MacGregorSailors.com

Hi Guys

I was tinking of putting a set of car speakers in my has anyone else used car speakers and not marine speakers and had okay results?

Bastonjock, I have car speakers in my Bayliner Capri. The boat does not stay on the water so the moisture issue doesn't seem to be a huge concern as long as they are not directly exposed to water. I have Altec Lansings and they have been in the boat about 6 years. They still sound great but I need to upgrade my radio/cd player to one with an ipod plugin. Rob

rob,thanks for the answer ,you can call me a tightwad if you like but i have about 4 cd/stereos lying around the house and i just cant see the point of paying $600.00 for a marine stereo,even if it does have an ipod dock

West Marine sells a cable assembly that allows for Ipod / mp3 hook up to an older deck that does not have a plugin. I have installed it and it works great. Sells for around $20.

Bostonjock,

Not all car speakers are created equal, just make sure the cones are not paper based which will pickup moisture. Use ones that are made of Polypropylene or other waterproof material.

Mark

Thanks Scottie, you just saved me at least a couple hundred b$$$s. My stereo doesn't have a plugin either. Rob

Also remember to keep unshielded magnets away from your compass.

thanks guys for the info,the posts had some great tips in them

I put a pair of outdoor Yamaha speakers in my cabin. They are amazing compared to the car speakers I used before. Got them on sale for about 60 bucks or so at a radio shack 2 years ago. they are fully enclosed in a white housing.

http://hdtvdreams.com/Yamaha-NS-AW190-N ... AW190.aspx

I am a bit skeptical about using any equipment that is intended for non-marine use, stereos and speakers included. Sure they work fine enough at the outset but I have found through experience that certain metals are more resistant to the marine environment than others. I left a boom box on my boat for a season and by the the time I took it out come winter the darn thing was shorting out and the volume knob was not functioning properly and I noticed traces of white corrosion on some of the metal parts. After stripping evrything else out of the boat for winter layup I noticed other metal things including fasteners like zippers also had white corrosion and were suffering the ravages of the salty marine environment. I guess if one is lake sailing this is not an issue but on the coast where the salty air can penetrate just about anything one can expect a certain degree of corrosion on non-marine protected metals. I would expect that the marine grade stereos use different wiring and circuitry in there units than the land based counterparts do, ditto for the speakers, they are not paper based but instead use some sort of moisture resistant plastic or polypropelene, not sure what it is but it definitely is not the same paper cones as are used in my indoor house speakers. I bought a proper marine unit for my boat because I am in the salt chuck and suseptible to salt corrosion. Others may use car stereos at their own risk.

I just bought these on sale @ W/M


Enlarge/Alternate Images
DUAL

MXDM66 AM/FM/USB Stereo Receiver

WEST MARINE

Compact Waterproof Box Speakers
$99.99 USD


J

Terry wrote:I am a bit skeptical about using any equipment that is intended for non-marine use, stereos and speakers included. Sure they work fine enough at the outset but I have found through experience that certain metals are more resistant to the marine environment than others. I left a boom box on my boat for a season and by the the time I took it out come winter the darn thing was shorting out and the volume knob was not functioning properly and I noticed traces of white corrosion on some of the metal parts. After stripping evrything else out of the boat for winter layup I noticed other metal things including fasteners like zippers also had white corrosion and were suffering the ravages of the salty marine environment. I guess if one is lake sailing this is not an issue but on the coast where the salty air can penetrate just about anything one can expect a certain degree of corrosion on non-marine protected metals. I would expect that the marine grade stereos use different wiring and circuitry in there units than the land based counterparts do, ditto for the speakers, they are not paper based but instead use some sort of moisture resistant plastic or polypropelene, not sure what it is but it definitely is not the same paper cones as are used in my indoor house speakers. I bought a proper marine unit for my boat because I am in the salt chuck and suseptible to salt corrosion. Others may use car stereos at their own risk.

terry you are quite correct that marine quality radios etc last longer in the marine enviroment,tis is due to components having a wax sprayed over them to inhibit salt penitration,its just that i have 4 decent cd/radio stereos kicking around the home so i thought that even if they go wrong after a season or two ive lost nothing

Terry - just mount them up into a standard DIN mount and you will be able to slide a new one in if they die...

Highlander,

I got the same stereo. Will be installing it on Wednesday (get back to U.S. on Sunday...Monday is new electrical system -- batteries, battery switch, fuse panel...Tuesday is S1 Wheel Pilot...Wednesday is VHF, antenna, Stereo and speakers).

Where do you plan to put your speakers and how will you run the wires to them.

Thanks,
Jim

Jim;
Be careful where you install those speakers, I am pretty sure my Dual unit is the same as Johns' as I also got mine from WM for $99.00. The 200 watt unit comes with only 2 unshielded 50 watt speakers so you will need to buy two more to get the full 200 watts and being unshielded they do have unwanted effects on any compass that may be nearby so decide first where you will install the fluxgate compass for the wheel pilot then position the unshielded speakers well away from it. I put my two unshielded ones on either side of the forward hatch in those bulkheads facing aft. The two extra shielded ones I bought were installed under the settee seats close to the daggerboard trunk facing each other port and starboard but slightly staggered so as not to be face to face.
Mine is the '03 model so my galley is in front of the mirror. The sound is pretty awsome with all four speakers blaring and I am satisfied with it. I put the receive unit in the bulkhead above the mirror. Be carefull cutting the holes as the gelcoat chips extremely easy, I had to cut the holes slightly small then use a fine file to cut them out fully to have a nice clean unchipped edge. There are plenty of cavities for speaker cabinets in the '05 models just be sure you don't have two speakers sharing the same cavity or they will compete with each other when vibrating and moving air.
You can put your MP3 music on a usb stck and play it from that through the USB port or if you have an iPod you can run a standard jack from the iPod headphone jack to the AUX jack on the receiver and play your iPod through the stereo, sounds awsome. Good luck!