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Narrowboat Audio equipment

saladdays

By saladdays
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saladdays Explorer

saladdays

Posted
Posted

Hello and happy new year. We are looking for a new FM/AM Radio/CD/mp3 player for our shared narrowboat Isis.The radio supplied from new.. like all I have seen on shared narrowboats... looks like it was a cheap last minute purchase from Halfords.This is one area of our narrowboat fitting out that needs a proper bit of kit to go along with the rest of the £100,0000 boat. Has anyone fitted anything that could slot into the existing rectangular slot with a bit of class that they would care to reccomend? :captain:

 

Cheers

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Chalky Experienced

Chalky

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Posted (edited)

Having used DAB and experienced the patchy reception I'd go for DAB and AM/FM.

 

Working in the automotive industry my advice would be to stick with a DIN (the name for the slot) or 2 DIN (2 DIN sized units on top of each other)size radio head unit. It allows you to upgrade as you want to and not be stuck with older technology. Most of the high end OEM solutions are implemented using multiple units linked by optical networks such as MOST. They do offer a lot of feature however they're not designed for after market usage and are custom designed for particular vehicle installations. One option may be to look for car PC and host additional features on it. Keep with the DIN size and you can evolve the system as time, money and requirements change. Do consider the power requirements - some high end OEM systems will draw over 80A when running at full power!

Edited by Chalky
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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

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One option may be to look for car PC and host additional features on it. Keep with the DIN size and you can evolve the system as time, money and requirements change. Do consider the power requirements - some high end OEM systems will draw over 80A when running at full power!

 

Why go for something so overcomplicated? Car stereos have evolved a long way in the last few years, a modern stereo will probably have all the features you'd need and more. They all seem to have iPhone input and USB sockets on the front panel now, etc.

 

Personally, I'd go for Alpine equipment. The speaker installation you do is more important than the stereo, for good sound. Don't expect too much from 10cm (4") speakers, try to get decent 13cm ones at least; and 4 or more - spread them around the boat too, 2 speakers in one location won't give a very good spread of the sound in different areas etc.

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Richard10002 Veteran II

Richard10002

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I had a JVC AVX car stereo on my previous boat - played CDs and DVDS with 5.1 and video output. If doing it on this boat I'd get something similar with iPhone control and Bluetooth. Add some Kef Egg speakers, and. Subwoofer if you must, and Bobs your uncle.

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Bobbybass Experienced

Bobbybass

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I bought second hand TV.(£25)..radio (£4.99 from cash convertors..takes cassettes..but I put an adapter in for MP3 and CD's)...DVD (£8)

 

I never put things on the boat..that are going to cause me pain when they are stolen !!

 

Bob

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
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''A spoiler''? After you've paid good money for the sound to be decent and not to be spoiled. :unsure:

'Spoilers' are very suitably named in my opinion, as they deffly spoil the appearance of the motor. Or narrowbote.

 

'Speed bumps' on the other hand, are very badly named in my view. If anything, they slow the traffic down.

 

MtB

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Higgs Influencer

Higgs

Posted
Posted (edited)

I bought second hand TV.(£25)..radio (£4.99 from cash convertors..takes cassettes..but I put an adapter in for MP3 and CD's)...DVD (£8)

 

I never put things on the boat..that are going to cause me pain when they are stolen !!

 

Bob

 

I understand what you're saying, but are the things you buy any fun to use. Why let thieves limit your life. The only thing is, when they break into your boat and find rubbish, and nothing they can sell, they will just trash your boat. Buy some nice gear.

Edited by Higgs
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mrsmelly Veteran II

mrsmellyDonate to Canal World

Posted
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I bought second hand TV.(£25)..radio (£4.99 from cash convertors..takes cassettes..but I put an adapter in for MP3 and CD's)...DVD (£8)

 

I never put things on the boat..that are going to cause me pain when they are stolen !!

 

Bob

 

You are dead unlucky I reckon. We have never had owt nicked off any of our boats in well over 20 years useage.

 

Tim

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pearley Veteran

pearley

Posted
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Thank you all for the replies.Will look at DAB as well good point and will circulate info to our group of owners.

 

Regards,

 

salladays

We have had DAB on Joanie m for over 5 years via a JVC car stereo. Never any problems with reception. Unlike a car, we don't need to get a signal at 70mph! Does need an external antenna though.

 

Quite a few extra stations on DAB.

 

Regards

Pete

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Chalky Experienced

Chalky

Posted
Posted

Thank you all for the replies.Will look at DAB as well good point and will circulate info to our group of owners.

 

Regards,

 

salladays

 

DAB will require a good quality antenna otherwise it'll keep dropping out (especially when on the move), Thus the need for AM/FM to provide the full coverage. If you can get a head unit with FM diversity then that would be worth looking at. Most car audio systems have more than 1 antenna and switch between them to improve reception - this is what the diversity does and can improve reception significantly.

I'll second the comments about speaker size and placement. Ideally look for speakers with a tweeter built in, if you can't find any that package then look for ones with a small cone on top of the main speaker cone. This is called a whizzer and helps improve the frequency response. Door speakers may be easier to package since they tend to be shallower than parcel shelf mounted ones. Good quality ones will have neodymium magnets and be smaller however they will cost more.

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

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Is there any way of installing a car stereo using wireless speakers? It is not possible for me to run speaker wires the length of the boat without removing and damaging existing panels. I am on 24V if that helps?

 

I've not heard of a way but there might be a few possibilities to avoid removing panelling etc:

 

- surface mount speakers near the stereo and wires in a panel gap/etc

 

- one stereo in the front of the boat and another in the rear?

 

- neat trunking (maybe at the corner of the roof ie between roof and side?)

 

- underfloor instead? (getting desparate now).

 

 

I guess, if you can't get to ANY wires without disrupting the panelling (and breaking it) then you're sitting on a ticking time bomb waiting for an electrical item at the front of the boat to stop working, and when it does, you have problems (or some woodwork to do).....

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Tuscan Veteran

Tuscan

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I've not heard of a way but there might be a few possibilities to avoid removing panelling etc:

 

- surface mount speakers near the stereo and wires in a panel gap/etc

 

- one stereo in the front of the boat and another in the rear?

 

- neat trunking (maybe at the corner of the roof ie between roof and side?)

 

- underfloor instead? (getting desparate now).

 

 

I guess, if you can't get to ANY wires without disrupting the panelling (and breaking it) then you're sitting on a ticking time bomb waiting for an electrical item at the front of the boat to stop working, and when it does, you have problems (or some woodwork to do).....

 

 

 

Depends on how much you want to spend on sounds and when you do it, we had a sonos system installed as the boat was converted, wireless with hidden speakers, linked to a router and 3 dongle and small antennae. Stream radio and music, no cd's etc. relies on Internet connection but we have had few difficulties

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kevinktwo Gongoozler

kevinktwo

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Is there any way of installing a car stereo using wireless speakers? It is not possible for me to run speaker wires the length of the boat without removing and damaging existing panels. I am on 24V if that helps?

 

Get. A sound bar although they are sold primarily for cinema quality sound for TVs. They work really well for hifi they connect wirelessly to iPhones and the bass speaker is also wireless. Mine is Samsung and I think they are ideal for areas that have tight space requirements

 

Kevin

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