Marine Stereo
Boating is all about having Fun! Nothing says "good time" to more people than the sound of music. What is better than warm sunshine, close friends, and good tunes. While the water and waves make a good backdrop for music, boats can be a tough place to get the sound right, especially underway. We all know how tough the marine environment is on equipment. Constant moisture and salt air can quickly take their toll, but marine stereos have come a long way.
Early marine stereos were basically automotive stereos packed in a different box. If you were lucky the manufacturer sprayed a coating on the main board to try to prevent corrosion. Systems didn't last long and pretty much anything lasting past the warranty period was considered good.
Today's units are much more rugged and the market has spawned several manufacturers who specialize in nothing but marine stereo.
The installation of a good stereo system starts with proper planning. Where do you want the music and how many speakers do you need? Consider where your ears will be when listening, and point the speakers' central axis in that direction. This will help you decide where to locate the speakers, as well as how many and what types you will need. The power specification on a stereo is the maximum amount of power the stereo will produce while the power specification on a speaker is the maximum amount of power the speaker can handle.
Be sure to match the power ratings of the stereo and speakers so that you don't blow the speaker by sending too much power. Conversely, you cannot gain sound quality by just increasing the maximum power handling of your speakers. A one-watt signal will not sound any better on 100-watt speakers than it will on 10-watt speakers. Generally, you can achieve a pretty good level of sound for a small boat with a standard stereo and four properly installed speakers.
More sound takes more power. We have all heard horribly distorted sound coming from a passing boat with a poorly installed system trying to be heard over the engine noise. Hopefully you haven't actually been stuck on board to experience it first hand. To get better sound in larger areas and over higher background noise, it is necessary to add amplification. The amplifier is a device that will boost overall power and provide better quality high volume sound to your system.
It also gives you much more control to balance the sound throughout the system. Amplifiers are available in a wide variety of sizes and prices depending on the power you need. If you want high quality sound, then be sure to include good, high output speakers and the proper amplification to get results.
We offer stereo products from Poly-Planar, Boss Audio Systems, JBL, and Jensen.
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