Help with boat system questions... Newbie to boat audio

[mentalmatt]

Ok, so I just bought a bitchen boat and it only has 4 - 6.5" speakers... Infact, the boat is so new, I haven't even bent down to check what make they are... I just know they get pretty loud, so I think I'll leave them for now. What I do want to add is 1 or 2 - 8" or 10" sub's and an amp. I play drums and I LOVE bass, so does the wife, but I think she has other reasons for liking it (IE. tickling her cooter)... anyways, on to my questions.

I have an open bow and have 2 big storage compartments infront of the two front seats. That said, they seem like big ported sub boxes to me, so it got my wheels turning. I want to stick a sub in each side, in a box, so it's basically a box in a box.

My questions are, do you HAVE to use marine components or would I be stupid to not use marine components? Do I need marine capable sub's and a marine amp?

They will be placed in area's that will never get wet, splashed, or any water near them, unless the boat sinks and at that point I have bigger problems.

As well, would you recomend 2 - 8" sub's or 2 - 10" sub's? I'm not looking to rock the entire cove, just have some damn bass and sound pretty good.

I'm also not looking to break the bank, so looking to spend under a grand for the components and then I will do the install. Looking for recomendations. I've always used JL in my trucks, can I use regular JL sub's, or do I need their marine grade sub's? Can I use a regular amp, or do I need a marine grade amp?

For now, the boat is covered and tarped, but left outside in a partially covered carport. Not sure how the sub's would hold up over time...

Please help me out... :headscratch:

 

[stickman07]

I just did a complete Memphis Audio system all marine components. Black box system w/ a 5 channel 750 watt amp, 2 6x9's, 2 6.5's & a 12" sub. It rocks & and should last a good long while being all marine.


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[SydneyRaysDad]

I have two regular (non-marine) JL 10's in boat. In fact my entire system in non-marine and I've never had any issues. Just curious, why don't you just mount the subs in the walls of the storage facing out and let the compartment serve as your "box" seems like it might save some cash and be just as effective? Just my 2 cents......Good luck!

 

[Dan Lorenze]

I love JL subs, I would do 2 10's. My are the marine types. I have more than bass. (been playing drums for 35 years). Lol

I have abused my JL components over the years, they never let me down.


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[pronstar]

I don't think most people use Marine equipment for fresh water boats.

As long as you don't use paper speaker cones I don't think you will have an issue.
The interior of a car is a harsh environment (e.g. parked in the sun, windows up...parked in the freezing cold...direct sunlight for a dash speaker), so most audio equipment is built to last.

 

[hoofy]

Why do you need speakers in a boat. I just steep on the load pedal and listen to the sound of the engine.

 

[fed4life]

Im a drummer as well and love my bass. You cant go wrong with JL stuff. I would stick with non-marine components, their cheaper and as another poster stated, as long as its a fresh water boat you will be fine.

I would deff go with two 10's, if you have the room and the both of you like bass then thats what you should roll with. I have one 12" Kicker L7 solobaric sub in a custom box thats underneath the bench seat with the sub facing out towards the cockpit of the boat. It has a Kicker ZX750.1 mono amp powering it. It deff sounds great and has a lot of bass but if i could do it over again i would have put in two 12's. The reason i say that is that when i crank my tunes i wana hear the bass whether its hip-hop, classic rock or whatever and when i turn up the volume high the sub is really working hard. I know if i would have put in two 12's i would have the same boomin' bass without taxing the amp and sub so much. Before i added fans i would overheat my amps in the Havasu heat.

As a side note, i have six 6x9's that are powered with a 4 channel amp, again it all sounds great and the 6x9 holes were the originals that came with the boat , i just upgraded the speakers and put an amp to them to save money. If i had the money i would have added a pair of 6.5's or a component set by the driver and passenger seats as high as they can go so that i can hear my music while im driving above speeds of 40-50 mph. Im still contemplating this but i would have to add another amp; so with the amp, the speakers and wiring with install i was looking at another $700-$800 just to add a pair of speakers to hear my music while driving. I just cant wrap my head around that to spend that much to add a pair of speakers.

Anyways, thats just my .02