2003 Sunscape 23 LSV Stereo Project

[MFortie]

Hello all,

My wife and I own a 2003 Sunscape 23 LSV we bought new and we would like to upgrade the sound system. The boat came with a Sony receiver and four Infinity 6.5" speakers -- two in the dash under the windshield and two in the back in the motor compartment bulkhead. We have a remote and an aux port that doesn't seem to work anymore and the speakers sound a bit 'fuzzy'. Hence the upgrade.

The better half isn't too interested in tower speakers, but I wouldn't mind hearing AC/DC's 'Hell's Bells' while skiing. We are free skiers and getting close to 6 decades of having fun, so our musical tastes might differ a bit from most on this forum! I'm still in the 60's and 70's classic rock mindset but my wife enjoy's "today's" country -- we won't debate the merits of the different eras of country music right now -- but I do enjoy some Eric Church and Brad Paisley myself from time to time.

Anyway, the main goal is to 1) be able to tune to whatever Sirius station suits us at any given moment, 2) plug in a phone, Ipad, etc. and do the 'play list' thing, and 3) actually hear outstanding quality music while out on the water. Not in that order necessarily...

To that end, I'm thinking a head unit capable of integrating with a Sirius unit, (4) 6.5" cabin speakers, amps, remotes (not a requisite though), a sub, and possibly a pair of tower speakers.

Our oldest son put a Wetsounds system in his new Axis and has been showing me some of the Exile products (online) as well. I like the sound of his system, but really don't need quite that much. I'm good with about $2K worth of components, but am somewhat flexible. The tower speakers are not part of that budget and can come later.

I can handle the install OK -- I design data networks and low voltage signal systems and the wife owns an MEP firm, so we know a little something about wiring and power...

So, I'm curious what the collective brain trust on the Bu Crew would suggest for components?

Thanks in advance!

Mark

[joshuadale07]

Oh man you have so many options, but from experience, run large enough wires, terminal blocks, etc to accompany more amps down the road. It won't cost much more, but you will be glad you did if you decide to add more tower speakers or subs. I redid mine 2 times, and on the 3rd finally went with 0 gauge wire, battery relocations, amp racks etc. I believe I'm done with the stereo completely, but am running 4 tower speakers 6 in boats and 3 subs, where when I started it was 4 in boats and a sub. Just my 2 cents

[shawndoggy]

on $2K there is NO WAY a skier at the end of the rope will hear hells bells. And that's definitely on one of my playlists too.

You'd have to get marginal equipment and would see disappointing results.

I'd suggest either doubling the budget or just focusing on budgeting the $2K for a really rocking cabin system.

[joshuadale07]

If he's adding tower speakers later, he could do a pretty good cabin speaker and sub setup on that budget. Agree with the whole setup at 2k would be mediocre at best. Do it right the first time and like I said, set yourself up with the ability to go bigger with ease down the road

[Tommy1005]

Fusion head unit, JL MX speakers because the M series 6.5" speakers are really 6" speakers, 10W6 in their ported box, and a jl 1000/5 amp to power it all. I would run a large gauge main power feed to a distribution block close to the amp so that if you wanted to add tower speakers later the wiring would already be there.

Another amp option would be to do a 800/8 to run the in boats and a 600/1 for the sub. If you wanted to add a pair of tower speakers later, this would give you 200 watts to each tower speaker and give you the ability to run the entire system off 2 amps.

That sub enclosure is about the same size as a 36 quart igloo, so it's easy to find a place to stick it.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Tommy1005

[David]

Mark,

I also listen to album rock from that era, a time before a lot of compression & MP3, before Autotune, before digital & Protools. An era when record companies made a big investment in studio musicians, layers of background vocals, and the production. Then, as compared to now, midrange was highly diverse and up front. Btw, today's country is one of the few music venues that still places emphasis on expensive productions. You're going to enjoy a speaker that is smooth and natural sounding.

With the HU at your elbow, a remote over your knee will be very convenient.

The dash speakers need to be dark to blunt the visual reflection off the glass. Reflecting off glass sonically does not compliment any speaker, and tends to accentuate an already bright or erratic speaker in the worse way. So the best sounding speaker on the dash will be the smoothest and warmest. The dash speakers have a positional advantage over the rear speakers so you will want separate amplifier channels for the front to rear coaxials in order to offset that advantage and get more fill from the rear.

You didn't mention bow speakers and that's probably a good thing.

For a subwoofer a good side-firing 10-inch in a bass-reflex enclosure will be more than enough to balance with the four coaxials and still provide extra bass emphasis if you want it. A good balance between sub and the midbass provided by the coaxials is important to the overall bass tonal construction.

I would recommend,

Two pair of JL Audio MX650 Titanium (dark) coaxials.

One 2-ohm JL Audio 10W3 subwoofer.

One JL Audio XD700/5 amplifier.

Or,

If you wanted more dominant bass go with a JL Audio 10W6 sub and an XD1000/5 amplifier, and the same coaxials.