I went through several sets of 6.5" speakers before I found two that lined up with the existing holes on my 356:
- Sony XS-MP1621
- Pioneer TS-MR1640
If you look at pictures of the latter, you'll notice it has two sets of screw holes. One for standard 6.5" holes and one for our slightly smaller version.
One issue I had with mine is that the speakers sound great in the cabin, but lose much of their quality in the arch. I assume because there is nothing behind them but open air.
No, no, no
Do it the right way
Ok,,,
On my 49 I had the arch speakers.
Total junk
And anything which fits in that space will always be total junk
Do you like your music?
Well then, invest a bit of time, and not too much money, and you will have a fabulous system
So, buy some waterproof box speakers.
These can be Bose, Boston Acoustics, or a few other brands.
A good pair will set you back maybe $250 tops.
Trick # 1
Mount them under the stern seats facing forward.
Amazing sound, fills the cockpit with a beautifully spatial effect
Mounting them is easy.
Running the wires, you have 2 options:
The "sorta ok"way
Run them down the stern rails and cable tie nearly. Then use waterproof glands at the stantion bases to get the wires into the stern
The "pro" way
Drill 3/8" holes in the stantion near the speaker. Use a plastic bushing to insulate
Then, crawl into the stern locker, and with really good drill bits drill a hole up the centre of the stantion, and invisibly fish the wire down.
Ok,,,,
Now you've got 2 fabulous speakers mounted under the seats, and they are wired into the transom.
Buy a 2 channel marine 150 watt amplifier .
Few choices, and they aren't that expensive
Crack a cold one
Mount the amp on the port bulkhead wall near where the lewmar power winch controller is. Lots of room.
Run a 2 conductor 14 guage cable from the system power at the nav station
Be sure to fuse it
This powers the amp
Beer#2
With plastic conduit, surface clamps, and lots of "best practices", run the speaker cables to the amp. You can get away with #16 two conductor
Beer #3&4
Make starboard filler panels to close the speaker holes in the overhead.
Then, mount led overhead lights on them, to give you nice cockpit illumination. Get a cheap wireless remote to switch them on & off
Now, you have a choice..
If you want to use the original cockpit stereo to feed the amp, you need to fish 2 small audio coax cables down through the arch to end up in the port seat locker. Then, using commercial RCA extension cables, run to the amp inputs
Option #2
Just install a small BT receiver down at the amp, and run it all from your phone or iPad
Option #3
If you are a real glutton for punishment, fish 2 line out coax cables from the Bose system.
This gives you tunes down below & in the cockpit which are all cranked to 11.
Only drawback is you need your inveter on to drive the Bose
My reccomendation is the BT solution, as all your music is highly portable that way
Have fun!!!!!
