How to Design a Marine Audio System

You can transfer the quality of your car or home audio system to your boat. Marine audio is a relatively new market, but many car stereo products can be bought and used on a boat. Some car audio manufacturers also offer specialized products for boats.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Amplifiers
• Car Cd Changer
• Car Stereo Speakers
• Car Stereo Subwoofers
• Cassette Deck W/CD Changer Controls
• Boat Battery

1. Survey your boat. Locate areas where audio products can be placed away from the water. Amplifiers can be placed in the engine compartment in the rear of the boat or under the dashboard. Subwoofers can go in the compartment under the seats. The radio can replace the original radio. Midrange and midbass speakers and tweeters can fit into the side panels or under the dash.

2. Take photos of the locations you choose and measure the dimensions. This will help you choose products that will fit in the areas you have selected.

3. Lay out the system. Determine where you intend to put all the components and decide how you will route the wires.

4. Contact manufacturers, such as Eclipse, Rockford Fosgate and Alpine, who offer marine audio products and ask them for retailer recommendations.

5. Use the manufacturers' recommendations to select three to five shops in your area to investigate.

6. Ask each shop about its experience with selling and installing marine audio products. Ask to see the shop's photo album. If they have one, it may include photos of installations they did on boats. Ask the salesperson or an installer about those installations and discuss details.

7. Choose speakers that have a polypropylene cone. Polypropylene is a rigid material that resists moisture. You can use at least two 10-inch subwoofers. The speakers should be designed for infinite baffle mounting. You can include four speaker separates - either four 6- by 9-inch two-way speakers or four 6 1/2-inch two-way speakers. A two-way speaker includes a midrange or midbass speaker and a tweeter. The more separates you have, the louder the system will be.

8. Select a four-channel amplifier that has a specially treated circuit board that enables it to last longer in a marine environment. Rockford, Eclipse and Clarion offer such amplifiers. The amplifier will run hot, so choose one that is stable at a 2 ohm load. Also select an amplifier that has a built-in electronic crossover.

9. Select a cassette player with compact-disc (CD) changer controls that can be commanded by an infrared remote control. This allows you to tuck the unit in a dry place, cover it in plastic and still control it. (Keep in mind that an infrared remote control needs a line of sight to the head unit.) A cassette player can take the harsh bumps better than a CD player when you want to run the boat hard.

10. Include a CD changer so that you can listen to CDs when you don't run the boat so hard. A changer offers better suspension than a CD player, so it can take bumps better in any case.

11. Include a second battery to power the audio system and upgrade the boat's alternator.

[wwjdato]

on 4/27/2009 If you put subs in the engine compartment will it sound good? I have no other room? If so whats the best way to do it? Box? Build one in the back of bench seat? They won't fit in the front the seat sits to low? Please help Im using 2 Polk audio MM1040svc 10" thanks

[fourwinns200]

on 5/8/2007 I have a 1996 Four Winns 20' bow rider with 4 garbage 6" speakers. I want to change them and run them straight off the head unit if possible as space is limited already. Any recomendations? I have a boss 240 watt peak head (4x60). I can only fit 6" speakers and have had a hard time finding anything. any ideas?

[gsxr600]

on 1/10/2007 First of all I totally agree with the last post about mounting an amp in the Engine Compartment!

I have appx 15 years experience with marine applications, the first thing I would start off with is a good Head Unit, this is where all of your D/A conversion takes place so don't go cheap here. My personal favorites are Eclipse's higher end HU's w/ 8v and balance-out (16V) pre-outs. Another favorite that I use personally is the Pioneer P1R or P9R. Make sure the HU has enough outputs for the amps you will be running... Also, it does not matter where you mount your HU - just put it somewhere that looks good, has good ventilation, and use a marine mounting kit. They are designed to be sealed and keep any moisture out.

Your speaker selection should not be an issue unless they are not inside the cabin. If they are outside the boats cabin space, you should look at marine specific speakers, again the Eclipse marine speakers sound AMAZING! Even with little or no amplification, they produce amazing mid's and high's like I've never heard before! The cone does not make a difference, whether IMPP (inj. molded poly-propylene) or aluminum, or even paper it doesn't matter the thing that makes marine speakers different are the tinsel leads, voice coils, etc which are protected from moisture so the metal doesn't get any corrotion.

As far as amps, this is personal preference. I personally recommend amps like Zapco, Arc (made by Zapco), US Amps, or older Eclipse's PA Series... Be very cautious with Eclipse's new products they are not what they used to be! As far as mounting location, this is different in EVERY situation! A few things you want to be sure of are 1) adiquate ventilation, 2) protection from water, and 3) easy access. You also want to make sure that your power wires are secured, away from high heat areas, and will not be worn through due to rubbing on something where it would short out. I would highly suggest an additional battery for your stereo as well - run in series with the rest of the system. Be sure to use the appropriate size wire for your application and make sure you have a good ground! This is why I highly suggest a battery for your stereo. Mount it close to the amplifiers (in a battery box) so that your ground cable is not too long, and to be on the safe side, you may even consider running a larger ground wire, a poor ground will destroy an amp! Also make sure you use an inline fuse, as close to the battery as possible...

Your subwoofer is going to be very tricky. Traditional enclosures are designed for a small enclosed cabin like a car. On a boat, you have much larger cabin space, or none if you are putting the drivers in the back of the boat. The box in most cases must be much larger, use a program called WinISD alpha to design your box...

Any questions, feel free to contact me: [e-mail]

on 6/30/2006 Someone suggested installing an amp in the engine compartment. This is a big no no! Fuel fumes build up in your engine compartment and could cause a huge explosion.

Don't install anything in your engine compartment that could cause a spark. All the stuff that is put there by the factory is special made to prevent sparks.