speakers

[pete23]

afternoon all.

 

i,ve just fitted a car sterio in me boat, but im after some nice looking decent speakers that will fit under the gunwal, so nothing to big.

 

been looking at bose but there far to many spondoolics for me.

 

does anyone know of a make that produce a decent sound?? that ar,nt a great deal of money?? that will work off a car sterio??

 

thank you all.

[Keeping Up]

We went to a car hifi shop and chose a set of car speakers that we liked the sound from (which surprisingly weren't the most expensive). Pioneer they were.

[WotEver]

We went into Halfrauds and switched between them until we found a pair that fitted the bill for us.

 

Then we searched for them online and bought a pair (in our case JBL).

 

Tony

[blodger]

Ebay does white ones for 20/30 GBP per pair. I got some I have not used yet; boxed some out of an old Escort instead.

[matty40s]

I am aiming to fit a (fairly modern)car stereo shortly, but cannot make head or tail of all the input blocks. There are two sets of input sockets with lots of pins, but no matching plugs.

How do I work out which ones are the power and left right speakers, do I need to wire anything else, and what connection do I need for the car ariel input (big round hole!! I think there is an external cable fitted already, but no fixture on the end)

[gaggle]

I have had different sets of speakers on boat with car sets , cheapo,s from halfords and maplins £30 -£40 quid and other that my lads save for me when they swap home stereo systems , they all end up knackered and i have never got to the bottom of the why,s and wherefore,s why they decide to go west , one set "radio" at the back and one at the front , speakers from boat build in the ceiling set and fitted by the builders , both sets within a year knackered and replaced only to blow again , replaced but not fitted in the ceiling just out on shelf so i could access them easier to keep an eye and ear on them , they blew , i even took one radio out and swapped that but the speakers on both sets still for some reason dont last, i just have a supply of other peoples smaller speakers they no longer want , people have remarked that if i put my hearing aids in instead of pumping up the volume they may last longer but i have tried very large speakers and they blow so i now just think its a boaty thing ,dont spend a lot .

 

I have had different sets of speakers on boat with car sets , cheapo,s from halfords and maplins £30 -£40 quid and other that my lads save for me when they swap home stereo systems , they all end up knackered and i have never got to the bottom of the why,s and wherefore,s why they decide to go west , one set "radio" at the back and one at the front , speakers from boat build in the ceiling set and fitted by the builders , both sets within a year knackered and replaced only to blow again , replaced but not fitted in the ceiling just out on shelf so i could access them easier to keep an eye and ear on them , they blew , i even took one radio out and swapped that but the speakers on both sets still for some reason dont last, i just have a supply of other peoples smaller speakers they no longer want , people have remarked that if i put my hearing aids in instead of pumping up the volume they may last longer but i have tried very large speakers and they blow so i now just think its a boaty thing ,dont spend a lot .

[Iain_S]

I am aiming to fit a (fairly modern)car stereo shortly, but cannot make head or tail of all the input blocks. There are two sets of input sockets with lots of pins, but no matching plugs.

How do I work out which ones are the power and left right speakers, do I need to wire anything else, and what connection do I need for the car ariel input (big round hole!! I think there is an external cable fitted already, but no fixture on the end)

 

Halfords and most motor factors stock the "vehicle" part of the wiring, or this page from Maplins should have the bits you need. One "gotcha" is that modern radios are powered by the "always live" connection,which used to be just used for the memory. Don't ask how I discovered this

 

 

Iain

[Philippe]

people have remarked that if i put my hearing aids in instead of pumping up the volume they may last longer

 

[carlt]

I am aiming to fit a (fairly modern)car stereo shortly, but cannot make head or tail of all the input blocks. There are two sets of input sockets with lots of pins, but no matching plugs.

How do I work out which ones are the power and left right speakers, do I need to wire anything else, and what connection do I need for the car ariel input (big round hole!! I think there is an external cable fitted already, but no fixture on the end)

 

From your description it sounds like a standard ISO socket.

 

I'm currently putting a stereo in so, if it is ISO, this is what I've used:

 

The majority of new car stereos now come with the industry standard ISO connector. The colours on the lead are usually as follows;

 

 

Power plug

 

Yellow - Permanent power

Red - Switched power

Orange - Illumination

Blue - Remote (electric aerial/amplifier switch on)

Black - Earth

Speaker plug

 

Grey - Front right speaker

White - Front left speaker

Purple - Rear right speaker

Green - Rear left speaker

These wires are in pairs. The speaker wires with the tracers are usually the returns.

It is important to bear in mind that these can vary slightly according to manufacturer so always consult the stereo's manual.

 

Halfords and most motor factors stock the "vehicle" part of the wiring,

One point about Halfords connectors, that I found out the other day.

 

The simple ISO plug, with bare wires, rather than a car specific plug, was iirc £14 whereas one that was identical but with a plug for a specific car manufacturer (I forget which) was £3 and I just snipped the plug off.

[Arthur Brown]

Richer Sounds may have a branch near you, I've had some good deals from there before -rather settled now so I don't bust much or buy much!

[pete23]

cheers, im after a wall mounted type speaker small enough to fit under the gunwal.

 

any pics of the speakers you have on your boats??

[Good Morning Bob]

Hi,

 

Cambridge Audio Minx.

 

They do a single or double version and produce and xcelant sound for there size (in my opinion).

 

Use decent speaker cable as well though, this will make a huge difference.

 

Richer Sounds stock these speakers.

 

Of your lucky you may be ale to get a set of last years model, they are selling them off cheap.

 

I have the double version in my saloon area and single version in bedroom.

[Bat & Frog]

Car stereo speakers are normally 4 ohm, domestic 8 ohm, not sure how this affects connecting car stereos to domestic speakers but if your looking at spending any sort of money may be worth making sure.

[bag 'o' bones]

Car stereo speakers are normally 4 ohm, domestic 8 ohm, not sure how this affects connecting car stereos to domestic speakers but if your looking at spending any sort of money may be worth making sure.

 

Its ok to connect 8 ohm speakers to a 4 ohm car stereo, although not ideal - the problem being the domestic speakers will not be as efficient so you lose volume and efficiency.

 

Connecting 4 ohm car speakers to a 8ohm domestic stereo will result in popped speakers

 

You can buy 4 ohm domestic systems these days - the back of the speaker will have the necessary info.

 

Personally I would go for some small 4 inch speaker cones such as those made by JBL mounted either directly under the gunwhale if there is sufficient room behind, or mount them in a angled car parcel shelf housing.

Edited September 22, 2012 by bag 'o' bones

[Arthur Brown]

If you want a nice sound in a quiet boat the a set of speakers in proper cabinets should be good. Car speakers are intended to compete with a noise generator and it's exhaust pipe and may not meet your quality needs. Home Hi Fi speakers are available in 8, 6 and 4 ohms. Choices may depend on your preferred listening, background cricket may suit different speakers from heavy metal/D&B/Reggae.

[Philippe]

background cricket may suit different speakers from heavy metal/D&B/Reggae.

 

[Chalky]

The sound will be very dependent on speaker drive unit, the enclosure its mounted in (size, damping, porting/venting etc), where it's mounted, how its mounted, what's around it, how big the space its projecting into etc. Whether the speaker is 2/4/8 ohms is of secondary importance for sound quality compared to the others. Many small speakers claim to be full range but lack the low frequencies that are required for good sound reproduction. These can be added back in by using a sub woofer, but you've than go to package it etc.

Car speakers can be a good choice but you need to mount them correctly to get the best out of them (google infinite baffle). The advantage of car speakers is that they tend to be waterproof/resistant and have a shallow depth to fit into car trim and not foul on window mechanisms etc. To make them smaller it's common to use rare earth magnets (e.g. neodymium) rather than ferrites however these tend to cost more - you get what you pay for. Make sure you connect both speakers the same way round - it the wires are crossed you can get some interesting effects caused by phasing - not major, but they won;t sound as good.

Look for a 2 way speaker - these should have a better frequency response than a single way speaker that's trying to cover the whole frequency range. If you do have to use a single way try to find one with a whizzer - a small cone fitted to the centre to the speaker that attempts to add some of the frequencies back in.

This is a very technical area. Car companies often have teams of engineers that spend years on this to get the desired sound. A professional installation will involve not just the speaker design and installation, but also setting up the internal amplifier and DSP equalisation to produce the desired sound quality.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Chalky

[Wanted]

We have moved away from the car stereo idea and are using these bad boys, not cheap but are quite simply brilliant.

 

Astonishing sound and the battery life is almost abnormal!

 

Link as many together as you wish!

 

No connection, just like them and the fact they were designed and made in the UK.

 

http://minirigs.co.uk/

 

Edited September 22, 2012 by Wanted

[Gibbo]

I have had different sets of speakers on boat with car sets , cheapo,s from halfords and maplins £30 -£40 quid and other that my lads save for me when they swap home stereo systems , they all end up knackered and i have never got to the bottom of the why,s and wherefore,s why they decide to go west , one set "radio" at the back and one at the front , speakers from boat build in the ceiling set and fitted by the builders , both sets within a year knackered and replaced only to blow again , replaced but not fitted in the ceiling just out on shelf so i could access them easier to keep an eye and ear on them , they blew , i even took one radio out and swapped that but the speakers on both sets still for some reason dont last, i just have a supply of other peoples smaller speakers they no longer want , people have remarked that if i put my hearing aids in instead of pumping up the volume they may last longer but i have tried very large speakers and they blow so i now just think its a boaty thing ,dont spend a lot .

 

Loads of different blown speakers are a sign of damp.

[Theo]

I use computer speakers. Two tweeters which are nice and small + one sub woofer which goes in the cupboard under the radio (the bass sounds get out quite happily). They require 240V, though. This is not a problem for me because the radio does too. I find the sound production very good. At the upper end of medium fi.

 

N