22 Classic - Stereo System Input (High end)

Good day everyone:

I recently acquired a 2008 22 Classic that has never had a stereo / sound system in it. There are no holes cut for anything anywhere, only conduit running down the sides to ease the installation process.

I'd like to install a PHENOMENAL system in this boat (subs, clean power, high quality sound and clarity, etc.). There are no budgetary restraints. I'd like to do something that would layout the speakers in a way that could best utilize the design of our classic cockpit, but I don't want it to look boastful. Ideally, it would look subtle with white marine speakers that don't visibly stand out too much if possible. I don't want to bring unnecessary attention to the boat by passers by at the dock, if I can help it.

I want the highest quality, full range sound and volume available... plenty of low end sub bass for hip hop when I want it, plenty of balanced, crystal clear, high fidelity for some killer jazz or classic rock, 80's New Wave... whatever I decide to play I want it to sound epic :-)

If any of you have killer sound systems in your 22 classic... please do share what you've done and what you might recommend to me . I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks in advance!

JY

I'm going to suggest you leave the boat as is. Buy a self-contained, rechargeable battery powered, Bluetooth driven, cube speaker. real good ones are $2-300 and you can take it on boat and anywhere else too...:party:

Whats the intended use? Might be a fruitless pursuit. We listen to our stereo while cruising and at anything beyond ~30mph you can't hear anything but wind / engine noise. I'd be weary of turning any system up loud enough to overcome that while cruising. For listening while at anchor or beached the factory system has been enough for me - and it appears to be very simple/basic. The only thing left wanting is bass, and only because the exhaust completely drowns out the lows.

I concur w/everyone else.
If you're drifting by yourself, it's fine, I guess.
If i was nearby, I'd leave. No one has else the right
to choose my entertainment for me.
I hate it in car traffic when people play their music so loud.
I don't bother them w/what I play, why can't they
leave me alone?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gcarter

I concur w/everyone else.
If you're drifting by yourself, it's fine, I guess.
If i was nearby, I'd leave. No one has else the right
to choose my entertainment for me.
I hate it in car traffic when people play their music so loud.
I don't bother them w/what I play, why can't they
leave me alone?

---

Yes, nothing more obnoxious than being pounded by someone's music at a serene boating area. Some great headphones might be a good way to go?

I have a JL Audio system with 4 M770's that sounds absolutely kickass. I have two under the dashboard on the sides where you and your passenger's feet would be, and two in the back on the bottom of sides where passenger feet would be. They're big speakers, so the bass is fantastic, they're ridiculously crisp and clear sounding, I'm very happy with the setup. Best thing is, because of the low location, everything surrounds you very well inside of the boat, and the inside hullsides only act to provide a better acoustic enclosure for speakers--but you can't hear it as well from outside of the boat by nature, so neighboring boats aren't pissed. I also have a Fusion 750 series head unit (which I just looked, and they've doubled in price since I bought mine). The Fusion has Bluetooth capability with an additional dongle you can purchase. My speakers are hooked up to a JL Audio MHD600/4 amp which I mounted on the left side of the storage bin in front of foot area. I attached a pic here of the amp. I unfortunately couldn't find pics of the speaker locations but if you want I'll take pics next time I am with the boat. It's tough to find a spot to mount a subwoofer on a 22. You could possibly mount it in the front storage area where my amp is, maybe on other side or in a custom enclosure, but I worry that that would be a bad spot acoustically. On the occasion a bass-heavy pop song comes on in my boat, I'm more than satisfied with the bass--but if you want even more, you might be able to squeeze M880 speakers in the boat. They weren't around when I put my system in, but could possibly fit.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I agree with the others, and I'll add that for most boats a sound system is great, but for the Classics, no matter how spectacular the system, it's too pedestrian, I think it cheapens the boat, but that's just my 2 cents...

I'm kind of surprised that everyone is so against the idea of speakers in a classic, I wouldn't have though that at first. I feel like since no one else is taking the pro-speaker side I might as well come along and defend it haha.

At least for me personally, one thing that I love to do is to take a couple friends out, float around, and listen to music. I don't listen to music while running, you can't hear it, but I love hearing some nice quality sound while hanging out. The stereo isn't always on, but when I want it, it is there.

I could also see why certain systems might cheapen the look of the boat. But, in my case, I carefully selected my equipment to match and complement my 22. The head unit blends in perfectly with the gauges with the same style chrome bezel as the gauges. And the speakers are black/red, which perfectly matches my black/red stripe, and also my red backlighting/red LED footwell lighting/red LED engine room lighting at night. They are classy looking, and I could see that if they were some obnoxious looking design you might find in a ricer car that they would cheapen the boat. I really can't wait to take some pics of my setup so you guys can see it can actually be done tastefully.

A bluetooth speaker doesn't do it for me. I want to be surrounded by the sound. I use a bluetooth speaker in my friends boat, but it's just not the same. And if I'm in a bay with like 3 other boats I won't blast my music of course, but fortunately because of the acoustic design, it is hard to hear me from far away. But by myself, or in a super crowded bay with tons of noise anyway, it really is a nice feature to have.

Sorry for typing so much, I must just have too much free time today...

To be honest, the TR came w/four speakers.....28 years old.
To patch the four holes is a lot of work, and very difficult to
accomplish a perfect repair. So I did install 4 marine speakers
and wire them up to the rear of the dash. I've thought about
a remote system hidden behind the dash (there's no hole in
the custom carbon fiber dash) and a Bluetooth remote control,
maybe one that would take a phone call and perform other
functions. But it would seldom ever be used to play music.

As long as you're respectful to those around you, put as much power in the system as you want. I'm far more irritated by boats running dry exhaust and no mufflers than I am loud music.

For speakers I'd suggest getting component speakers. The locations RockyS18 suggests would work well for the main speakers, but I'd add a 3rd set to the front sides of the cockpit tub. High notes are very directional and don't "expand" outwards like low notes, so I'd mount the rear tweeters above the main speaker, but as high up as possible. If you can find space, I'd put the front tweeters in the dash, or in pods, tucked into the corner of the windshield.

Bass notes take distance to properly reproduce, so I experimented with my subs and mounted them in enclosures in the engine compartment. I cut holes in the firewall and directed the sound up the side of boat (between the cockpit tub and hull side). It works ok, but I can't recommend the setup. If I did it again, I'd install a single large sub as far forward under the deck as possible.

The best place I found for mounting amps is under the back seat.

Speaker quality is THE most important part of the system. Quality speakers can make crappy amps sound good, but crappy speakers can't make the best amps sound good. Put most of your money into speakers, then amps, and then the head unit.

Fusion Marine speakers are the best coaxials for the money. I have a set in my 22 driven by a Pyle amp.

Getting great sound in a boat has always been difficult. The best equipment is made by JL Audio for amps and speakers. They are pricey. I run JL Audio in my vehicles but I don’t think I could tell the difference between Pyle/Fusion and JL Audio in a boat with a big block.

But to go all out, I would get:
(2) ZR650-CSi http://www.jlaudio.com/zr650-csi-car...-systems-91122
For front and rear speakers
(1) MHD600/4 http://www.jlaudio.com/mhd600-4-mari...plifiers-98224
4 channel amp
(2) MHD750/1 http://www.jlaudio.com/mhd750-1-mari...plifiers-98225
Sub amps
(3) 12W3v3-4 http://www.jlaudio.com/12w3v3-4-car-...-drivers-92154
Subs – You can get bazooka bass tubes and replace the drivers with the JL. They fit next to the ski locker up front.

I run 2-10" subs in Bazooka tubes and they are not enough. My next upgrade will be to 12". I think 2-12" 4 ohm will be enough. For more, get the dual 4 ohm voice coils and bridge them to 2 ohm.

Get a good head unit with the features you want. Make sure it's good quality and clean. You will need to beef up the alternator and use good wires and interconnects. Also, noise suppress everything.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. And yes, be respectful of those around you.

Taz

Personally , I think that small open boats (especially in :cussball: salt water environments) are a disaster for stereos .

Just my opinion . It's YOUR boat !

I agree with you Taz that 10's aren't big enough. I have 10's also and they are good enough for me, but if I was going for "epic", I'd want more.

The biggest problem is that fiberglass boats don't reflect sound waves as well as a steel bodied car, so it takes more speaker, more amp, more $$$ to get equivalent quality.

Your boat is a orchestra itself... My 2cents.:yes:

My Criterion SS came with a stereo and speakers from the factory. I upgraded the speakers and radio plus installed a big ass amp. Ed

I had the same issue as George, I have a 21 year old boat that had four crappy looking speakers. So I put four 8" Kickers in and a Kenwood marine deck and amp. It looks better than what was there and sounds great to me. So how much do I use it? hardly at all. When i'm on the water and not running I like the quiet and the sound of the water. Occasionally if I have a friend with me we turn it on for a few minutes, laugh about it and shut it off. Mostly I use it when the boat is on the trailer and I'm working on the boat and that's at pretty low levels. Maybe I'm just to old to really want to crank it up all the time. :confused: But my 6 year old loves to crank it up. He loves hard rock and thinks the Kickers sound great.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RockyS18

I have a JL Audio system with 4 M770's that sounds absolutely kickass. I have two under the dashboard on the sides where you and your passenger's feet would be, and two in the back on the bottom of sides where passenger feet would be. They're big speakers, so the bass is fantastic, they're ridiculously crisp and clear sounding, I'm very happy with the setup. Best thing is, because of the low location, everything surrounds you very well inside of the boat, and the inside hullsides only act to provide a better acoustic enclosure for speakers--but you can't hear it as well from outside of the boat by nature, so neighboring boats aren't pissed. I also have a Fusion 750 series head unit (which I just looked, and they've doubled in price since I bought mine). The Fusion has Bluetooth capability with an additional dongle you can purchase. My speakers are hooked up to a JL Audio MHD600/4 amp which I mounted on the left side of the storage bin in front of foot area. I attached a pic here of the amp. I unfortunately couldn't find pics of the speaker locations but if you want I'll take pics next time I am with the boat. It's tough to find a spot to mount a subwoofer on a 22. You could possibly mount it in the front storage area where my amp is, maybe on other side or in a custom enclosure, but I worry that that would be a bad spot acoustically. On the occasion a bass-heavy pop song comes on in my boat, I'm more than satisfied with the bass--but if you want even more, you might be able to squeeze M880 speakers in the boat. They weren't around when I put my system in, but could possibly fit.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

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That's probably the best system for our boats. Minus the fusion deck. The newer 8.8s are too deep and won't fit. I have had to replace 2 fusion AV 750s in the past month. They aren't cheap in price and were installed in pretty pricey boats. The JL M series are more expensive than the CX series but well worth the premium and the 7.7s really sound great. Like others have said , too loud and interrupting others good time is annoying but there's nothing wrong with turning it up a bit in a long idle zone.

Lol...I love the guys that complain about a loud sound system but run straight exhaust.........

don't get too upset, I do the same thing.:bonk:

I'll be 72 next month.
I'm not anti music, but I admit my tastes aren't the same as many younger folks.
I'm not retired and still run a multi million $ business, and Elaine and I are still
very active. That said, music isn't the main thing I listen to in a car.
Probably what irritates me most while driving, is people who're putting out about
200 dB of sound and I can't do anything about it.
As far as the straight exhaust comment, I have Corsa mufflers on the transom
and switchable exhaust, I do what I can to keep the noise down.

Kind of ironic to hear a bunch of guys with really loud boats bitching about loud stereos. What do you suppose the blowboaters and $2M lakefront home folks think about thru-hulls?

If the exhaust is turned up to 10 you clearly need a stereo that goes to 11. The bowrider has 8 speakers, a sub, and two amps, and it could use another sub IMO. Guess who has two thumbs and provides tunes at the swimming hole? This guy.

I know there are some details on stereo setups either here or on .org, but here are the Cliff notes:

- Good speakers, the more the better.
- Big, efficient amp(s).
- Quality wiring / installation.
- Extra deep-cycle house battery, fuses, etc.
- Remotes all over the boat and Bluetooth are a plus.
- Find creative ways to secure loose hardware, panels, etc. Kill the annoying vibrations.

Don't let the wakeboard guys with $100k 40mph boats with a bunch of speakers win. Take one for the team and put in a killer system. It's the right thing to do.

Attachment 85131

Quote:

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Originally Posted by duckhunter

Kind of ironic to hear a bunch of guys with really loud boats bitching about loud stereos. What do you suppose the blowboaters and $2M lakefront home folks think about thru-hulls?

If the exhaust is turned up to 10 you clearly need a stereo that goes to 11. The bowrider has 8 speakers, a sub, and two amps, and it could use another sub IMO. Guess who has two thumbs and provides tunes at the swimming hole? This guy.

I know there are some details on stereo setups either here or on .org, but here are the Cliff notes:

- Good speakers, the more the better.
- Big, efficient amp(s).
- Quality wiring / installation.
- Extra deep-cycle house battery, fuses, etc.
- Remotes all over the boat and Bluetooth are a plus.
- Find creative ways to secure loose hardware, panels, etc. Kill the annoying vibrations.

Don't let the wakeboard guys with $100k 40mph boats with a bunch of speakers win. Take one for the team and put in a killer system. It's the right thing to do.

Attachment 85131

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I wonder if Castle Keep laws in Texas (for instance) would extend to this????
I know the guys on the highway at the stop light are capable of generating
road rage! ;-)

JL Audio. They make some incredible components. Just make sure to
get the amp with it. My system is ridiculous but... Get what u want