Boat Speakers

[joetech]

I have a 22' sailboat that is, sadly, put away for the winter. I am thinking of putting some tunes on the boat. Marine speakers tend to be expensive and of limited quality.(Just the word 'Marine' doubles the cost) Yes, they can take the elements but... These will be mounted inside the cabin as will the CD/Receiver. I'll dismount everything and take it all home in the winter so the environment isn't much different than a car. I plan to use Auto speakers and build some small cabinets. I'm looking mostly at 5.25" due to space limitations. I know car speakers are engineered to be in what could be considered IB enclosures. A door or rear shelf into a trunk etc. Finding any T/S specs on car speakers is an exercise in futility.
Hence, my problem. I'm looking at some 2 way coaxials. The Pioneer TSD502P, the Sony XSGT1325A and the MB Quart DKE-113. I'm thinking of a round enclosure about 6" ID and I need to keep the length down. Yes, I could buy some speakers in enclosures but wheres the fun in that? Round? Because it would be cool and different. I think a sealed enclosure would not be good because car speakers tend to be rather stiff and the sealed air would make them even stiffer. Without any specs a ported enclosure is just guess work.
Any experience out there? Comments or insights?

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a 22' sailboat that is, sadly, put away for the winter. I am thinking of putting some tunes on the boat. Marine speakers tend to be expensive and of limited quality.(Just the word 'Marine' doubles the cost) Yes, they can take the elements but... These will be mounted inside the cabin as will the CD/Receiver. I'll dismount everything and take it all home in the winter so the environment isn't much different than a car. I plan to use Auto speakers and build some small cabinets. I'm looking mostly at 5.25" due to space limitations. I know car speakers are engineered to be in what could be considered IB enclosures. A door or rear shelf into a trunk etc. Finding any T/S specs on car speakers is an exercise in futility.
Hence, my problem. I'm looking at some 2 way coaxials. The Pioneer TSD502P, the Sony XSGT1325A and the MB Quart DKE-113. I'm thinking of a round enclosure about 6" ID and I need to keep the length down. Yes, I could buy some speakers in enclosures but wheres the fun in that? Round? Because it would be cool and different. I think a sealed enclosure would not be good because car speakers tend to be rather stiff and the sealed air would make them even stiffer. Without any specs a ported enclosure is just guess work.
Any experience out there? Comments or insights?

If this boat is going to be in the water for significant periods, you will be in trouble if you buy speakers that have paper cones and or paper voice coil formers, especially the latter. You will have gap rub in no time. I would not port speakers of the type you suggest. They are designed for open back. In any event you can not guess an enclosure size, or port size. If you do that it will sound worse than open back.

If you want speakers that are better than in door car speakers, then I recommend that you buy polypropylene, fiber glass, Kevlar, or aluminum coned woofers, with known specs. Then buy a tweeter and design a crossover and box.

For your use though I would recommend open back speakers.

 

[highfigh]

I have a 22' sailboat that is, sadly, put away for the winter. I am thinking of putting some tunes on the boat. Marine speakers tend to be expensive and of limited quality.(Just the word 'Marine' doubles the cost) Yes, they can take the elements but... These will be mounted inside the cabin as will the CD/Receiver. I'll dismount everything and take it all home in the winter so the environment isn't much different than a car. I plan to use Auto speakers and build some small cabinets. I'm looking mostly at 5.25" due to space limitations. I know car speakers are engineered to be in what could be considered IB enclosures. A door or rear shelf into a trunk etc. Finding any T/S specs on car speakers is an exercise in futility.
Hence, my problem. I'm looking at some 2 way coaxials. The Pioneer TSD502P, the Sony XSGT1325A and the MB Quart DKE-113. I'm thinking of a round enclosure about 6" ID and I need to keep the length down. Yes, I could buy some speakers in enclosures but wheres the fun in that? Round? Because it would be cool and different. I think a sealed enclosure would not be good because car speakers tend to be rather stiff and the sealed air would make them even stiffer. Without any specs a ported enclosure is just guess work.
Any experience out there? Comments or insights?

As TLS posted, paper near water is bad, although I don't know of many car speakers that still use much, if any, that doesn't have some kind of treatment for making them more durable. Of the three you listed, I would have to say the MB Quart and Pioneer models may be the better sounding and more durable. I haven't been terribly impressed by Sony's car speakers in a very long time.

If you want to experiment with internal volumes, you could buy a piece of PVC pipe and make a mounting flange, then get a rubber drain plug (similar to what's in the link) and slide it in the pipe to get the best sound and find out if it will work as a sealed enclosure. You could make a matching subwoofer enclosure, too. It could look very '60s.

 

[zumbo]

MB Quart has been doing marine audio for many years, and their quality can't be beat.
http://www.mbquartusa.com/nautic_speakers.html

 

[joetech]

follow up

I found some Diesel Audio NSN-5 speakers for $20.00 per pair. Don't know much about them but they have poly cones and, according to the seller, can double as marine speakers. For the price I can't go far wrong.
I think I'll make some round Cabs. I make them barrel style. I'll cut 3/4 x 1" strips and angle the sides 8 degrees and glue about 20 together on a side. This will give me a tube. I've used this method several times to make the arched top of a chest. Then I'll cut a front and rear disk. The back disk I'll experiment with various sizes of ports and various types and sizes of stuffing material. I have the machinery and a lot of nice scrap wood about so I can do a lot of experimenting.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[TLS Guy]

I found some Diesel Audio NSN-5 speakers for $20.00 per pair. Don't know much about them but they have poly cones and, according to the seller, can double as marine speakers. For the price I can't go far wrong.
I think I'll make some round Cabs. I make them barrel style. I'll cut 3/4 x 1" strips and angle the sides 8 degrees and glue about 20 together on a side. This will give me a tube. I've used this method several times to make the arched top of a chest. Then I'll cut a front and rear disk. The back disk I'll experiment with various sizes of ports and various types and sizes of stuffing material. I have the machinery and a lot of nice scrap wood about so I can do a lot of experimenting.

Thanks for all the input.

I wouldn't get fancy and port them. Just leave the backs largely open and leave an air gap of at least half an in from any wall they may be hung on.