Stereo upgrade ideas

[BlakeHoward]

Hey Guys, thanks for the post. Love the install shots.

I've got a 2004 22V LTD and my alpine amp went out last season. Its a good time to upgrade what I've got (just the stock four 6" in boat). I'm only wanting to add some tower speakers and fix the amp this season. Will I need two amps for a setup like that? Any recommendations on tower speakers & amps?

Appreciate it!

[chpthril]

Hey Guys, thanks for the post. Love the install shots.

I've got a 2004 22V LTD and my alpine amp went out last season. Its a good time to upgrade what I've got (just the stock four 6" in boat). I'm only wanting to add some tower speakers and fix the amp this season. Will I need two amps for a setup like that? Any recommendations on tower speakers & amps?

Appreciate it!

Not necessarily. You can power 4 cabin speakers and a pair of tower speakers, but it will depend on what tower speakers you want to go with. The goal is to get everything powered correctly.

My leading lines, and in no particular order, are Kicker, Wet Sounds, Exile. I also have less expensive options from Bazooka, MTX, Tsunami and others. It will come down to budget and what you want out of a tower setup. From there, we can put something together. If you want to have clean, loud, audible music projected back to your rider, then a Pro Audio HLCD setup is the best way to go.

[BlakeHoward]

Awesome, thanks.

I'd love to find the threshold of quality & price- I want something that will last but not break the bank. For the tower setup, it'd be great for clean sound for the rider. Any particular amp setup you recommend? Thanks again for the help.

[chpthril]

Awesome, thanks.

I'd love to find the threshold of quality & price- I want something that will last but not break the bank. For the tower setup, it'd be great for clean sound for the rider. Any particular amp setup you recommend? Thanks again for the help.

PM sent!

[h2osk8er00]

Bringing back the Karaoke Bar on the boat!

Hi jrj701,

Just wanted to clarify about the WS-420. The WS-420 is TWO EQ's in one chassis. Where all the others eq's around are normal single eq's. With the WS-420 you have independent volume and independent eq adjustments. Think of it this way. The WS-420 is TWO separate single eq's plus the microphone all in one half din chassis.

So you can dial in the towers separate from the in boats. For instance, more highs on the tower with less bass to get more volume out of them. More mid bass from the in boats with less highs since they are closer to you etc..The other single EQ's leave you making one adjustment that effects everything together.

I know fading works OK to be able to have more to the tower etc..but it is not true volume control.

The 420 you can dial it in perfectly where you want it for both the frequency and the volume.

The only thing we share with some of the others is the parts of the knobs and rings. So you have to look close at what those parts do. Ours make adjustments for the eq for either (ring) tower or (knob) boat turning it into dual eq's. (ring) volume for the tower, (knob) volume for the in boats. The others does (ring)freq adjustment and (knob) cut/boost. But again for all of the speakers the same.

Then you add in the microphone as mentioned. The mic works over the tower speakers only. You key the mic up and it mutes the tower speakers. You talk over them. Let go of the button and the speakers come back on. The WS-420 also has Boat Link. Boat Link is a aux output allowing you to link up to other boats. So you can have one source tied to other boats. Really cool when in a part cove and have a couple boats tied up and linked together.

Hope this makes it a bit more clear. Just wanted to make sure.

Tim
Wet Sounds

Hey Time,

I was just wondering how I could make my boat a Karaoke boat... I have all the components but the mixer... So would the WS-420 do the job or would that only allow people to sing over the music while muting the tower speakers... I'm guessing it could still work but I want to put real microphones in there as well...possibly wireless if it will work.. what are your thoughts?

Thx,
Mike

[h2osk8er00]

Here a a few picture of my on going install. Thanks to all who offered advice and help.

Dude... I can't wait to get started on my project... I have the same sort of thing going on... You are going to be outta my league but I'm working with what I got!! Nice job though man! Quick dumb question... did you buy the tweeters separately or do they come off of the 2-ways or what? I know that some of the speakers say that they are 6 or 6.5 inches...does that include the tweeter though? just some food for thought when you get a chance... I'm sure I could find the answer elsewhere but I thought since you were doing it all yourself then everything will be fresh in your head. Keep the pics coming man!

Mike

[chpthril]

Dude... I can't wait to get started on my project... I have the same sort of thing going on... You are going to be outta my league but I'm working with what I got!! Nice job though man! Quick dumb question... did you buy the tweeters separately or do they come off of the 2-ways or what? I know that some of the speakers say that they are 6 or 6.5 inches...does that include the tweeter though? just some food for thought when you get a chance... I'm sure I could find the answer elsewhere but I thought since you were doing it all yourself then everything will be fresh in your head. Keep the pics coming man!

Mike

H2o, those are the Kicker Marine Components (current model # KM6250.2) and come with a separate tweeter and crossover. The Kicker Marine coax KM6200's woofer is very similar to the woofer of the KM6250.2, the biggest difference is the 1" remote tweeter that comes with the KM6250.2 v's the .75" grill mounted tweeter that comes on the KM6200.

[h2osk8er00]

H2o, those are the Kicker Marine Components (current model # KM6250.2) and come with a separate tweeter and crossover. The Kicker Marine coax KM6200's woofer is very similar to the woofer of the KM6250.2, the biggest difference is the 1" remote tweeter that comes with the KM6250.2 v's the .75" grill mounted tweeter that comes on the KM6200.

I see... that makes more sense. So are the speakers 6.5 or 6 inches in diameter? And what is the standard?

[chpthril]

I see... that makes more sense. So are the speakers 6.5 or 6 inches in diameter? And what is the standard?

They are spec'd out as a 6", but carry a ton of mid-bass due to the fact that the tweeter is not mounted to a pole through the center of the woofer.

My son is now rethinking his setup in his Jeep and going with these instead of the XS-650's that he currently has. After listen to them side by side on my demo board, he cant decide.

[philwsailz]

I see... that makes more sense. So are the speakers 6.5 or 6 inches in diameter? And what is the standard?

H2O
The Kicker speakers are interesting.... Boats have 5.125" hole cutouts for the speakers most of the time, so for a close car speaker analogy, you are talking about a 6" speaker typically. the Kicker marine speakers were designed from the ground up as marine speakers, and when we did them, wo took the opportunity to design the basket so it would take a speaker cone from a 6 1/2" speaker, while still fitting in that 5.125" mounting hole typical of a 6" speaker. The larger cone, and the tweeter mounting, (as CHP pointed out) both work together to provide more output.. The fact that the tweeter is mounted to the grill means that the midrange cone is totally sealed, and has a greater cone area available to make sound when compared to a typical pole mounted coax tweeter.



There is no standard per se, other than the cutout hole size for marine speakers...

Hop ethat further explains things!

Phil
Kicker

[h2osk8er00]

It all makes sense now! I felt like there were different size cut outs for the speakers of the sizes were different and I was scared I might buy the wrong size... Looks like 5.125" is the standard though and I will not loose anymore sleep wondering which speakers will fit! Thx CHP and Dr. Phil! All of us would be lost without you...or maybe just me!

[wetsounds1]

mike,

the WS-420 mutes the tower speakers volume so you can talk to the rider. So would not work for karaoke. BUT we have added wireless mics to the demo boats many times.

You will need a true mixer and mic so you can have both playing. There is a cool little ipod mixer out that lets you dock and ipod into it.

You can have a 12 volt invertor and then take the output from the mixer right into the WS-420 AUX input. So you have the main system and then when you want karaoke, you push the 420 to aux and everything comes off the mixer.

This is the most straight forward way. Plus easy to just throw in when you want it etc..

We have done full blown multi boat systems off larger mixers and multiple mics all linked together etc...

Tim
Wet Sounds

[h2osk8er00]

mike,

the WS-420 mutes the tower speakers volume so you can talk to the rider. So would not work for karaoke. BUT we have added wireless mics to the demo boats many times.

You will need a true mixer and mic so you can have both playing. There is a cool little ipod mixer out that lets you dock and ipod into it.

You can have a 12 volt invertor and then take the output from the mixer right into the WS-420 AUX input. So you have the main system and then when you want karaoke, you push the 420 to aux and everything comes off the mixer.

This is the most straight forward way. Plus easy to just throw in when you want it etc..

We have done full blown multi boat systems off larger mixers and multiple mics all linked together etc...

Tim
Wet Sounds

Thanks for the input Tim! I really appreciate all of the knowledge and I will be sure to put it to good use when the time comes.

[jrj701]

That looks Awesome, especially the 2 10's under the helm I'm glad it all fit. The new style grills look sooo much better as well.

I'll love to see a pic of the box in the back!

Well it only took me a month or so, but I finally got the pics of the sub box from the back side. Like I said in an earlier post, I had to design and lay it out and then partially build it in the compartment to get the volume I was looking for. Not an easy task when your 220 lbs. and trying to manipulate your body into the storage area.

[Kvon]

JRJ,

did you have to build the box because you installed two speakers, or were they not free air speakers.

I have a 12 wetsounds that I am going to trade in on a 10 F/A and was looking at the spot where I am going to install and thought that 2 could fit there easily! The 12 won't really fit becasue I don't want to totally loose the space back there. Besides, the stearing cable is on the back side (where the box would go) and it wouldn't allow for the space needed for a box.
sorry for all of the info when I was just wondering if you could run two free air subs without a box. Thanks and great job on the install!!!

Chpthrl is always a big help!!! and has great info about stereo stuff for boats. Thanks for always being so helpful and willing to answer everyones questions!