baja force stereo help
 

I have asked questions before but I still need help. Im trying to upgrade my stereo but am trying to do it cheapest i can. I dont need the best stereo but want a decent one and my biggest priority is hearing it in the water when we are anchored or tied up. I just bought 2 comp 12s to put under rear bench. Should I just mount them free air or try some kind of boxes? Im also leaning toward polk mm 6.5s but like I said I want best set up for listening in the water. Ive considered speakers on transom but it scares me? Anyone mount speakers on dash beneath windshield? Or have speaker boxes they put on sunpad when parked? Any info is appreciated and thanks

I bought a set of 6.5's in enclosures from Walmart and replace them with Polk MOMO 6.5's then just put them up on the sun pad on my last boat. Sounded pretty good and could hear while in the water.

I got a set of 6.5" above my swim platform last year. What subs do you have? If they are not designed for free air then I would put htem in a box, or they wont do much.

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...27_640x480.jpg

free air depends on the sub, even with free air in that much space you better have a very good sub and lots of power to move them, in otherwords cheap stuff wont cut it.....

I have all 3 JL amps and JL subs, 4 10's... All my mids and highs are type R alpine... it can be heard from water lol

I did it on a budget too... CRAIGSLIST! I woukd rathger have used good quality stuff then new cheap stuff, all the mid and high speakers I got new, I get them at cost so its worth it..keep speakers as high as you can besides subs for best sound...

I am no stereo pro however maybe I can add a little info.

I have tried the windshield before in a ski boat and It wasn't the best location because it blared directly into the face of people in the boat. THen the wife kept turning it down. Thats why I think I would think twice about the windshield location. Not only that but its pretty permanent because your cutting into the fiberglass. In the bigger boats we have actually had better luck with the speakers high on the inner wall of the cockpit near the rear seat. It's nigh enough to get some of the sound out of the boat. Also can be covered with Upholstery panel if you change at later date. All this being said the ultimate solution would be like Nightlife did above.

I would also suggest also you try placing the subs in the front of the boat and see how it sounds. I have seen this done on a buddies Eliminator and my Fountain and it sounds incredible. In my fountain I just removed the Mirror cover/ bow plate and mounted it on a piece of plywood and no box required. There is something about the acoustics in the front of the boat that work great and the base will travel everywhere. I have a JL sub and one 12" MTX Thunder(not the best sub) sub and it's more than enough. THe reason I went into the front of the boat is a lot of the subs require about 2 cu feet for a box vented or not and it took up all the storage under the seat and storage is always valuable.

Good luck!

nightlife...the subs are kicker comp 12s, I saw 4bus and some other people saying they were pretty good and cheap and dont require a lot of wattage some even said they mounted them free air so thats why I was asking. I would really like to mount some on the transom like you did but like I said just scary cutting into the boat like that.

aasved...I thought about putting subs in cabin but heard a lot of people say that it was a waste and you wounldnt be able to hear them

csharpo...I see you live in lexington too do you go to lake cumberland or where?

Ok so as far as the transom the 6.5" were a bit of work to get them in. A set of 5.25" would be easy. I am pretty sure that your swimplat/transom is the same setup as mine.

Your subs are going to NEED an enclosure. A minimum of 1.25 cu/ft. That should be no problem in the bench of the 265. I have the same size boxes in mine with three subs and still have room for 8 or ten life jackets and a throwable.

If it were me setup would be. 2 set's of 6.5" in the gunnels up high like my setup. The subs in the bench. A set of speakers in the transom.

So with your subs I would look at the Alpine PDX-V9. $400.00 on Ebay. Run the 2 sets of 6.5" in the cockpit run off 2 of the 100 watt channels in 2 ohm setup. Then the speakers in the transom would run 4ohm on the other 2 channels. Then you have the mono channel to run the subs.

Can do that whole system for less than 1000

Here is what the rest of my speakers look like

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...rs_640x480.jpg

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...ed_640x480.jpg

what about head units ? im on a budget what about sony 60 or clarion cmd4 and their wired remotes? also im looking at a soundstream 800 watt 5 channel and a rockford fosgate 1000 watt 5 channel amp

Nightlife
Looks good. I have been thinking about doing that with my Baja. Did you have much room behind the transom/swim deck speakers. Do you remember how deep/big were they. I have been trying to gauge how much room I will have before it hits the inside transom.