tunes in the cockpit

[Starman]

I would be interested in speaker recommendations for the home from some of you folks in the know....I'm no audiophile, but mainly out of ignorance, 'cause I love some good tunes.

I got a Klipch (sp) thing for my iPod and it rocks.

Rick

Rick,

I have the Bose Surround sound system in my house. The twin speakers are mounted high on the walls. One set about 8' away and to the sides of the TV. 1 set by the TV, and the last 2 sets above and to the sides of the sofa.

The sub woofer is in a corner where the sofa and love seat meet, basically it is hidden.

My brother came over one day just after I had installed the system and the TV show on had a crying baby. It was so real he asked where the baby was, not realizing I just installed this system.

The other note is that the crying baby sound came from just 1 on the speaker sets.

Movies are awesome, especially action movies such as Pearl Harbor.

I have installed this same Bose system on boats, and that's why I bought the same system for my house.

A couple other notes.

All the wiring is hidden in the walls and attic. I called Bose and told them my wiring plan. They sent me a huge box of Connectors, 3 extra ribbon wire runs ( 20' footers) extra installation plans, a box of chocolate candy ( believe it or not ) a dozen really nice key chains, and other odds and ends. It was like Christmas

I can take some pics of my set up if you want.


One more thing,

The Christmas music is awesome, but you need to find the surround sound DVDs/Cd's . I think the tuner plays an integral part of the speaker system as well.

Make sure it is set up for all the right inputs. Mine is an Onkyo.

 

[ThirdHatt]

Rickysa, You are on the right track with Klipsch! I have ALL Klipsch for my home system (both main speakers and surround and subwoofer). They are excellent speakers with a great history. They have gone mass market in the last several years and a couple of years ago they produced their last true solid wood cabinet, but I digress. They still make a good product and they will stand up to anything else in their class. I even have Klipsch bookshelf speakers in my salon for main speakers and they simply ROCK!

Remember, it is easy to reproduce mid-high frequencies but real bass requires real drivers. Hearing the music is one thing but hearing while FEELING the music is something else. The bose (and similar) systems are great for 80-90% of listeners and music, but most stereo stores will not teach you how to build your own component system without some convincing. They like selling the "all-in-one" speaker setup and preferably the all-in-one complete system. Only drivers of more than a few inches are capable of moving enough air to give you that "feel" of the music. When they have a CD player, radio, surround processor and amplifier all in one neat package, something is sacraficed. Where are the large capacitors and heat sinks for the amplifier? There are none. Often you can buy a nice surround receiver (Sony, Onkyo, Harmon/Kardon, Denon, etc), a cd/dvd player and some good quality speakers for less than a complete bose or comparable system's price and have better sound even if it takes up a bit more space.

I'm not trying to take anything away from the bose type systems. They are mass-marketed for the mass public so they are simple to set up (plug and play), they take up little space and sound great overall especially to those unfamiliar with surround sound, etc. People should just know that there are other options that can sound better and probably do so for less money so that they can make an educated decision for their specific needs (form over function or vice-versa).

 

[Starman]

TH,

Just looked at their site. By the price, they sure seem a step, or two above the more common selections seen in the stores.

Buy thier speakers, I'll build some awesome teak cabinets for them

 

[jim rosenthal]

My little VA speakers are bookshelf systems that were "left over" from a house system. In a small room like the 36C salon, they sound huge. It's true that you need a minimum size cone to move some air, you can't do it otherwise.

I have old audiophile equipment in my house, I guess because I like the sound of tube amplifiers etc, but I am impressed with how much clean sound you can get out of a good quality car stereo head- I have had good luck with Alpines, less so with Sonys which seem to have fragile displays that don't last long in the environment of a boat. I don't even have four speakers, only two, and they just sit on the salon floor, but the sound quality is amazing.

This spring, I am going to put a flat screen TV in Blue Note and upgrade the Alpine to one that will play DVDs. Then I can sit on the boat in the evenings and watch movies. Hard to beat, if you ask me.

 

[Bertramp]

I have Dahlquists DQ10s with the subwoofer in the house ... powered by a Mac 2300 (Jerry Garcia amp) .... but space wise, it won't work for the boat.
I just need something reasonable that will stand up to the maine environ.
I've heard of, but not heard the poly planers ... and the Bose 151s will probably do the trick.

 

[MikeP]

DQ 10's NICE! I always liked their presence and "air."

My view of boat systems is about the same as yours, I think. Something durable that produces recognizable sound. THere is no time on our boat that I would ever do "serious" listening. So our 53MY's sound system is nothing more than an Ipod, an old NAD 40 watt receiver that I found for 20 bucks, the oem Hatt speakers indoors (replaced with NOS oem because the original's foam suspensions had all disappeared - don't get me started on THAT [foam surrounds] industry "improvement." ), and a couple of Poly P box speakers on the rear deck. It does what it needs to do - provide background music.

I installed a fairly capable system on our previous boat, including the Poly Planar 10" woofers, some of their other speakers and some major amp power. But I never used it for anything that justified the speakers or the amplification.

At home another Ipod handles the chores most of the time. I no longer spend much time "seriously" listening to music. Old audiophile friends that I used to associate with would have a heart attack seeing the Ipod connected to my preamp's input.

Had to add this link - Don't misunderstand, I love tube gear but here's the tube resurgence carried to the ultimate silliness:

http://www.audioclassics.com/detail.php3?detail=ITUBE

 

[ThirdHatt]

MikeP, You are indeed an audiophile, if partally retired! That tube amp for an Ipod is INCREDIBLE!!! Tubes are true audiophile stuff, and well beyond my level of expertice. You installed a pair of 10" subs on your last boat? WHOA! What was your last boat, a 48' Cigarette? Just joking, but that system had to be incredible. I can respect that there are few true "listening" opportunities on our boats. For many of us it is only during after dinner movie time before bed.

I must admit that we still have some pretty good dance parties on Sweet Melissa and we do tend to roll up the volume quite a bit at times. This is mainly why I require respectable sound pressure levels and fairly capable low bass extension. I am using the same old Harmon/Kardon high current 75W amp (no surround sound) that I bought new in 1998 for $200 for my first Hatteras, the 36C. I have moved it from boat to boat over the years and other than the couple of times I had to remove the cover to replace the fuse on the cicruit board (from over-zealous passengers who don't know how to stop raising volume levels when distortion rears it's ugly head) it has been flawless. For an 8ohm amp, it has somehow put up with sending power to the 4ohm outdoor Pioneers on the "B" side for all these years without complaint! Large capacitors with heat sinks at work.

I used to run a pair of Polk Audio bookshelf speakers from the '80's in my salons until I moved my Klipsch bookshelf speakers that were used as surround speakers on my home system on to the boat. They have twin 6" drivers and a horn tweeter in each speaker and only take up a 9"x11" space. Those and a little powered 8" sub in the corner and the salon of my boat sounds like a rock concert (ok, not really but close enough).

 

[MikeP]

My last boat was a 1988 Mainship 36' DC. A nice boat that served us very well. The sound system was nearly as powerful as the 350CID Crusaders!

 

[Traveler 45C]

... I moved my Klipsch bookshelf speakers that were used as surround speakers on my home system on to the boat. They have twin 6" drivers and a horn tweeter in each speaker and only take up a 9"x11" space. Those and a little powered 8" sub in the corner and the salon of my boat sounds like a rock concert (ok, not really but close enough).

Where exactly in the saloon are those Klipsch’s mounted? Nice idea BTW.

I bought my Klipsch Cornwalls back in 1982. They still crank! Too big for the boat though…

 

[Rickysa]

However, there are obviously used speaker options. One "old" speaker that was basically the standard in the 60's and early 70's was the Acoustic Research AR3a. They are enjoying a resurgence in the used market and are not cheap for an old speaker but they still sound impressive and their bass capability shame many current "audiophile" speakers. You can expect to pay 400+ for a pair in good condition. And, like our old Hatts, parts are available; all the drivers, crossovers and controls for them can be purchased. AR LSTs are an even more capable and fairly rare "old" speaker. They easily fetch $1500 in good shape; they are essentially a three-panel AR3a with 2 additional midrange and 2 additional high range drivers for more power handling and better high freq dispersion. The LSTs will embarass ANY current speaker made selling for less than $5000 and many above that.

Thanks all for the input...since I enjoy fixing up old things, I'm looking for LSTs. If anybody comes across a pair, let me know!

Rick