Jim's tips for onboard audio.

For years we have been rigging our new show boats with the latest in marine electronics, and that certainly includes the ships audio system. Each boat gets it's own stereo system that usually includes a CD player, speakers, and some sort of custom installation to help protect the components in a marine environment. Our production boat actually has three separate audio systems. One Cd system in the Flybridge that has weather band, a second system in the Salon that supports our Audio Visual Center, and a third audio custom in the V Berth.

Component audio has been something of a hobby of mine for years. Besides majoring in Electronic Music, I spent some time selling and installing audio systems for cars. Now my car audio days were over 20 years ago, however the installation process has really not changed all that much. The following is a list of helpful tips that will help in your marine audio application.

1) NEVER buy a non marinized radio (or head unit \ component). A typical car radio is not built to withstand the harsh elements of the marine environment. Marinized radios usually will have some sort of protection on the circuit board, some may even be silicone dipped. Marinized radios also are built to withstand a greater degree of voltage variance. Some marinized radios even are designed where the CD players are hidden beneath a removable face. This adds great security and protection.

NOTE:1 I see a lot of very expensive boats have regular car radios installed in the cabin of their boat. I can only figure that since someone paid a lot of money for the boat, they will not mind paying more money down the road to replace the broken radio. People usually think that the interior of a boat is not subject to moisture, so a marinized radio is not needed. These are the same people who spend most of their time on land, and not on the water. I have my trustly cigar humidors on our boat, and I can tell you exactly how much moisture is in the air. All components on a boat are subject to a lot of moisture, that is why your electronics need to be marinized. The cost of marinized units are about the same as a quality car radio anyway.

NOTE:2 The latest unit we installed was a Jensen MCD 9424 160-Watt AM/FM CD-Player With Weather Band Receiver. A wonderful unit that has touch sensitive panels for operation. (Less chance of knob corrosion) Great sounding piece that has been out for a while. Available at most boating stores.

2) Purchase marinized Speakers. These speakers will usually have a poly propelene cone that will not rot. The housing on marinized speakers usually will be of heavy plastic construction, and have stainless steel parts. I like box speakers a lot, anytime I do not have to cut a hole into the side of a boat, that is a good thing.

3) Follow installation instructions, especially the wiring diagram. Make sure that you have the front speakers connected to the front wires. The fader control can be set to center, and the unit will play properly. Use good wire crimps, the ones that you can burn the ends. This really seals the plastic of the wire crimp to the wire. Great for strength and corrosion resistance

4) Shy away from four speaker systems with separate amps. We are talking boat audio here, and if you put to powerful a system on your boat, the folks at the dock are not going to like you very much. Blairing music may be appealing to you, but the rest of the dock may have a different tune in mind. Space on any boat usually makes it so that usually two speakers is sufficient for good audio. This works as long as your head unit is a high powered unit. Most radios sold today are high powered.

5) When purchasing a radio, look for units that have weatherband. It is very handy to have weatherband on radio that will be played through some nice speakers.

6) Use a silicone base caulk for sealing the radio unit in the boat. Do NOT use something like 5200, there may be a time when you need to remove the radio from the boat for service.

7) Purchase a protective cover for the face of the radio. These are sold at marine stores, and will add a lot of life to your unit.

8) Be sure that once all connections are properly made, stow the excess wire using tape and wire ties. Do not leave the wires dangling loosely from the installation.

9) Use a silicon rubber to seal any screw holes made for the speaker installation.

J.B.