Adding Speakers to the Dash

[cab13367]

Has anyone ever added or thought about adding speakers on the dash on a current model LSV? The bow speakers and the rear cabin speakers are a little too far away for me to hear the music when driving without having to turn it up pretty loud, which might be too loud for the bow and rear cabin occupants. There is enough space on the driver's side dash (on the fiberlgass between plastic dash and the windshield, towards the centerline of the boat for a 6-1/2" speaker). And there is enough space on the passenger side dash if I replace the forward cup holder with a speaker (will have to enlarge the hole obviously).

I know at least one boat manufacturer put speakers in this location as I've seen it before.

[sandm]

I have seen several with speakers on the dash. not sure how they will sound bouncing off the windshield, but go for it. can't hurt if you have the space and the speakers. I would run the 2 cockpit speakers off 2 channels, then run the dash and front bow speakers off the other 2 channels. makes a nice even load. then put a volume control on the dash speakers to tone them down since, as a driver, you probably want to be more aware of your surroundings than the others on the boat :)

[jmvotto]

al, try these on the tower .

http://www.audioformz.com/largerimage.asp?img=wb69b-momodownfire.jpg

[sandm]

interesting idea. bet they're proud of them :)

[Razzman]

I had dash mounts on my Tigé and yes there is a lot of bounce back so i'd have to keep the volume down and i'd get complaints from the rear that they couldn't hear. Ya can't win :p

[mustangairchair]

on my 03 i had one on passanger side on the dash and the drivers side down were the ballist switchs are and two sweeters and it was alot better then the sound of all 4 in back.i find when there is more people in the boat they are sitting infront of the speakers and the sound is poor in the 05

[EarmarkMarine]

Yeah, all the cockpit speakers in a Moomba/Supra are behind the driver and its a problem when you're in motion. Mainly you lose the highs and intelligible components of the music. Its not so much of an issue for the observer seat since they're still facing the speakers.

Dash mounted tweeters can restore the lost detail and are easy to fit in. Having a positional advantage, they do need to be attenuated in order to blend well with the other speakers. Properly set up they'll make a great contribution and you won't notice they're there until they're missing. Speakers placed in a cavity between the dash and windshield plus reflecting off glass do tend to have an irregular response. However, the effect doesn't seem to be as noticeable with the limited bandwidth of tweeters.

http://www.earmarkcaraudio.com/set15/large/item-28/P0008603.jpg

put coaxials in the consoles on the pass-thru surface of Supras.

http://www.earmarkcaraudio.com/set15/large/p0008410.jpg

Since you're primarily trying to reach the driver with the supplemental speakers, place a pair of coaxials in a facade underdash and above the hump. For front-to-rear acoustic isolation. If you're using a sub enclosure over the hump then you can mount two coaxials directly in the floor hump. Actually, one coaxial in mono could be just as effective. Sorry, no image.

David
Earmark Marine