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I put a pair of speakers in the usual place in the cabin above the V berth, works great. Cut my holes with a hole saw then made them bigger with a jigsaw to the size i needed , remember the speakers are bigger than the hole you need , measure twice , cut once.

I'm moving to the 21st century this Christmas. No more stereo headunits and running speaker wires, mounting crappy speakers in odd places, going to strictly streaming from smartphone and stored playlists all Bluetooth to any of the top wireless portable speakers jawbone,Beats, sonos, etc they all sound heads above anything you run wires to and you can move them to the house car pool when you get home.

raycarlson wrote:I'm moving to the 21st century this Christmas. No more stereo headunits and running speaker wires, mounting crappy speakers in odd places, going to strictly streaming from smartphone and stored playlists all Bluetooth to any of the top wireless portable speakers jawbone,Beats, sonos, etc they all sound heads above anything you run wires to and you can move them to the house car pool when you get home.

I agree. It sure makes a lot of sense to simplify your system. Those portable speakers do just fine.

I also think this is a much better solution. I have installed radio/CD/iPod player and run wires and mounted speakers. Even installed a remote control in the cockpit.

Portable bluetooth speaker linked to iPhone is a simpler and more flexible solution. Still have full remote control in your pocket, sound quality is excellent. Recharge and power at night from 12 volt socket and USB cable.

Easy!

I finally got the stereo installed a few weeks ago and have been remiss in posting the results. It turned out great and sounds fantastic.

We did a couple things different and wanted to share them with the group.

Located the head of the unit in the bulkhead behind the cooler in the aft table seat. The existing 3 1/2" ledge or setback from the head entry offered perfect protection and the face of the unit faces the cockpit. Remote works great from anywhere in or out of the cabin.

Located the speakers just to the right/left side of cabin entry. I was worried about the speakers being exposed to the elements while not in use, so I made some speaker covers out of 8" dia. frisby's found on eBay for less than $5. Seems to work well when boat is at rest, which is all I was really after anyway.

I solved the problem of compass/radio/depth finder location some time ago when I fabricated a mounting suface located on top of the steering pedestal out of a white plastic cutting board trimmed down to dimensions that do not protrude past the engine control unit. I Mounted a Ritchie Compass in the center, GPS/depth finder to the left, and hand held radio holder on the right. Also has a RAM mount for smart phone mounted directly behind the compass. Sort of a command center if you will. I used a SS u shaped bracket under the board for attaching to pedestal. All work well and totally out of the way. Notched the board to clear mast crutch for trailering.

Sorry no pics, still have not opened a Photo Bucket account.
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innervations wrote:I also think this is a much better solution. I have installed radio/CD/iPod player and run wires and mounted speakers. Even installed a remote control in the cockpit.

Portable bluetooth speaker linked to iPhone is a simpler and more flexible solution. Still have full remote control in your pocket, sound quality is excellent. Recharge and power at night from 12 volt socket and USB cable.

Easy!

We use a Lil' Wiz bluetooth speaker for the cockpit after the little one goes down for the night. The speaker is tiny and uses a small bass generator to transfer sound to whatever substrate you put it on. Anything that has a contained air space (like a box) creates deeper bass tones so pretty much anywhere on the boat works well. Wood is obviously the best substrate but the thicker FG works well. Thinner FG produces resonance but really not an issue on the MAC