I always use JL Audio. Bottom line is it cost more but you get what you pay for.

Well if it's good enough for Jon.....thanks for posting this. I didn't know of them and didn't realize they were the old BABB speakers. Just ordered 2 sets of the N9.5R speakers and can't wait to hook them up.

Here is a link to pictures of mine

http://s1087.photobucket.com/albums/...Boat%20Stereo/

Nice!! Are those 10's or 12's?

Nice!! Are those 10's or 12's?

12" Rockford P-1's run by an Autotek 99.

Wow!! That thing must hit pretty hard. It looks great

If you are in flat water, it will make ripples in it.

New here, but figured I'll throw my hat in the ring....

I used to compete in and judge IASCA sq comps, so my ears are fairly sensitive. Let's face it, your in a boat in an open environment, SQ is out the window. Our environment just isn't conducive to it. It's all about tuning your system and I hate to say it, 80% of stereo shops just don't have the know how. The Market has shifted to spl driven and the kids at these stores wouldn't know a snare drum if they heard it.

Focal stuff is great and I run it in my vehicles, with image dynamics subs (now gone the way of the dodo). In a boat, your wasting your money.

I'm not a fan of JL stuff, never have been. So I'll just leave it at that. Foam sucks!!!

I like the Polk stuff, especially for the price. Loud and clear.


I recommend the Wetsounds stuff for boats. If you want a simple install, their xs650 have killer midbass when given the right power. But I recommend glassing in some kick panels with the pro 80's installed then having some dedicated 8" midbass drivers in the boat. You'll never be able to crank the volume all the way up, even at 100+ mph cause your ears will be hurting. They are a bit peaky, but like I said, it's all about the tuning. Tim is releasing the rev series at the end of the month which has supposedly addressed the peakyness with a new design. These speakers are all about LOUD while maintaining what sq can be had in an open environment. They are a pro audio hlcd set-up.... Think concert level speakers. Horns are the way to go in boats, no doubt.

I still prefer IDMax's for my subs, but looks like we won't be getting any more of these.

Good and informative post. Since I'm still deciding what to do it helps me with my decisions. Thanks.

Tigeman, the JL marine speaker are not made of foam just to keep things even.

having said that concert level speaker are not really the best sounding speaker's loud yes but usually harsh allot of people confuse harsh bright sound that may be clear with sound quality.

Studio monitors however are purely focused on SQ. Since you were an old IASCA guy would you recommend a pair of wave guides? That and I believe the JL W5 won allot of IASCA trophies back in the day, but that was long before JL was a known name, back when phoenix gold was considered the best!

just a little nostalgia

Your most important factor is amps and giving your speakers enough juice! Headroom is important.

JL makes a terrific amp (their one product I love) and they have a marine line if u want it.

ARC makes the best amps on the Market IMO nowadays. The KS series is a very efficient amp that doesn't break the bank. It's a Class G/H amp like the alpines, which is what gives it's efficiency. Some say a g/h class amp can be lacking in the midbass frequencies... I've honestly heard it, but most never will. I run these amps in my boat.

The Wetsounds amps are great and that piece of stainless is beautiful! BUT they ARE the KS amps above. They are the same amp, but the Wetsounds have coatings on the connections and board. These were originally going to be the Hertz amps, but Tim couldn't get the Italians to get the price down low enough.

Love the hertz amps, but they're $$$$$$

Power is everything... This is the area you don't wanna skimp. A poor amp can make the best speaker sound like crap, and a great amp can make a mid range speaker outperform your expectations.

But once again, tuning is EVERYTHING!

LoL ahhhh the Phoenix gold days! LoL, course I was using Blade stuff at the time.

I almost mentioned the marine stuff wasnt foam surrounds. And your right, JL has won alot of awards. But they changed when they became big.

Your right, the pro-audio can be bright.... Noticed I said "peaky" above. Actually it can be VERY bright, almost harsh. The Wetsounds stuff is no exception. But in reality I would say 99% of the folks here aren't gonna glass a kick panel in to fit a pro-80 inside of it, so I didn't mention it. Since most will never use the hlcd stuff, due to mounting options. Plus at moderate levels, the harshness is non-existent.

As for the waiveguides... If you can implement them correctly, then hell yeah. I haven't even looked lately, since ID is gone, does anyone still make em? But power is cheap nowadays, which partially negates the advantages that the high sensitivity drivers gave you. Most people can't tune these so I would steer most boaters away though. Before the hlcd became big in the wakeboard Market, Matt at ID had a boat they loaded a set of their horns up on the tower. Sounded great.


Some other options for those of you who want the best of the best, and want to stay the car audio route.....

DYNAudio, Morel, Rainbow.... all amazing speakers.

NICE!!!!:)

Tigeman,

Finally someone that preaches power with me. Having been into all forms of audio, power is one of the main things preached about in the Pro Audio field. Headroom makes a system.

I worked in the 12volt electronics industry for 15 years. Was a rep for many different brands. The biggest problem was blow speaker from to little power. I don't know how many times I had to teach a dealer that a 200 watt amp would blow a 500 watt sub before a 700 watt amp. Alwasy got the responce it's a 500 watt sub 200 watts should not hurt it. lol

Kind of funny as I used to judge and compete in IASCA and USAC as well. 2 cars I worked on placed in 1994. I don't follow car audio as close as I used to. I moved on to Highend home audio after getting out of the 12volt biz. But looks like I may have to pay more attention to it again. Getting more requests to install for people again. Just had a 20OL dropped off today for an all Alpine system.

I think the only speaker I've ever blown from to much power was when we put 1200w to an itty bitty tweeter. It survived for about 10 secs before it let loose a 6" flame out the top lol

I think alot of people don't understand gain control and like to send clipped signals through their speakers

Another factor that was briefly mentioned here is efficiency of your amp. How many batteries and what charging system do you have or want to add?

I had a JL 300/4 and w/ a single deep cycle and starter battery it wouldn't run at any type of volume w/ the motor off, couldn't pull the current. I switched out to a class D (Memphis), no problems now and sound is still good.

So just be aware of what the power supply needs are of whatever amp you go with.

Last, in a boat environment you can never really get great SQ, so you can go w/ a decent sounding basic system or a really loud one, but not likely a truly great/loud one.

Maybe you remember when Pyle was owned by the Pyle family in Hunington. They had a technology called Ironglaze that they put on their woofer voice coils. Basically as the coil got hotter it got stonger.

We had 4 10" free air's in my boss's 33 Powerplay, and they were getting close to the warranty. So we decided we were going to try and blow them.

First thing we did was take the biggest amp we had (Autotek 333) cranked it wide open and fired them up. After about 10 min of watching them jump around we decided it was gonna take something stronger. So we hooked them directly up to the 100 amp 12 power supply. That had no effect. So we decided to hook them right to 120v AC. They would last a good 3 min. or so then the former would catch fire. It would shoot a 5' flame out the bottom of the magnet for about 30 sec before the driver would stop.

When we sent them back, it was the first set of those woofers Pyle had ever gotten back. They called us to ask what happen, and our returns girl said she had no clue. They still replaced them though.

I had Sony CDXM1016PKG Marine Audio System, basically more the technology is becoming common in every part of the world the need of pampering yourself with luxuries is also a necessity now. First we started off with stereo systems that came built-in in the cars while iPOD kicked in and overcome every kind of CD players. This system is the best sound system I ever had. Some people were busy jazzing up their car with car speakers while others were spending more and more money on their personal boats and ferries

Really great thread, I'm learning a lot!

A lot of people run Wet Sounds where I'm at (Lake Travis) and they certainly are loud as hell, but I think the clarity leaves something to be desired.

This Spring I looked at a boat that was running Crystal 6.5s through a Monster amp with three 12s. I didn't know music could sound that clear and loud. I was blown away. Does anyone know anything about that setup? I'd really like to get similar sound on whatever boat I buy.

Replacing factory Kenwood 6x9's in the Formula.......DC Gold again?

N

They've proved themselves to be a great contender.. Didn't you put DC's in your cruiser?

I have changed over to the kicker ks series. Man they have great sound and can handle big power. Picked them up for 85 a pair on eBay. They are nice and bright with good mid range.

They have gone up in price a little, but IMO, they can't be beat in a marine environment.
Lafayette Radio is the cheapest authorized dealer I have found and if they don't have them in stock, they will drop ship from DCG.
http://www.lafayetteradio.com/html/search.asp

:bunnydance:well im waiting on jl to release theire new 8.8 . my system will be as follows right side 8.8s jl rear 7.7 jls in front . powerd by a jl hd 750 . same goes for the left side . with 4 jl subs powerd by their new hd 1200 . ill let you know what i think . just need to get jl to get me those 8.8 s. 4 kinetic 2400,s for the juice . been around the 12 volt block myself . pheonix gold amps of old were the great . but power needy . the new hd amps from jl are the way to go .i got a deal ON a pair of pdx alpines for my van . there nice ,but there not as loud as my jls are . jl all the way . ps im not from miami .