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.

There is not alot of room behind that before you hit the transom. 3" maybe, but it is right at the top of the transom. Those Rockford 6.5" just barely fit.

If I had to chose between the CMD4 and the Sony I would chose the Clarion. Personally not sure how cheap you are getting them, but I would look at Alpine. Spend a little more on the newer head unit trust me it;s worth it.

Soundstream is not what it used to be. Company was bought out several years ago, it's basically cheapo china stuff now. Got with the Rockford. If you want real power look up Autotek on ebay if you can get a Mean Machine or Street Machine model they are old school big power.

I was leaning toward the Rockford fosgate amp, I can get the cmd4 with 2 wired remotes or the Sony with one wireless and one wired remote. Both for about 250. I wanted the alpine but the 9886 with a wired remote would be 500-550 so it's hard to justify that much more money and I'm trying to do this on a budget.

Ebay is your friend. You can get the 9886 for less than your 250.

Also look at the Rockford Fosgate RFX9700CD

Thats funny. I have a Autotek street machine(not as good as the mean machine) on my shelf for back up. Always heard they under rated the watts on there amps for competions.

There was one company called Zed. They made all the high end amps. Autotek, SoundStream, Audison, Pheniox Gold, and a couple others a can't remember. These were all the high end amps used by compition cars.

The Mean Machine was the Zed made amp. The Street Machine was the same design just made in Tiwan. The Mean Machine were rated at true power, but that rating was at an extreamly low distortion ratio. The street Machine was rated at a higher distortion ratio.

I have Mean Machine amps fro the boat. A 44 runing my tweeters, a 66 runing my mids, and a 99 runing my subs. All of it at 1.3 ohms. I also have a Street Machine 601x sitting in my garage that I use to do parades with my DJ speakers for my daughters dance troop.

This was the biggest amp they made. It could weld.... this one looks a little beat up though. http://www.ebay.com/itm/autotek-amp-...item19dad518a9

im definitely using ebay and could maybe get the alpine 9886 used for that but then I have to spend another 180 or so for the wired remote. I dont mind buying used but if I can buy new I would rather. Im just trying to piece together the best system I can on a budget.

Thats why I say go with a newer unit. I know you say you want the CD, but everyone is using Ipods or their phone or some other form of digital music. It's so much easier than CD. You may pay a little more for the Alpine, but you will spend alot more when you get something older and then have to upgrade later.

So the Alpine is the same price as the Clarion with remotes. Then get the Alpine. Later on add the remotes when you have the cash. If the Alpine is going down in the cuddy, it comes with a wireless remote, so you can sitll use it.

OR look at the Rockford unit that I listed. You can get it new for 250 or less and the wored remotes are around 100. But it's better setup for using Ipods and such.

Trust me I know budget building. I bought my system cheap as well. I have less than a grand in my system. You can get good deals on good amps if you wait for it. But spend the money on a good head.