'01 lsv needs serious upgrade

[mountaineerhill]

So I just bought my LSV and am starting to realize the stock speakers and head unit are just not going to cut it.

I was big into car audio in the mid 2000's, and messed around with Alpine type-X's in my truck. After doing some shopping for the boat I'm starting to realize pricing has gone WAY up. So I am at a loss on where to start. I don't need something crazy and will probably wait on a sub until I get the speakers in. So i guess what I'm asking is what is a good (not the best) in cabin speaker as well as tower setup, and do these need to be heavily amped?

do my shopping for me.. please

[MLA]

Lots of good in-boats speakers out there. im partial to the Kicker KM654, Wet Sounds 65 series and the JL MX series. If you have a pair under the windshield, your amp choice is going to be important. Its nice to have those on their own channels so they can be dialed back to compensate for the reflection off the glass. Big power is not needed for in-boats.

Tower setup wise, what are your goals, wake range, surf/party-cove or something that performs best in both applications? Here is where solid amp power is needed.

Dont have to spend a ton on a sub setup, but a mild sub would make a world of difference in overall sound quality.

[David]

It sure would be nice to use a coaxial with a soft dome tweeter up on the dash. That's a strident sounding spot to begin with given that you are reflecting off glass. An aggressive hard dome (although not all hard domes are voiced hot on the treble) tends to accentuate the problem while a smoother soft dome helps minimize the issue.

Typically you would have a single chassis amplifier to drive the four cockpit coaxials and the subwoofer. And, you would have a second amplifier for the tower. As mentioned above, it's good to have separate front and rear channels so you can gain separately to balance out the positional advantage of the forward/high dash speakers. Otherwise from your perspective the dash will dominate and you won't get much fill from the rear speakers.

You can add the sub later but you really should make the 5-channel amplifier selection based on knowing what all in-boat speakers, including subwoofer, are going to eventually be.

So on that point, I'm wondering what is the last year to have a major hump under the dash. The hump is a limiting factor. Maybe someone here knows.

[mountaineerhill]

There is no hump under the dash and their looks like tons of room for a box. I do have speakers under the windshield. As for a sub I was thinking of a single JL 12w6.

So for speakers I need 2 x back 2x dash and 2x bow. I need a separate amp for the tower as well as one for the sub and then 2 for the speakers?

[David]

Okay, a 12W6 is really on the verge of requiring a separate and dedicated amplifier where as the 12W3 can be driven with the mono channel of any number of 5-channel amplifiers. The biggest difference is more excursion with the W6 and that requires a major premium in power to realize the full potential. The power requirements in an open boat are so much greater than that of an enclosed vehicle cabin. So there's a decision as to whether you go with two or three total amplifier chassis.

The additional bow speakers creates another question. You really need to isolate the dash speakers to properly balance them with the rear cockpit coaxials. You can place the bow and rear cockpit speakers together on two channels leaving two channels for the dash. Or if you want independent control over the bow zone you can introduce a passive autoformer to just the dash speakers with two bow speakers on two channels and the four cockpit speakers on two channels. Or if you are in a three amplifier system you can use a six channel amplifier with a dedicated channel per each of six coaxials. This allows you to gain each independently. It only gets this complex with a) six in-boat coaxials, and the combination of b) the dash speakers with such a dramatic positional and output difference. You do not have to be so particular about the speaker to speaker balance but I think it's a good idea on this particular BU model.

A couple of decisions and the in-boat amplification begins to come into focus.

For the tower zone, as MLA stated above, it helps to determine how you will be using the tower speakers...surf and near field listening or primarily wake range or maybe a combination of all. Once you decide on the tower speaker objectives the tower amplifier quickly comes into focus.

[mountaineerhill]

David thanks for the help! as for the tower I am going for more of an all around sound more of a surf and anchored, not necessarily going for full on 80ft out power.

I'm not set on the 12w6 I'm just trying to pull what I know from my old days with car audio, a 12w3 could work. I don't want trunk pounding bass i want a good loud all around system.

[David]

Okay, so let's say you go with a 12W3 and a single chassis 5-channel amplifier for the entire in-boat system. I'm going to suggest the autoformer to balance the front and rear cockpit coaxials which will hold off the need for another two in-boat channels. The stereo autoformer is inexpensive and doesn't create heat or waste power.

The 12W3 sub will definitely get serious. For even more output you can run ported rather than sealed. It's just a matter of a little more wood if you have the underdash space. Bass quality is best appreciated at rest or at low speeds. As you get on plane the engine and hull noise tend to mask the more articulate components of bass and you need a bit of bass boost. Also, good bass tonal quality is going to dissipate as your sub overdrives the misbass contribution from your coaxials, so I would say that four spread coaxials is the weakest link in your cockpit system.

For the tower, the choices are divided into two primary divisions, either an HLCD speaker (which is horn based for wake projection) or a direct-radiating coaxial type speaker for near-field and surf range listening. Size is important in that the larger pods with larger drivers are going to be warmer. So I would look at 8-inch speakers in the second surf category. If one pair will get the job done for you then a bridged 4-channel is the optimum way to get power. If you want two pair or you want the option to add a second pair then a larger 2-channel amplifier is needed.

Once you add the tower speakers you are likely to want a zone control which places the controls at your fingertips rather than at your elbow. An equalizer can do this while giving you a master volume control plus separate equalization for the in-boat and tower zones.