Cockpit speakers?

philwsailz · May 21, 2014

Howdy, MY ears were burning.

Yes, there are a few of us who have decided that tactile transducers are a pretty decent idea for cockpit sound on a sailboat. What to do with the old speaker holes? Beckson Inspection ports!

A tactile transducer basically is a speaker without a cone. It is glued onto a panel of a boat, (on the inside) or other object, (prefereably not cored) and the panel of the boat in effect becomes the cone. No grills to turn yellow, no grills to break when Sebagos and Sperrys go through them, and it turns ot a lot of the time it really does sound pretty good!

http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1025673&highlight=tactile transducer

The link above is C&C Ted's thread on his tactile transducer install. He provides several pics, and a youtube video showing that they are working for him.

While I work for a mobile electronics company and head up the marine division for OEM marine audio sales and product development, If one didn't want to cut a hole for a traditional speaker from Sony, Kicker, (where I work) or any of the other brands I would personally go the tactile transducer route...

markwbird · May 21, 2014

crutchfield

Go to Crutchfield's website and search marine speakers. They come in all price ranges and they provide better product info that WM.

philwsailz · May 21, 2014

markwbird said:
Go to Crutchfield's website and search marine speakers. They come in all price ranges and they provide better product info that WM.

Please note that for some of the product shown at the Crutchfield site, there are several Kicker models that come with both white and charcoal grills in the same carton; the consumer has an option of what color grill to use. the Cructhfield site fails to make this distinction. Any item with a CW in the part number comes with two sets of grills both white and charcoal.

Also, there are two coaxial models with the designation of LCW in their part number. These feature both colors of grills and additionally have RGB lighting built in. Select blue or, (preferrably) red for some nice non-vision reducing night cockpit lighting...

Jackdaw · May 21, 2014

philwsailz said:
These feature both colors of grills and additionally have RGB lighting built in. Select blue or, (preferrably) red for some nice non-vision reducing night cockpit lighting...

PLEASE tell me that you refuse to sell these things to sailors. ;^)

philwsailz · May 21, 2014

Jackdaw said:
PLEASE tell me that you refuse to sell these things to sailors. ;^)

Hah!

Sell 'em to everyone, and let them sort it out...

Tim R. · May 21, 2014

Maine Sail said:
What happened to yours?

I gave my old RIB to Chris in exchange for truck usage. We were using an old Rover 310 with an air floor and keel but it is just not cutting it. Once you go RIB you never go back! The Highfield is super nice and only weighs 79lbs so she is very easy to tow.

Here is a photo of the dink and speakers.

wufibugs · May 21, 2014

IH82BL8 said:
I went to the trouble of drill one hole from the lazerette into the void behind the rubrail. It's a direct run to the stereo. It was a little bit of a challenge, but worth it. I drilled a 1/2" hole behind the stereo, and then removed the AC outlet in that area for an access port during the project. I hate to have wires showing. I even hid the wires for the salon speakers which are fore and aft on the port side.

None of the wires show. They run from the aft locker into the starboard laz, under the aft birth and into the port cabinet in which I have mounted the radio facing the nav station.

I like the idea of the plastic bowls; I'm probably going to do that.

I am also trying to find a pair of teak salad bowls into which to mount my 5" round rear salon speakers but I haven't found ones deep enough.

Benny17441 · May 21, 2014

Out in the cockpit the main requirement is waterproof. As far as sound quality an average speaker will do as sound gets lost in the open space when played through small speakers and a relatively low powered amplifier. When underway the sound of wind and water will drown out some of the audible frequencies. No need to exceed on your speakers the specs that your radio can produce. For the cockpit good speakers are those that can withstand the elements.

tricyclerob · Jun 10, 2014

I had 2 access ports already installed for access to cleats and not wanting to cut any additional holes, I mounted speakers behind the ports.

The 4 outside holes were for the speaker mounts. Tighten these evenly and gently to avoid distorting or cracking the speakers. The inside is out of view, otherwise I'd have figured out some covers. I like the plastic bowl idea, if covers were needed

Nice to have water proof covers when not in use. I since have added ball chain to the port covers to avoid loosing them. Almost visible in the last photo.

Installation did require some "boat yoga".
robj

p.s. the squeeze-out was later trimmed.

Kermit · Jun 10, 2014

Claustrophobia is setting in quickly. Yikes!

Pat · Jun 10, 2014

We do have good sounds below, i.e. Boston Accoustic Regular box style....have never been bothered by the moisture below....as there normally isn't any....

philwsailz · Jun 12, 2014

tricyclerob said:
I had 2 access ports already installed for access to cleats and not wanting to cut any additional holes, I mounted speakers behind the ports. The 4 outside holes were for the speaker mounts. Tighten these evenly and gently to avoid distorting or cracking the speakers. The inside is out of view, otherwise I'd have figured out some covers. I like the plastic bowl idea, if covers were needed Nice to have water proof covers when not in use. I since have added ball chain to the port covers to avoid loosing them. Almost visible in the last photo. Installation did require some "boat yoga". robj p.s. the squeeze-out was later trimmed.

Love that install Rob!

Bad Obsession · Jun 12, 2014

I cringe at the thought of cutting holes in the cockpit for speakers. I like being able to keep my speakers inside. Get a system with okay output and put the speakers inside of the boat. Crank the sound up and it is fine outside. The only issue is it is loud if you go inside.

If you do a box speaker you can use a bungee cord and keep it in place outside. You can then move them inside if you want. It is easy to switch the speaker out if you have issues and you don't have the issues with holes. The speakers should last longer too.

tricyclerob · Jun 12, 2014

"I cringe at the thought of cutting holes in the cockpit for speakers."

I feel the same. If the access ports weren't already installed, I don't think I would have cut holes just for speakers.

What I do like about having the speakers in close proximity to where I sit, as opposed to inside the cabin, is the sound/music is clearly audible without the volume turned way up.

robj

Tim R. · Jun 12, 2014

Take a look at my post earlier. I mounted box speakers to the pedestal guard. The only hole is for the speaker wire run down through the guard.

Doug4bass · Jun 12, 2014

Adding a subwoofer down below does wonders for a set of not so wonderful cockpit and cabin speakers.

Bob 04 H260 · Jun 12, 2014

Hunter mounted Sony speakers in our arch 11 years ago. Last winter one of them died of a salt overdose. I was going to replace them with better quality ones but found the exact same speakers at WM for very little money. So I bought them, it was an easy replacement and hope we are good for another 10 years or so.
Bob

FourPoints · Jun 13, 2014

I took Phil's suggestion last year and installed the transducer drivers for speakers. I ran installed them in the lazarette on the back side of where I would have otherwise cut out speaker holes. I get sound that's nearly as good as the custom sealed enclosure 6.5" coaxial speakers installed in the cabin. They required absolutely no drilling or cutting, you cannot kick them in, they will not rot from the UV or weather (at least no faster than the rest of the boat), and they were cheap ($20ea!), and if you don't like them, peel them off!

It took some experimenting to figure out where I wanted to place them to get the best sound (you can hold them against the surface and get a good idea how it will sound before mounting them), but ultimately I chose to install them right where I planned to put regular speakers (I had even purchased regular speakers for the cockpit and spent $100 having custom mounting brackets made to give a good waterproof seal before finding out about these, but hadn't yet installed them due to doubt about cutting such large holes in the boat for something that wouldn't last 10+ years), but once I realized these sounded as good as I was hoping for from the regular speakers, and any minor improvement wouldn't be even remotely worth the holes required for anything else, I returned the traditional speakers and have been loving my setup ever since.

With this knowledge, anyone who cuts or even drills a hole in their cockpit to install speakers (or recommends anyone else do so) without at least first trying these transducer drivers is just plain dumb.

Doug4bass · Jun 13, 2014

FourPoints said:
I With this knowledge, anyone who cuts or even drills a hole in their cockpit to install speakers (or recommends anyone else do so) without at least first trying these transducer drivers is just plain dumb.

Unless "one" cant find a source for marine transducer drivers........

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