242LS Speaker placement options
 

Couple questions: I just purchased a mint 242 ls with Bolsters. Love it. We put over 100 miles on it Memorial Day wknd!! Everything is running great. Only problem is the stereo. I added a Clarion head Unit this year but the speakers in it are fair at best.

1.) What size speaker is in the nose of the cuddy? Boat is on the lift 3hrs away and didn't have a chance to investigate before I headed home.

2.) Has any one added 6 1/2 speaker and sub to this boat? I'm thinking about going with 4 x Polk Audio MM651. 2 up front, where the factory holes are and 2 ????? Can you cut holes under the bench seat and mount? Also, where in the heck can you stuff a sub?

Polk has a PA1100.5 amp. (125 watts RMS x 4 + 400 watts RMS x 1 at 2 ohms) If I can find a spot for it...

Thanks for you help.


pdm
LOTO 69MM

sub mounting
 

Here is a pic of of the back seat of our old 242. The 10s fit real nice I thought.
I had a 6 channel pyle amp mounted in the engine compartment on the wall of the back seat with no heat issues.
The cabin speakers were 6" round.

Looks great! Bet it sounded pretty good in there too.

Did you have to cut into the storage wall plastic to make this fit or is there enough room between?

No cutting of the storage wall

I have the 242SS and the speakers in the v-berth are 6" . . . they may be 6-1/2", I cannot quite remember (Kenwood speakers on my bot - 1991 model)

Drop me an email i will send ya some pic's of the set up I made for my 311... came out really nice... cant post pices here cause i am not a paid member..

Did you build a box or just cut holes and install? Don't you need to put subs in a enclosure for them to work good? Also, you've got me interested in this Pyle 6 channel 2000w amp. I'm basically going with the same set up as you. 2 x 6" in the front, (2) 6x9, & (2) 10's under the bench. Did that amp push all those speaker good?

Once the rain stops here I'll send you some pictures of my set up. It sounds great and is much better than putting the speakers under the back bench. The speakers in the v-berth are 6 1/2".

Here is what I did in my 242. Up front are a pair of Orion 6.5 seperates, under the bolsters are 2 10" Boston Acoustic G5 subs, in the back are a set of Boston Acoustic Pro 4.4. The Orions speakers are temperary until I find a set of Boston Pro 6.4's to replace them. Either way it sounds great. Don't mind the dirty floor, I've been working on this the past two months. Hopefully I get the motor in within the next two weeks.

I was told these were open air subs, did not need to be placed in boxes. They sounded pretty good to me, but I am far from an expert. The six channel ran all the speakers fine. I have two amps in my 311, they dedicated one to the subs.

The problem with open air "free air" subs is that they still need to be sealed from the front. When the rear waves hit the front waves they cancel each other out and you loose volume. Putting them under the seat really won't work. There are tons of passages that will allow the back waves to hit the front. All free air means is that you don't need a box but the front and rear still need to be sealed off from each other. They work in cars but IMO not real well in boats, unless you build a giant box.

endeavour, that is something that I have been curious about for a while.... i know that the front waves and back waves cancel each other out.... but as far as the cracks and what not letting the waves through to cancel out... i am having trouble. There is no doubt that some of the saves are escaping from under the seat but can you explain to me how this would be different from a ported box, or better yet a bandpass box (where the port is in the front typically)?? wouldnt those be allowing soundwaves from the rear to encounter sound waves from the front??

My sub is mounted in the port footwell, firing towards the helm. Not sure if its better there vs. under the rear seat, since it's all cheap equipment (came with the boat), but it's much more out of the way and doesn't take up any storage.

Ported and band pass boxes are tuned to a certain frequency. Cracks are not tuned. If you went to great effort to seal up the back storage area it would work but it would be a lot of effort. At that point it would be easier to just build a 1 cubic foot box for 2 10" subs. Obviously putting subs in the back seat panel works but a lot of sound quality and volume is being lost. My subs sounded like garbage when I first put them in. They were not sealing all the way around the rim. A few tiny air gap sealed up made a HUGE difference. It all depends on your ear and your end goals and what you've heard to compare it to..

Converted back bench base into sealed boxes for subs. Installed acrylic straps to the bottom
so that water would run under the bench base and keep the wood dry.

Nice install srl. If I didn't have the setup that I have, I would have done something Like what you did. Does your amp get hot in that location?

I installed these fans which move quite a bit of air. They are connected to a thermostat that is attatched to the amps. So far I have not had any problems with them overheating.