Sound system on Baja
 

The factory stereo system on my 36 Outlaw is weak at best. I plan to switch out the amps and speakers with better, more powerful amps as well as better speakers, however, the speaker locations appear to be an inherent limitation on the sound quality. Given the design of the boat, and for that matter most boats, all the speakers are located down low and close to the floor of the cockpit of the boat, as opposed a height closer to ear level.

I notice that the ski boats with the speakers mounted high on towers produce a much more dynamic sound. Any thoughts on how to improve the sound quality.

If you dont have a tower, try to mount the speakers as high as possible on the cockpit.
I use JL audio and it works best

Getting the Mid/Hi speakers up where you can hear them will make a big improvemnt. Proper power to the speakers makes a big impact. You have to get bass to make it sound right.

You don't have to have a monster system to make it sound right. Mine only has 2 sets of 6.5" in the cockpit but I do have 3 12" subs. I also have a set of 6.5" above the swim platform to help get sound out the back when we are in the water.

Not sure what the factory layout of the speakers is on the 36OL, but I am sure it can be changed. I am sure it is setup, but every one of those wake boat systems I have heard did not sound good. Loud yes...good not so much.

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Nightlife 1970---What is the make of the various components in your system? And, what is the component show in the upper right-hand corner of the last photo? BTW, very clean install.

Cockpit components are Powerbass 6.5" mids with 1" tweeters.
Subs are Rockford Fosgate P1 12" single voice coils.
Rear Speakers Are Rockford Fosgate 6.5" mids with 3/4" tweeters

Amp Rack has
The component that you asked about is a G&S electronic 3 way crossover
Autotek Mean Machine model 22 powers the tweeters
Autotek Mean Machine model 44 powers the mids
Autotek Mean Machine model 99 powers the subs
There are aslo some caps behind that panel with a 2500 watt inverter to give me AC on the water.

The mid and tweeter amps are wired up stereo at 1.33 ohms. The sub amp is wired bridged mono at 1.33 ohms. These are older model amps from the early/mid 90's. Old school compition amps that were designed to run at low ohm loads. I had to install a fan panel to keep them cool that you don't see in the pictures. They draw more currant than your newer digital amps, but they pack alot of punch. Just ask anyone that has heard it.

Do you know if those components are still available today. If not, have you kept abreast of the current offerings and do you know what you would buy today. Sorry for all the questions, but you sound like you know what you're talking about. I appreciate the help.

system looks nice n clean .. but technology is leap years ahead of the old school high current amps of the day ... do youreself a favor and buy some low currant high efficient amps that won't raise all the havoc on you're electrical .. alpine makes nice digital .but my choice would be jl.. the older amps do slam . but man are they hell on batteries .alternaters . i loved my old phenix gold amps of the day ... boom boom .. good luck .do some research .. and make you're system slam ...

I know that Both the PowerBass and the Rockfords have a component set that you can get. I know that they are both different model numbers than what mine are. When I have to replace in the future I will probably use Alpine or Rockford again. There are many brands of good sounding speakers out there. If I had the big money I would probably go with Focal or Image Dynamics, but for the money Alpine and Rockford sound pretty good.

Rob I know the new digital amps plenty well. They just wont do what the old school stuff does. I would have to use more amps or totally rewire the system. Only real draw back on them is they draw more currant than the new amps. Upside is they can do the loads that I have setup. Trust me this system slams.