Music player

[degas]

Hi,

What's your preferred way to play music and listen to AM/FM on board?

I never liked the car stereo poking through a bulkhead, its antenna in my hanging locker, and the crappy speakers in my cockpit. (And I have questions for the PO who thought it made sense to cut 4-inch holes in a cockpit coaming.)

I've been using a weather resistant portable Bluetooth speaker instead. It works, but I'd like better sound.

 

[dmax]

My preferred way is a properly installed car stereo with good speakers, without cutting big holes in the boat.

 

[dLj]

I have an older Jensen AM/FM/CD/AUX marine grade system with three sets of wired speakers - cockpit, main saloon, Forward cabin - that can be selected in any combination of on/off. My better speakers are in my main saloon but I wouldn't call any of them particularly audiophile quality. The main unit sits in my main chart table control panel so is very unobtrusive. I have a remote that I can use to control the unit from elsewhere on board. Can't control which speakers, that's done through toggle switches next to the main unit.

I'll be very interested in hearing any suggestions for especially cockpit speakers. I have a small wired pair that are supposedly "marine" grade that sit in recessed cubbys used for winch handles and the like in the cockpit. They have brakets that hold them in place and I just have a small wire feed coming up from inside that I can seal well deep inside the cubby. I would definitely call those my lowest quality speakers on the boat. But at least i do get music in my cockpit. The location is actually quite nice because it kind of "focuses" the music into the cockpit so I don't tend to disturb surrounding boats if I'm in a crowded anchorage.

dj

 

[Foswick]

I usually bring a mandolin or fiddle.

 

[Terry Cox]

What's your preferred way to play music and listen to AM/FM on board?

iPod nano for music with hundreds of recordings and a pocket sized radio. Some time ago I installed two 12vdc computer speakers that run off of our house bank. Both the iPod and pocket AM/FM radio play into these speakers located in the main salon while away from shore power. I used velcro to mount the radio to the shroud stay inside the boat as an antenna with great reception.

Our boat came with an AC sound system that I plug the iPod into while on shore power. I use the radio mainly to listen to talk shows and news.

 

[jssailem]

I use the radio mainly to listen to talk shows and news.

What Terry... No Taylor Swift?

 

[BlowMeAway]

Full Bluetooth wireless portability. iPhone, Spotify, 2 true wireless pairing NYNE Vibe speakers (fit inside cup holders). Stereo with plenty of volume, even upwind or motoring.

 

[Joe]

Fusion media player is part of my N2k network. The most popular music source is bluetooth personal phones. Media player has good FM radio, bluetooth, all the storage connection slots, Sirius XM with an added adapter is popular with boaters... besides music and podcasts it also has a weather service. The bluetooth is popular with guests... I encourage them to share their favorites with the rest of the crew....

 

[Stu Jackson]

A good resource to find out how to do portable music is www.crutchfield.com

 

[Terry Cox]

What Terry... No Taylor Swift?

Nah. Different taste.

 

[pgandw]

Just a boom box with a USB port is sufficient for me. Load music onto USB stick, play away when desired. Carry it to beach if water depth is reasonable. Don't want any kind of permanent install.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 #4133 Sweet P

 

[jssailem]

Bet those kiddos in the back of the bus would go gaga over the driver playing TS.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Bet those kiddos in the back of the bus would go gaga over the driver playing TS.

Was that pun intentional?

 

[jssailem]

It is either a talent or a curse.

 

[Art12050]

We use a Bluetooth Bose Soundlink with iPhones and an iPad for listening to downloaded music and Satellite radio.
For AM-FM radio broadcasting we have a vintage Grundig Yachtboy.

 

[shemandr]

It's a measure of how fast technology has changed to look at the progression of how audio content can be delivered. On my first keelboat it was an AM/FM "Tape Deck." That was '92 to '94. The next boat had a AM/FM CD player. It had a "Fade" function that allowed play in the cockpit or cabin or both. The next boat I installed a AM/FM CD Player (From Crutchfield) that had a Video output that could go to a TV. But soon into that boat we got satellite radio in our office and it was portable enough to bring to the boat. So we gained a lot of variety in audio programming. Between the office and the boat we grew tired of the playlists and began using my iPod, which had a ridiculous amount of music on it. We could listed to what we wanted, when we wanted it. Now I would use bluetooth from my phone to blue tooth speakers. I wouldn't hardwire speakers or cut holes in anything.
An enduring quest was to get AM radio for football. There is no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in a favorite anchorage with a game playing. Unfortunately most, if not all, of the AM/FM radios have pretty crappy AM reception. I could be listening to kickoff in my car on the way to the boat but not on the boat. I tried various antennae and a booster to no avail. I did not put an antenna on the mast top. That may have worked - I don't know.