Upgrading sound system - suggestions?

[CarsonDean]

My 06 Mobius has stock Kenwood speakers, no tower speakers, no sub, and a terrible Kenwood radio with no aux input. Time for upgrade. What Tower Speakers are good quality and look badass, what do you guys have on your boats?! Also need suggestions/opinions on a Subwoofer, amp and radio unit to completely replace that crappy Kenwood. Keeping stock speakers. Just want Towers, sub, amp, radio. Trying to do this without breaking the bank. Thanks

[KG's Supra24]

You can search threads for tons of pics. There are even a couple tower pic specific threads.

First goal is to establish a budget, that should guide the recommendations. Could range anywhere from 500 to 5000.
Also,

Are 4+ tower speakers a priority?
Do you want wakeboard range sound?
Do you plan to do your own install?
Looking for heavy bass or more moderate?


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[CarsonDean]

Budget is going to try to stay under $1500.

Priority: 4 Tower Speakers, Wakeboard range (will probably self install with general car audio knowledge) and i dont need a ridiculous bass. Just a 10" sub that will vibrate you, not bump your eardrums out.

I dont know the # i will have to look. The kenwood has a CD port for 1, and no aux input. and hardly works

[MLA]

Budget is going to try to stay under $1500.

Priority: 4 Tower Speakers, Wakeboard range (will probably self install with general car audio knowledge) and i dont need a ridiculous bass. Just a 10" sub that will vibrate you, not bump your eardrums out.

I dont know the # i will have to look. The kenwood has a CD port for 1, and no aux input. and hardly works

Dean,

If you are looking for audible music at wake-board range, then traditional coax speakers like the Polk DB are not going to get it done. They will not handle the power required to achieve this. You need to consider larger hi-power handling coax or an HLCD (horn loaded compression driver) type speaker. If you have a 4-pod setup currently, the Kicker KM6500.2 Component HLCDs can be a direct replacement. If you do not have pods, these can be purchased with Kicker pods so you can still have that 4-pod setup you are interested in.

[EarmarkMarine]

Yes, I agree. The Polk dB651s are fine for a value proposition in the boat. But it is a short term solution for the tower as two pair will reach wake range but are definitely being over-driven to do so. One pair of HLCDs or one pair of 8-inch true tower speakers are much stronger.

David

[CarsonDean]

DIY Wake has kicker speakers for reasonable prices.

[jmvotto]

DIY Wake has kicker speakers for reasonable prices.

Go Polk they sound better IMHO for the cabin speakers. Best bang for the buck and sound great.
http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-6-5...rds=polk+db651

[KG's Supra24]

Do you have a model number for the Kenwood?

My 06 Kenwood has a cd changer input that can use other adapters (apple data port, rca, usb?, etc.)

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[tgoody14]

Here's you a new sub cheaper than you can get it elsewhere...

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=19358

[EarmarkMarine]

Carson,
As mentioned above if your Kenwood HU has a changer DIN (multi-pin) input then this is easily converted to a universal Aux input.
All HU power sounds anemic in the context of an open boat, especially when you begin to move. This will be remedied with external amplifiers. Keep in mind that the 4 times 45 watts is grossly over-stated by every HU manufacturer.
Your existing HU will not last indefinitely but it would be nice to maintain it for a while to free up more budget to improve what you don't have and allow you to step up to a little higher quality. The real expense comes in doing it twice versus doing it right the first time.
Thinking ahead, you will certainly want the convenience of dual zone (tower to in-boat) controls at the driver's helm. Any inexpensive solution (like a Kicker 4-channel zone control/line driver for example) will automatically step up the voltage and make the existing HU preout appear more robust. In this case, if you are mostly using an ipod as your music source, this reduces your HU to not much more than a volume control.

David
Earmark Marine