boat stereo advice

[LinMar]

I have a 23.5 ft center console saltwater fishing boat with Aluminum T-top. Am thinking about putting stereo in and was wondering about whether wireless marine speakers are available that I could attach to the T-top. I can mount the cd/radio under the console out of the weather. The reason I am asking about wireless is to keep from having toI don't want to have to drill holes and fish wires through the T-top(a huge pain) nor do I really want to cut holes in my helm for flush mounted wired speakers. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[markw]

You mean battery powered, right?

Offhand, I can't think of any but unless you go battery powered, you'll somehow need to provide some sort of wire feed for the power. You're back to running wires anyway.

But, on the whole, even if you find some cheapo battery powered speakers I doubt they would have the power you need and will also probably sound like shiite. Even then, depending on the construction of the boat, aluminum may prevent the RF signal from getting to the speakers.

You may want to reconsider running speaker cables in some way, shape or form. It'll be the cheapest, easiest and, in the end, provide the ideal solution. A little planning and care in running the wires or even calling in a pro to do it might be worth it.

 

[LinMar]

yeah, I was thinking battery powered and have found some round speakers from Advent and Acoustic Research that are water resistant. I don't know what they will sound like or how well they will hold up. To clarify, the boat is fiberglass except for the frame work on the T-Top which is aluminum. I would like to mount on the frame work under the canvas top which would keep the speakers dry except for salt spray and driving rain storms.

 

[Mudcat]

Have you tried West Marine? They're everywhere - you probably already shop there.


http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=435&langId=-1&subdeptNum=11156&storeNum=3

 

[LinMar]

yes and Nada. Same with Boaters World, Overtons and BPS(Bass Pro Shops). I'm starting to think no marine wireless speakers made at this point in time. Some company is missing a wide open niche in the market. I may be fishing wires soon.

 

[JohnA]

Regular Outdoor wireless speakers should work....AR (Acoustic Research) has a nice one called the AW811. Good Luck

 

[markw]

Good call, John!

Regular Outdoor wireless speakers should work....AR (Acoustic Research) has a nice one called the AW811. Good Luck

After checking them out it looks like these, or their AR871, would work fine. They work off of 8 "D" cells.

I trust the transmitter is included in the price.

Of course, he would need two for stereo but in a case like this, mono would probably suffice. That way he would only need to worry about 8 "D" cells and not 16.