Rundown of higher end coaxial speakers

[jhnmdahl]

After a little research, it appears there are only a few players that make true high-end marine speakers. After a bit of shopping for the ever-common 6.5" size as an example, these include:

JL Audio - make the MX650 ($200/pr) and M650 ($400/pr). The MX has a smaller silk tweeter (3/4" v. 1"), while efficiency and power handling are similar. Many slightly prefer the sound of the MX, and it can be found online or at any West Marine. Grill options include a conservative slat grill, or a more stylish sport grill in white, titanium (dark grey), or chrome. These were my favorite of the bunch, and aren't all that expensive in the MX version.

http://www.jlaudio.com/marine-audio-com ... al-systems

Polk - Makes everything from a component driver system (MM6501, $450/pr) to a basic coaxial speaker (DB651, $110/pr). Slightly more efficient than the JL at 92dB 1W/1m relative to JL's 89dB, these are a high quality option with plenty of power handling. They also sell a mid-priced coax (MM651, $320) that's closer in performance and sound to the MM6501. Solidly built, but a little less natural sounding to my ear than the JL Audio.

http://polkmarine.com/speakers.html

Wetsounds - the lineup includes mostly metal tweeters rather than the textile tweeters of the JL and Polk, which may be part of why these sounded a little bright to me. Construction quality appears to be excellent, but prices range from $275 per speaker for the XS-650 and SW-650 to $175 per speaker for the SW-65 and XS-65i. Options include LED mounting rings that cause a soft glow around the mounted speaker, but don't do anything to soften the sound. Grills look like they'd be more at home on a kid's ski boat than a Cobalt, but rumor has it there are classier grills in the works. Better than most stock speakers, and some people just love them, but they were not my favorites.

https://wetsounds.com/pages/products/ma ... akers.html

That said, any of the three should outperform the usual Sony, Alpine, etc. marine speakers that are commonly found in big box stores or as standard equipment on many boats other than Cobalt, which still aren't bad.

John

[kettcb]

How do these compare to the MB Quart 6.5"

[jhnmdahl]

I haven't been able to find a place to listen to the Quart marine speakers, but their stuff is traditionally audiophile-grade (top shelf).

I've been fiddling with the equalizer controls in the stock Sony unit driving the Kicker speakers that came with my 210, and the sound is good enough that it's not an upgrade priority at this time. If only they left enough room on the dash to mount a chartplotter somewhere...

[Skylord226]

Just so happens that I just replaced my sony's wIth the JL Audio MX650-CCX-SG-WLD-B and holy cow....excellent speakers....a bit spendy but you get what you pay for, Cartoys had them for 229.00 a pair.They have blue LED's behind the woofer cone so you have to run a power wire but the end result at night is stunning. I'll see if I can figure out how to attach a pic....

https://goo.gl/photos/MAG9oboukNXrK1GE7

https://goo.gl/photos/6ZL7fqn1reeEX4Jk6

[jhnmdahl]

Looks sharp. You can find a mini-tutorial on posting photos (and videos) at http://www.cobaltchat.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&p=328#p328

[Big Block Power]

Very nice. I have the kicker premium sound set up in my boat with the kicker sub. It sounds good to me. I would love to change over to jl but thats big bucks. The first thing that comes out of my wife's mouth is turn it down. Even while garage boating she still complains from in the house. So I lose. This is the first boat I've had with a decent sound system. Im still happy with what I have.

[Skylord226]

I traded in my wife for a boat.....best decision i've made so far! Boat is way less expensive, mentally and monetarily!!

[Big Block Power]

That's funny. My wife loves the boat just not loud music. If it was my last wife I couldn't agree more. This one is the best. 12 years going strong still feels like the honeymoon.
And she is cheap and doesn't complain when I spend money. Well let us Know what you end up with and pictures. Really jl seems to be one of the favorites.

[TwoBurgers]

My '13 232 was also ordered with the "premium" sound package - which really means the addition of a 10" sub and an amp. In my case, the speakers are Kicker and the amp is Alpine. I've researched my options... just adding a 800 watt JL amp would help a lot, as the Kicker speakers I have are the ones with a 1.2 inch titanium dome tweeter (I was told for mid-level speakers they're good). So, I can go with that option at around $800 installed, or go all out and replace the six speakers with JL MX 6.5's and a JL sub for $1K more. The stock premium sound system is good, and with more power, it should be noticeably better. As it is now, I can get the alpine amp to clip and cut out without too much effort. Truth is, I rarely crank the sound, so I'm on the upgrade fence.

And to the difference between JL and Wet Sounds, I hear JL is a more balanced accurate sound and WS speakers are louder and harder sounding. Efficiency makes a big difference, and only .5 separates the JL's vs the WS's - in the premium 6.5's anyway.

[jhnmdahl]

Twoburgers, I'm not a fan of metal dome tweeters most of the time and I rarely push my volume very loud, so a simple JL speaker swap would be a good upgrade for me. If you like to hear the radio while underway or like it loud, new speakers won't help nearly as much without a new amp to back it up. There are so many good digital amps on the market now, I'd be tempted to pick one up anyway if I started tinkering with the current system. Something like this Polk for $200 would be hard not to include, just to "do it right." https://www.rocktheboatmarinestereo.com/html/62775.html

[wfbacker]

I haven't been able to find a place to listen to the Quart marine speakers, but their stuff is traditionally audiophile-grade (top shelf).

I've been fiddling with the equalizer controls in the stock Sony unit driving the Kicker speakers that came with my 210, and the sound is good enough that it's not an upgrade priority at this time. If only they left enough room on the dash to mount a chartplotter somewhere...

MB Quart is absolutely top shelf.

[TwoBurgers]

One thing I forgot to mention is that the stock Sony deck has a good amount of adjustability. I spent a fair amount of time adjusting the four parameters (high, mid, low, and sub) and was pretty happy with the sound I was able to get out of it. The previous owner had not adjusted it, and the base setting sound was quite flat. I listen to classic rock via Pandora when in the car or boat, so the signal I receive is fairly good, and seems to match the speakers. I also added a cheap blue tooth receiver since my deck did not have that option.
That Polk amp you listed sure is a good buy. The 800 watt JL option is four times the price.

[Big Block Power]

Not sure why but I was going to add my kicker amp last weekend because I knew the factory added extra 12v and ground cables to the head unit for there premium sound option. They are about a 8 guage wire. I'm not running a sub so I think that's fine. But when I went to check to see if the cables had power they didn't. So now I need to know where the other end is connected to or where they fused it. I couldn't believe it was dead. It's kind of a pain because you have to crawl into the cubby and remove a panel. I didn't care too much because of the wife but I would like a clean sound instead of the half muffled sound I get now without a amp.

[Big Block Power]

Ok I got to thinking while in bed. Better to think about the boat then work.lol I don't have the batteries in the boat I just had my little jump pack on battery 1. I thought I bet they have it running off of battery 2. So I checked and yep they did. It goes right to the battery switch not the batteries and the circuit breakers are right by the switch under the starboard rear seat. So another day I'll go play with it and maybe get the amp installed.

[Ytmsn]

I added a 10 inch Kicker subwoofer with a 500 watt amp and 6 Polk speakers with an 800 watt amp. It really rocks! The 4 cabin speakers are wired to the amp and the two bow speakers run off of the head unit. I'm not much of a stereo guy but this is a really clean crisp sound. Kudos to the Polks!