Audio upgrade on a budget

[harmsway]

Here is a few pics of my new HU & tower speakers install I did.


HU Kenwood KMR440U, Driver remote Kenwood KCA-RC107MR, Boost Box volume control, Rockford Fosgate T600-2, Liquid Acoustic HLCD W/ 8" sub tower speakers. I also installed a 5 light light bar & depth finder at the same time.
More pics in my album.

[Brianinpdx]

Looks nice man! I like you took the time to run the cables and anchor them down. !!

Is that a cedar lined shop I see? Nice storage man!

Brian
Exile audio

[kaneboats]

Hey Harms, how do those babys kick? What do you think? How do they sound in the boat and at line length? Let us know your feelings from surf distance if you surf and WB distance if you board.

[harmsway]

Looks nice man! I like you took the time to run the cables and anchor them down. !!

Is that a cedar lined shop I see? Nice storage man!

Brian
Exile audio

Appreciate the comp. The interior sound is next. But its going to have wait until the fun fund is built back up. The walls are NC swamp cypress 10"w x 3/4" x 16' lengths. The guy that help me build my shop said it would be the same price as dry wall. (No brainer)

[harmsway]

Hey Harms, how do those babys kick? What do you think? How do they sound in the boat and at line length? Let us know your feelings from surf distance if you surf and WB distance if you board.

Kane, So far I am very impressed. They have great bass and sound about 50' back (so loud you have to shout @ someone standing next to you) Close to the back of the boat they also sound good. In the boat with just the towers going they are reasonably quite, but you def. feel the bass in the boat. But the real test will come in about a month on the water. I know my towers I used on my last boat you could only here directly behind the boat. Hopefully the L/A speakers are going to do the job. If they don't I haven't really loss much, got them at one heck of a price.

[KG's Supra24]

Nice work, clean install.

[sandm]

nice work. you'll like that fosgate amp. I've been real happy with mine so far..

good choice on the tunes too :) little acdc....

[kaneboats]

LOL! I had to go back and look at that. Nice choice indeed! I may have to get some of the old AC/DC out. I'm about to go outside and wake up my neighbors.

[harmsway]

good choice on the tunes too :) little acdc....

Thats the song they play when my sons wrestling team is entering the gym for warm up before the wrestling match. I'm sure my neighbors aren't to happy to here it blasting.

[flex]

Here is a few pics of my new HU & tower speakers install I did.


HU Kenwood KMR440U, Driver remote Kenwood KCA-RC107MR, Boost Box volume control, Rockford Fosgate T600-2, Liquid Acoustic HLCD W/ 8" sub tower speakers. I also installed a 5 light light bar & depth finder at the same time.
More pics in my album.

nice set up!! i upgraded to the same HU & the usb port is great.

[harmsway]

nice set up!! i upgraded to the same HU & the usb port is great.

That was the main reason for changing the head unit. Not having to deal with a bunch of CD's is great. Plus with the USB everyone can bring there
own music to listen to and alot of it. The driver side remote is great I catch myself sitting in the boat playing with remote and listening to tunes. Hopefully the weather keeps warming up & we'll be able to get out on the water.

[beedish]

Sorry to bring up the past, but I was interested if you've had any more experience with the LA's on the water and what your thoughts of them were after having them for a month or two. I'm looking at getting some and can't really find reviews anywhere for them. Thanks!

[harmsway]

Sorry to bring up the past, but I was interested if you've had any more experience with the LA's on the water and what your thoughts of them were after having them for a month or two. I'm looking at getting some and can't really find reviews anywhere for them. Thanks!

They are extremely clear at the end of the rope and have good mid range. The Liquid Acoustic's right behind the boat sounds great. I have read that some HLCD do not sound so great up close. Inside the boat the LA's are not over powering they do a good job at projecting the sound behind the boat.

They are quite large with 8" mids and pretty heavy which was one of my concerns (32lbs each pod). The weight seems to be no problem for the tower however. I remove the LA's when towing and they are simple to install takes about 1 minute. One allen head screw and a quick disconnect wire harness and they slide on to the bracket. Another concern was head clearance because of there size, but I have not had any problems with knocking my head. I am short 5'8" if you were taller you may have problems, but then again you may have problems with other speakers also. It really depends on you boat D/D or V-drive and the location you place them on the tower.

I'm powering them with a T600-2 Rockford tested at 374 rms per channel, but I am pretty sure that I am not using it at its full potential because I have the gain only partially turned up. Marc at Liquid Acoustic told me that they sound best at 500 rms per pod and can handle 1000 rms. I was impressed because after the sale Marc did contact me and wanted to make sure the amp that I was going to use would do the job correctly and if I had any questions about the install. After the install he also wanted to make sure I was happy. You just don't see this in customer service much anymore.

I would like to be able to compare them to other speakers out there but I haven't had the chance yet. Not many boarders on the lake yet, still a bit chilly around hear.

Over all I am very pleased with sound and the look of the Liquid Acoustic speakers and if I had to do it again I would purchase another pair. I listen to them all the time when I am working on the boat in my garage and you have to be careful because your ears will start to ring after a while. lol
My next door neighbor, 1/4 mile down the road, ask me if I heard someone playing music in the woods he thought there was a bunch of kids partying out there. I had a hard time telling him it was coming from my boat inside the garage. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Sea N' Things]

Thats looks really good, thanks for the pics

[beedish]

Thanks for the reply harmsway. I'll be putting them on a 2005 Supra Launch 24SSV. It's my first boat and I'm new to water sports in general, so I wasn't sure I wanted to commit nearly $2,000 for only speakers and then have to power them without being sure if this whole boat / wakeboard-surf-tube thing would stick with me and the wife. They have a hell of a deal for these right now on eBay for $299/ea. Contemplating 1 or 2 --- need to figure out how long I want to stay in the dog house after they arrive on the door step! :eek:

These definitely seem to be the way to go for people on a budget, or for those who don't want to invest wetsounds/exile money quite yet. From some of the pictures I've seen they appear to be a quality build as well. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts! You made the decision much easier!

-Blake

[danomite81]

Thanks for the reply harmsway. I'll be putting them on a 2005 Supra Launch 24SSV. It's my first boat and I'm new to water sports in general, so I wasn't sure I wanted to commit nearly $2,000 for only speakers and then have to power them without being sure if this whole boat / wakeboard-surf-tube thing would stick with me and the wife. They have a hell of a deal for these right now on eBay for $299/ea. Contemplating 1 or 2 --- need to figure out how long I want to stay in the dog house after they arrive on the door step! :eek:

These definitely seem to be the way to go for people on a budget, or for those who don't want to invest wetsounds/exile money quite yet. From some of the pictures I've seen they appear to be a quality build as well. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts! You made the decision much easier!

-Blake

I have dog house fear too ! imagine that

[harmsway]

....without being sure if this whole boat / wakeboard-surf-tube thing would stick with me and the wife.... need to figure out how long I want to stay in the dog house after they arrive on the door step! :eek:


Blake & Dano the thing is to get your wife as addicted to boating and boarding as you are, then the new toys and ugrades are a hole lot less stressfull on the marriage. And before long she will be wanting to buy this toy or lets do this upgrade. The main thing is make it fun for her and show how much valuble family time you can spend together.


Blake I don't believe you can go wrong with the Liquid Acoustics speakers. If you decide to purchase them let me know what you think.

Patrick