Anyone want to share what brand/type of outside speakers they have had good luck with? I have two Sony XS-MP61/MK2 in the arch on my Hunter. They do not get rained on but being outside are exposed to moisture. I am not real satisfied with them. After two years the center cones fell off, one speaker is dead and the other sounds rather crackly. Inside the salon there are two of the same with no problems. The outside are mounted pointing down and the inside ones are pointing up. The outside are a good 3 to 4 feet from my compass, so no magnetic issues to deal with. I just hate to buy more to have them fail after 2 short years again. Any ideas? Thanks, Mike
Best choice for speakers in the arch
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Bose speakers are crap. Lots of better choices for the money. Boston Acoustics makes a nice set of box speakers that are weather resistant.
"crap" sounds pretty good to me. I am by no means a speaker expert but I would not define these as crap Dog. They are well made and sound perfectly good in my boat. Are there better speakers? I am sure but I am no audiophile. I used to know guys in college that thought anything mainstream was crap. They also spent hundreds more on a single speaker than me and I could not tell the difference. Of course they could hear the difference;-)
I believe
I believe his Sony's are 6.5 inch round speakers mounted in the arch not box speakers. Without re-drilling etc. it will often be tough to find another speaker with the same exact footprint. If you want some of the best in terms of durability and sound quality it's hard to beat JL Audio.
That being said you can probably buy two or three pairs of the Sony's for the price of a set of JL's...
And I agree on both points about Bose. They do SUCK sound quality wise, compared to many other brands, but do serve a purpose on a boat as a box speaker. The Bose 151 Environmentals are some of the only box speakers that are available as 4 Ohm.
I do have Bose 151's on my boat...
I believe his Sony's are 6.5 inch round speakers mounted in the arch not box speakers. Without re-drilling etc. it will often be tough to find another speaker with the same exact footprint. If you want some of the best in terms of durability and sound quality it's hard to beat JL Audio.
That being said you can probably buy two or three pairs of the Sony's for the price of a set of JL's...
And I agree on both points about Bose. They do SUCK sound quality wise, compared to many other brands, but do serve a purpose on a boat as a box speaker. The Bose 151 Environmentals are some of the only box speakers that are available as 4 Ohm.
I do have Bose 151's on my boat...
Don't know how good your ears are 
But really, there are specs for the speakers available online. Some are single speakers, some are duals, all that fancy shmansy tech geek talk about speakers that could bore folks to death UNLESS it was important to them. Just don't know about you and whether you want or need improved performance or just longer lasting speakers.
If you like what you had, then compare prices to the "enhanced" models available and decide if replacing the Sony's 3 X for one newer one is worth it to you.
If you want enhanced, check out the specs and costs of the ones suggested on their websites. We don't know your budget, either.
While Crutchfield promotes auto stuff, I' sure they have a marine section, don't know the quantity, so you may have to do some comparisons yourself.
Good luck, music outside is so great.
But really, there are specs for the speakers available online. Some are single speakers, some are duals, all that fancy shmansy tech geek talk about speakers that could bore folks to death UNLESS it was important to them. Just don't know about you and whether you want or need improved performance or just longer lasting speakers.
If you like what you had, then compare prices to the "enhanced" models available and decide if replacing the Sony's 3 X for one newer one is worth it to you.
If you want enhanced, check out the specs and costs of the ones suggested on their websites. We don't know your budget, either.
While Crutchfield promotes auto stuff, I' sure they have a marine section, don't know the quantity, so you may have to do some comparisons yourself.
Good luck, music outside is so great.
saildog is right
Bose is known as a great marketing company that has slick ads to sell lower middle level quality speakers at premium prices. Look at the cost of Bose divide by half and any other brand will be on an equal quality to Bose. So for the same or less you can get anything else and be better off.
Sony and many other good electronic speaker manufactures sell on name recognition. Yes Sony make great TVs and other electronics so their speakers are too right? Wrong.
I am an Audiophile and have make several speakers amps etc over the years. Pyle has some good Marine enviroment stuff that is fairly well priced. Your inside the cabin speakers are still working because they aren't exposed like those outside. Their is also a company called Boss that make some inexpensive speakers. If you want to pay more go with JBL or Infinity. Just about all Marine speaker Mfg make 6.5 dia so anything you get should fit just fine.
Bose is known as a great marketing company that has slick ads to sell lower middle level quality speakers at premium prices. Look at the cost of Bose divide by half and any other brand will be on an equal quality to Bose. So for the same or less you can get anything else and be better off.
Sony and many other good electronic speaker manufactures sell on name recognition. Yes Sony make great TVs and other electronics so their speakers are too right? Wrong.
I am an Audiophile and have make several speakers amps etc over the years. Pyle has some good Marine enviroment stuff that is fairly well priced. Your inside the cabin speakers are still working because they aren't exposed like those outside. Their is also a company called Boss that make some inexpensive speakers. If you want to pay more go with JBL or Infinity. Just about all Marine speaker Mfg make 6.5 dia so anything you get should fit just fine.
The only complaint I have had about my Chevy truck is that it came with Bose speakers. In my opinion, vveerryy overpriced!
Jack
Jack
Mike,
I could have written your query verbatum. I just took a pair of Sony XS-MP61 speakers out of the arch of my Hunter 356 today! One of the speakers quit working entirely about a year ago and the other one sounds terrible. The little mylar cone had popped out of the center of the dead speaker and fell out of the other one when I took the speaker out. I took the speakers to a local West Marine to see what replacement options they had and hear how they sounded. There are better quality Sony and other replacement speakers with prices from about $70/pair to over $200/pair. Sound quality seemed to me to be more dependent on the quality of the receiver/amplifier than the speakers. I am going to check to see what I can find on-line before I decide what to buy.
I could have written your query verbatum. I just took a pair of Sony XS-MP61 speakers out of the arch of my Hunter 356 today! One of the speakers quit working entirely about a year ago and the other one sounds terrible. The little mylar cone had popped out of the center of the dead speaker and fell out of the other one when I took the speaker out. I took the speakers to a local West Marine to see what replacement options they had and hear how they sounded. There are better quality Sony and other replacement speakers with prices from about $70/pair to over $200/pair. Sound quality seemed to me to be more dependent on the quality of the receiver/amplifier than the speakers. I am going to check to see what I can find on-line before I decide what to buy.
Arch
I would suggest that you put kind of lube on all connections in the arch for the light and speakers.
My light on my 2007 36 stopped working and after taking apart I found the wire to the light came apart from corrosion and got new one from Hunter for $15.
Maybe the offshore trip from NY to Florida with the heavy salt all over the boat must have gotten into the arch I guess,I am still cleaning and polishing.
My 2001 290 never gave me a problem for over 5 years and the sound was always good for us.
Nick
I would suggest that you put kind of lube on all connections in the arch for the light and speakers.
My light on my 2007 36 stopped working and after taking apart I found the wire to the light came apart from corrosion and got new one from Hunter for $15.
Maybe the offshore trip from NY to Florida with the heavy salt all over the boat must have gotten into the arch I guess,I am still cleaning and polishing.
My 2001 290 never gave me a problem for over 5 years and the sound was always good for us.
Nick
I went into a Best Buy and listened to some patio speakers when I was in the market. Klipsch speakers sounded far better than Boston and Bose to me and where comparably priced so I ended up buying a pair for our patio from Crutchfield (I tried to negotiate with Best Buy but they wouldn't budge - and I bought an upgrade that Best Buy didn't have in the store anyway). The outdoor sound from these patio speakers sounds great to me but I am no audiophile.
It seems that Klipsch doesn't make a 6.5" marine speaker; though, but they do have some round models that you can mount in the ceilings and walls.
We have Sonys in our cabin and they sound fine to us. I have to admit that if I like the music, I'm not all that picky about sound quality. If I don't like the music, sound quality doesn't help. Nastolgia seems to have more to do with music preference at times, and poor quality sometimes adds to that effect!
It seems that Klipsch doesn't make a 6.5" marine speaker; though, but they do have some round models that you can mount in the ceilings and walls.
We have Sonys in our cabin and they sound fine to us. I have to admit that if I like the music, I'm not all that picky about sound quality. If I don't like the music, sound quality doesn't help. Nastolgia seems to have more to do with music preference at times, and poor quality sometimes adds to that effect!
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Hey, Scott, does that mean
that you can make Madonna sound like an old scratchy Kingston Trio folk song?
that you can make Madonna sound like an old scratchy Kingston Trio folk song?
Citizen's of Boston ... Revolt!
Will she ever return? ... NO! she'll never return ... and the train goes rumblin' by ... poor Madonna ... She may ride forever 'neith the streets of Boston!
Will she ever return? ... NO! she'll never return ... and the train goes rumblin' by ... poor Madonna ... She may ride forever 'neith the streets of Boston!
It would seem to me that speaker / sound quality has as much to do with the enclosure that the speaker is in as the speaker itself. The arch does not have an enclosure and even the greatest sounding speaker will be lost in the SS tubes with no enclosure. And on top of that, there is no sound quality in the "acoustics" of the open cockpit vs. a room at home that has walls. A speaker at a dealer / showroom is mounted in a casing / enclosure designed to make it sound good. You just don't have that in the Arch. IMHO ( and correct me if I'm off base) but why spend huge $$$ on a speaker that will not sound anywhere near what it does in the showroom.
Agreed, all I want are some speakers that will last mounted ouside in the arch. Way too many variables to make the sound quality great. I could not tell the difference if there was. I just felt like the Sony's were not very marine ready as they claim.
Thanks everyone, Mike
Thanks everyone, Mike
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