Help me setup my boat with racks and a stereo system..

[tazman7]

Ok after reading about stereos and racks on here for about 2 hours I am now very confused about what I want.

I dont have money coming out of my ears but I dont mind spending some money on quality either. I would rather buy it once rather then over and over again. I dont necessarily need/want wet sound price ranges either.

What I want to do first is get a wakeboard rack, a kneeboard rack and possibly a water ski rack... I found a rack that will hold 1 kneeboard and 2 wakeboards. And a rack that will hold two water ski's. So let me know what you think about the quality/setup in this link. In my boat we do alot of kneeboarding and water skiing and a little wakeboarding but not as much of this as the others. But I do want to get the stuff up and out of the way because my boat has very little storage. Here is that link:

http://www.bulletlines.com/servlet/the-66/Surfboard-Tower-Rack%2C-Kneeboard/Detail


Now, as for the stereo. I dont need something that the other side of the lake can hear, but I would like something that has good sound quality and a little bit of bass because there isnt even room to put a sub in my boat. As far as the stereo goes I want to start out by getting a good deck that isnt going to skip over every wave and four 6x9 speakers for the inside of the boat. I do have an extra pair of Infinity Kappa 6x9's I took out of my old car but I would hate to see them get ruined by water or something..(or wont that hurt it?)

Probably not now but by the end of summer I would like to get a set of tower speakers. I have read alot of good things about the Kicker KMT6 speakers but the only thing I dont like about them is the plastic case they are in because it is very ugly. I like the can look alot better but I know it will cost more.



Here are a few pictures of my boat so you know what im working with.

[flixmaster]

A ton of board racks are coming out of China from the same factory. If you look around you will see that a few of the new tower/rack companies all have similar products. I bought a dozen racks from the same factory and did not have any problems with any of the items. Some had minor quality control issues but I am sure all the new tower companies are doing QC on the products that they receive. There are a few that I have never even heard of out on the market now. I do know Ken from Bullet and we have talked about selling some of his products at boardstop so let me know if you get one and how you like it.

[tazman7]

Thanks for the info flix.

After thiinking about the stereo, I could prob just get a cheaper one and just hook an ipod up to it right? That way I dont even have to jack around with cd's skipping.

[flixmaster]

I would do the ipod. We would run the FM transmitter on the ipod direct to the boat radio in our Supra. But in the Malibu it has connectors for the ipod.

[jonyb]

A lot of people are using their ipod as an input to a Wet Sounds WS-420. The 420 has a line-driver and volume controls to help out with the lower input voltage from teh ipod. You'd have separate controls for the tower and in-boat speakers, and also a control for the sub.

Where are you from tazman? There's a boat very similar to yours on KY lake, where I'm from.... I also ask because I'm a WS dealer for the western KY area and could help you out if you're local to me. We also have Clarion, Stinger, and Digital Designs but only sell locally.

If you're not from my area, I recommend checking out a local mom and pop's shop to check for equipment. If any of the Wet Sounds stuff interests you, you can call the company directly for the nearest dealer and the guys there will set you up with a good dealer.

[tazman7]

I am from Northern Illinois. Not to many boat dealers around my area that carry speaker stuff as far as I know.

Wet sounds is way above my price range, sorry

[jonyb]

That's cool.... The XS-650's in universal can's would run you around $300-$350/pair.

As for local places, find a local car audio shop. Most boat dealers will contract out the stereo work to another place, or just send you on.

Chicago is about 6 hours north of me. If you're up for a road trip I could probably help you out.

[tazman7]

I dont know...after thinking about it I might be able to swing spending enough for some wetsounds...but I need to get a deck and racks first.

[tazman7]

Are the xs-650's more for interior or can they be used for tower speakers too? I listened to a video on youtube of wetsounds speakers and they are so clear and loud its rediculous. But thats obviously alot of money spent making it that way..so I dont need anything like that. I just want something that sounds clear and can be lous enough to hear over my exhaust while we wakeboard.

I was expecting to spend about $400 on a set of tower speakers and the pro 60's/80's are a little out of my price range but they do sound EXCELLENT!!!

[jonyb]

I used the XS-650's in my stock Supra cans for a season. At 75' you could hear the music, which is much more than I can say about the OEM Kenwoods that it came with.

The XS-650's are $199/pair, and if you search hard enough you can get tower cans for $100/pair. You'll need a decent amp for these though. More power means less distortion, so you can play them louder.

There are lots of amps out there. Whether or not you choose a marine amplifier depends on where the amp will be mounted. Marine grade is not required if you know they won't get wet.

The best thing to do is to set a budget for the stereo, then maybe we could give some recommendations as to what would be best for your budget.

[tazman7]

Ok I will start thinking about what I want to spend on the entire setup.

Thanks for all of your help so far jonyb.

[jonyb]

Not a problem.... Post up when you figure something out. There's a few other guys here that can offer some insight as well.

[tazman7]

Well I need to buy a new deck for the boat which will cost $250-$300 I would think... unless I got for a marine grade style which would cost $350-$400. The only thing is that the place where the cd player is at now there is a possibility of it getting wet if I was to nose dive the boat which is easy to do in rougher water. So are the marine grade decks completely water proof or no? If not i could always move the deck to underneath the front of the bow somewhere... is there a specific deck that you recommend? I have always used Alpine in my cars/trucks and have had good luck...but im always up for switching too. I dont need anything fancy since im going to just be using it to run an ipod through anyways.

Then I will install my inifinity kappa 6x9's in the front of the boat and then I would have to purchase two more for the back..so add another $120.

I have wiring that I could use as far as rca cables for the amp and then I would have to get more speaker wire to run for the speakers.... The stuff that is in it is getting yanked when I put new in it.

Now as far as wakeboard, water ski, kneeboard racks goes, i have been searching around and found a few that I like but it looks like ill be spending about $555 if I buy them...I think I can find cheaper. i found a rack that I like that will hold 2 wakeboards and a kneeboard, and then another rack that will hold 2 slalom water skis on www.bulletlines.com

So after adding all of this up I might be waiting on the tower speakers until a later date. I want to get a deck and racks first so I can actually listen to something this summer and not have to trip over stuff laying in the boat.

[tazman7]

I guess I could always go to a pawn shop and get something thats hot...that would be cheaper...there is plenty of stealing in my neck of the woods.

[jonyb]

Clarion and Kenwood make pretty decent marine head units. Alpine also has some new ones coming out in the Spring that are pretty sexy, but as always with Alpine, you'll pay for it.

All manufacturer's are changing their product right now and we haven't seen any of the 2009 stuff yet (just because we haven't ordered it), but the 2008 Clarion marine units are really nice. Some of them are built to withstand a direct spray, where others can take a small splash. You can also get separate wired remotes for any of those.

My boat came with the Kenwood head unit with a remote at the helm and one on the transom. I hate the head unit, but really like having the remotes where they are. The only thing keeping me from changing to the Alpine is that the piece where the remote is mounted is carbon fibber and the hole would be too big to cover up. I may be calling Skier's Choice to see if I can get another one of those.

[jasonba1]

Hey tazman did you get the pictures of the wakeboard racks that I sent you?

[tazman7]

I purchased a kneeboard/wakeboard rack last night for $160. So I think it is time to get started on the stereo now.. I want to buy a water ski rack too but that can wait until later on because water skis are easy to store in my boat, the wakeboard and kneeboard are what is a pain to fit anywhere.


So Kenwood and Clarion are good decks? Is there a specific one that you would recommend?

[Okie Boarder]

It looks like the sound system portion has been covered, so here's a couple ideas for racks for ya

[tazman7]

How much do those racks usually run for a night okie boarder?





I just talked to a guy from bulletlines about tower speakers. He said that I should just buy 4 speakers cans from them and put Polk MM651 speakers in them and they will sound better then two Wet sound pro 60's as far as sound quality goes. He said that it might not be quite as loud but it will actually have a better sound to them a it will be less distorted..

[Okie Boarder]

1st one just requires the cost of about 8 drinks.

The second are professionals, plus there are two of them, so a night will run you about $1,000

Last one is a little older and more desperate, so just a couple drinks and some attention and you're good to go.

[tazman7]

Any input on the Polk mm651um speakers? Or should i just break down and get two wetsound ws-650's?

I found the ws-650's for $229 a pair and I can get two cans for roughly $120. So for $350 I can have two tower speakers.

[JeffreyCH]

Have you checked ebay? Do a search of all categories for marine grade audio, be sure to check the title and description box. I would defiantly set up for an mp3 player, I did that last year and couldn't be happier. I would also advise against using car speakers, I ruined a pair of Alpine 6.5" (the voice coil and magnet got rusty) I upgraded to Infinity 6x9 marine speakers(6902m) paid like 120 off ebay and they sound really good. I've been looking at these for tower speakers http://cgi.ebay.com/POLK-Polished-DBLS-Alum-Wakeboard-Tower-Boat-Speakers_W0QQitemZ360128460667QQihZ023QQcategoryZ15272QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Also if you are adding an amp, match the RMS power as close to the RMS of the speakers, a lot of speaker/amp manufactures state peak power, which means that if a speaker is rated 350watts peak and the amp is rated 350RMS you will be pushing that speaker to it's limit all the time and it will distort.

[tazman7]

Yeah I have been checking ebay and reading reviews on which speakers to get. There are just so many opinions on which one is the best. It sounds to me like wet sounds stands above the rest, but then I am told by other people that 4 polk audio's will sound just as good as 2 wetsound pro 60's.

I have my eye on a couple different sets on ebay right now but would like to know if I should just go with two wetsound xs-650s rather than four polk audio or kicker's.

[tazman7]

Well I just bought an Alpine CDA-9886M deck for the ol girl.. should be good enough to play an ipod through I would think.

[JeffreyCH]

Looks good man, I've always liked Alpines stuff. Have you had any luck finding lower priced racks? I'm looking for some myself, I think I may have come up with a way to make some myself for around 30 bucks. I'll be giving it a try after I install my tower this spring.

[tazman7]

only advice i can give is to keep searching ebay. I found a kneeboard/wakeboard rack that holds 1 of each for $150 something...

[jasonba1]

Hey JeffreyCH Hey saw you post about some low priced racks. I have 2 complete sets that are Monster XTP 0a360s. One set is brand new in the box and never used I want 300 for a set for those shipped. I also have a set that was on my boat for about a month that I would take 265 shipped for those. Monster sells them for 500 a set. Send me an email if your interested to jbaggett@tnrmt.com

[hco]

Get a kenwood headunit and then grab some kicker kmt6 speakers for tower speakers. Loud, good sounding, 225$ for two pairs. Look on millionbuy.com for good deals on amps, wiring, subs, speakers, etc...

[tazman7]

I already bought a deck...read a couple posts above this one.

[m_lesney]

just wanted to comment pretty good lookn boat i like it

[hco]

Alright, tazman you should definitely consider looking into the KMT6 tower speakers. Then head on over to millionbuy.com like I said for some killer deals on some not so bad components (hifonics amps on there are great bang for the buck, and arent terrible like sony and other not so great large name company stereo products).

[tazman7]

thanks m-lensey

Yeah I looked around that site for awhile, didnt really see to much that caught my eye.

I have done some reading on the ktm6 speakers and I do like the price but I think they are ugly as hell in that speaker pod..

[hco]

If your goal is to actually hear music behind the boat for under 300$ the KMT6's are the only way to go IMO.

[jonyb]

I've heard teh Polks and the Wet Sounds are better all the way around.

They retail for $199 by the way.

[NKCrider]