for SPL so I want to be sure to get as much current as needed from two batteries. I don’t have a photo showing my power distribution block that takes these 1/0 Gauge runs to my Amp and Signal Processors. I used Rockford Terminals that accept 1/0 Gauge and feed 4 Gauge power cables to each amp, 8 Gauge for each Signal Processor and a homemade separate remote “power on” circuit for each component.
I am hooked on this old Sony Head unit (CD-XMP70). For my needs it offers the most important versatility . . . aux in, sat in, 10 disc changer compatible, a disc tray(not a disc slot), and its remote capabilities and a few other technologies. It has all kinds of outputs and crossover capabilities that I simply don’t use. I use the volume control, front line out and line in for sat, cd, aux. I have connected Sony’s 10 Disc CD Changer, Sony’s XM Satellite Tuner, Sony’s Wired Remotes, And Ipod on the inputs.
Next is signal processing . . . The first connection from my L/R Line Out of head unit is Audio Control’s 2 Channel Overdrive.
Overdrive raises Sony’s pre-amp signal up to 24 db. This insures a higher power yet super clean signal transfer to amps down line. No head unit offers this kind of output drive power. This is important in the long and multiple cable runs that come with multi amp systems in Boats. Overdrive insures I get maximum dynamic range, sound clarity and reduced noise floor. Noise floor can be noticed in that hiss a system can have when you dial up the volume and you are between tracks on a CD. I have Zero noise at max volume. This is a result of the Overdrive, its gain amp, its quality internal grounding plus a direct wire to batteries.
I am using a Audio Control EQL.
This is one of the very best EQ’s. Too many reasons to mention all but here are a few. Most important is Input and Output level matching. It has wide range dual bandwidth adjustments. Six bands for low end and seven bands for everything else. Internal high quality grounding reduces interference in all Audio Control components. All equalization adjustments were made using a sound analyzer, microphone at helm, and pink noise generator.
Final processor is Audio Control 24XS.
The 24XS Electronic Crossover, like all Audio Control components, is super good and uses proprietary 24 dB/Octave Linkwitz-Riley crossover technology. The short verse is this crossover does a better job of separating your sub bass from all other signals. There is also a subsonic filter that will help reduce power robbing in frequency ranges you simply can’t hear or use in a boat cockpit. I use it.
So now I am done processing signal. What I have is a higher level 2 channel signal than any head unit could provide. With all the line matching, quality internal grounding, direct battery connections I should have eliminated any opportunity for outside interference. I am also using better quality shielded audio cables to reduce any unwanted interferences. This is the critical audio path because next is high power amplification. Anything in my signal that I have been concerned with so far is going to be amplified.
I am using four amplifiers. Each amp is four channel and each amp has bridging capability and more adjustments than I need. I am not using the head unit fader in this system as I will be controlling front/center/midship/rear volume levels with power assignment and tweaking of amp gain controls. The majority of power will be distributed to three front speakers and subs. Front speakers will create the “stage” while rear speakers provide the “fill”.
Below is a shot of the Amp Rack I built.
Each amp is powered using 4 Gauge power cables from the 12 Volt Power distribution block. These are short six foot runs.
OK . . . Speakers . . . This can get personal. I can’t say what is the best. I can tell you what my ears like. So here is what I did after listening to many “Marine Speakers”. I selected Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1 Car Audio speakers. I use the same brand/model quality in all speakers. This is important in a multi speaker system. I want sound to blend seamlessly front to back and adding another brand or sound tears the seam. This is a rule in Home Audio Surround Sound and is a rule I follow at home, in the car and on the boat.
I have installed eight Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1's. What I like about the Kappa Perfects is the quality of drivers and the crossovers use the Linkwitz-Riley 24 dB/oct technology I talked about earlier. Short verse . . . Highly defines and separates what signal range gets sent to the Tweeter or the Mid Bass driver. These speakers are “over the top”. They rock but really highly defined. The best of both worlds for me.
Up front I am using a left and right as well as a center channel.
Center channel up on my dash is a Kappa Perfect 6.1 in a box I built.
Without this Center Channel one would have what I call “around sound” . Sound all around you is what most boats have because of speaker mounting choices. Moving sound up and in front of your face will give you a sound stage presence much like a staged concert. Weather you do it with a pair of speakers or one speaker as I have, this is an inexpensive and easy upgrade for any boat system. The Infinity Center Channel generously powered and bridged to two channels of amplification. I still have separation from each of the Left and Right speakers but have added presence up front with lead singers, lead guitars, pianos and more. After all the lead singer does not stand and sing to you left ear. He/She Grabs you by the ears and sings your face off. I consider this my most important speaker and I sound matched (brand/quality) to front L/R speakers. BTW . . .Back in the older days this center channel was called “Third Channel Logic”. Similar technologies were found on early Dolby Surround Receiver and it was used to simulate a surround mode when your source material was not Dolby encoded. In short . . . One matched Amp, One matched Speaker, one incredible difference.
Midway through the boat is a second pair of Infinity Kappa Perfect Two Way Separates mounted in the sides of arch.
While the higher mounting for these mid ship drivers was a better sound solution there was still, well, “Around Sound” present. I also added Center Channel using a the same Kappa Perfect 6.1 drivers. I front Loaded the Tweeter into the Woofer grill. I fabricated an offset to angle drivers rearward so as to not interfere with front staging. This addition is used to help reinforce the forward stage for rear passengers on boat.
This Center Channel addition was the only modification I made to this system from its original draft. I did not have this need on my last boat because cockpit was shorter.
Mounted low in rear is a pair of Kappa Perfect Two Way Separates.
The mounting location is poor but they provide the rear fill I was looking for. This rear pair is powered down using just two channels of amplification. They play at a substantially lower volume so they don’t steal from the forward stage of sound. They really fill up this boat cockpit when the volume is demanded.
I am using a pair of 10 inch JL Audio Infinite Baffle Subwoofers in the most rearward part of the boat.
Infinite Baffle is a compromise as compared to a properly constructed enclosed, ported or vented Subwoofer. Infinite Baffle Subs can get sloppy in their sound and rattle everything. One thing to consider if this is your choice is the baffle or mounting face. Anything you can do to reinforce this mount is going to help. The other thing to consider is power. Power can be your trump card. Forty percent of my total power is reproducing sub bass and keeping control of my Subs.
I am also running one 10 inch Sub up front in the most forward location I have.
It too is Infinite Baffle, reinforced mounting, and powered heavy. One thing I learned from my last boat project is one Subwoofer location is not enough. Due to the outdoor nature and the way Bass is reproduced you end up with large drop outs in volume as you move forward or back in your boat. There is always a sweet spot. There are no walls in a boat to reinforce Bass. I want sweet spots everywhere. Two Subs will do.
New Remote on dash.
New Transom Remote
Some random thoughts:
I don’t get too carried away with precision listening on the boat and there are some sound upgrades that just don’t pay dividends. For example. . I worked in a higher definition music server in exchange of the IPod interface. Using the well regarded Music Fidelity V-DAC external DAC and Flac files from a Laptop PC rather than the typical mp3, mp4, and apple lossless variations from same or IPod I was pressed to hear much difference. The problem is the ever present outdoor environment. I am trying to listen and birds are chirping, water is waving, wind is light but blowing. All this distraction minimized any sound quality dividends.
It is difficult to reproduce great hifi sound outdoors. It is even more difficult in a boat. Most of the problems I run in to are speaker placement. You can’t get far enough away from them and/or you are standing on one. I found the approach of front center staging the sound took a load off of everything else. Guest that sit on one side or another don't get blown away by a left or a right channel in this system design.
I feel strong about using same brand speakers throughout your multi speaker boat system. This will increase the chance of seamless sound front to rear.
Another problem with outdoor sound is bass and sub bass reinforcement. There simply are no walls to contain the low stuff. If you can design into your boat hifi I recommend one sub forward and one sub aft. Forward port and aft starboard if your floor plan will allow. This will greatly reduce drop outs and holes in your sound.
I also feel strong about the Line Driver for any boat system with the long cable runs and multi amp installs. I would use the Audio Control Overdrive in a one amp install with a three foot cable. The benefits are too large to not spend $125.00 on this signal processor.
Hope you enjoyed!
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