Tower Speakers

[/M3]

I am considering adding some tower speakers to my 08 185 SP since I am going to be adding a second battery next week. I have the stock system which sounds great to me but I haven't really let the system run too much when I am not in the boat in fear of draining the battery.

If I were to add either the MTX or bazooka tower speakers which are the ones I am considering, will I need an amp or can I run them into the stock setup on the boat?

 

[blaster]

You will need an amp. That's too much for just the head unit to power.

 

[Hellman Huddle]

Getcha one these!
View attachment 20486

 

[troyzstang]

I agree
You will need a Amp. I found a good deal ($119.00) at Best buy on a 4 channel / 400watt Kicker.
More then enough power to run my Infinity 6000m towers. They really sound great 60 ft out.
Good Luck,
Troy & Bridgette

 

[/M3]

sounds like a pain in the ass to have to install. Maybe I will pass on the speakers for now.

 

[troyzstang]

The biggest p.i.t.a is fishing the tower speaker wires. Every else comes easy.
It's well worth the effort. You won't be sorry.

 

[/M3]

Sorry to drag this from the dead but im looking into this again. Few more ?s

Do you need a marine amp or can a car amp be used?
Where to mount to try and keep dry?

Also is it possible to get sirius on the boat? I have a sub in my car. I believe my Clarion headunit is the m275.

Thanks..

 

[pompouswv]

Marine amps are generally more water resistant than car amps and will usually last longer. With that said i have always used car amps in my boats and never had any problems. Just make sure you mount the amp in a dry well ventilated location and you should be fine.

 

[browneye253]

If you're in salt water I'd recommend going with the marine stuff or if you're planning to mount them in a location that will be damp. My 3 amps are mounted up under the drivers helm and pretty out of the way. The only time they might get wet is when I'm washing the boat interior.

As for fishing the speaker wires the way I did it was drill my holes in the top of the tower and the bottom. I then used a piece of string and fed it into the top hold and hooked my shop vac up to the bottom hole. Essentially sucking the line through the tower. It was much easier than I expected. Depending on the gauge of speaker wire you're running I would also recommend getting some of the wire slim or to put on the cable as some of the bends made it a pain. I was running 12 gauge wire though and in hindsight that was overkill, but I didn't want to have to do it again.

I'm pretty sure you can hookup a sirius module to that head unit.

 

[blaster]

Even if you mount the amp in a dry location the salt air will corrode a regular car amps internals. I'd spend a little more on a quality marine amp so you get more trouble free time out of it.

 

[browneye253]

Even if you mount the amp in a dry location the salt air will corrode a regular car amps internals. I'd spend a little more on a quality marine amp so you get more trouble free time out of it.

I completely agree. I'd like to highlight his mention of quality. Just because something is marketed as "marine" doesn't necessarily mean anything. With just a little bit of research you can find out if the company has really changed anything on the component to make it more tolerable to a marine environment.

Also as a side note. Nice boat Blaster.

 

[/M3]

thanks for the great tips. I replaced my factory clarion m275 head unit with the newer model clarion m303 unit. I also connected the sirius module and wireless remote.

The one thing I noticed and may have screwed up on was when removing the m275 there is only a 16pin and another single banana type plug that was plugged into the older m275. The m303 has the same 16pin connection but no option for the banana plug and several component plugs for front, rear, and aux speakers.

I plugged the banana plug into the front speaker component and everything sounds fine but Im guessing that it is not doing anything and all the sound is coming from the 16 pin connector.

Comments appreciated..

 

[blaster]

I completely agree. I'd like to highlight his mention of quality. Just because something is marketed as "marine" doesn't necessarily mean anything. With just a little bit of research you can find out if the company has really changed anything on the component to make it more tolerable to a marine environment.

Also as a side note. Nice boat Blaster.

Thanks, it's a great boat huh? Soon I need to post some pics of the upgrades I made. Your boats not too shabby either, and a tower is the one item I regret not having. BTW I'm just fine with the 4.3 for powering this boat. I thought I would regret having less than the max available power, but its fine with a full load to pull a skier.

 

[browneye253]

thanks for the great tips. I replaced my factory clarion m275 head unit with the newer model clarion m303 unit. I also connected the sirius module and wireless remote.

The one thing I noticed and may have screwed up on was when removing the m275 there is only a 16pin and another single banana type plug that was plugged into the older m275. The m303 has the same 16pin connection but no option for the banana plug and several component plugs for front, rear, and aux speakers.

I plugged the banana plug into the front speaker component and everything sounds fine but Im guessing that it is not doing anything and all the sound is coming from the 16 pin connector.

Comments appreciated..

From the sounds of it you're describing the antenna connector. This would have plugged into the antenna dongle on the M303. In this picture it's the third connector from the left.

https://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutc...e/900/900/products/2013/14/020/x020M303-B.jpg

If you're using sirius the antenna doesn't matter much.

 

[browneye253]

Thanks, it's a great boat huh? Soon I need to post some pics of the upgrades I made. Your boats not too shabby either, and a tower is the one item I regret not having. BTW I'm just fine with the 4.3 for powering this boat. I thought I would regret having less than the max available power, but its fine with a full load to pull a skier.

My regret was not going with the fuel injected engine. I think you get better gas mileage and still have the same horsepower as me. I wouldn't have minded the 5.0L MPI as I have some "larger" friends. She has been a blast though.