Premium audio upgrade for 220

[jhnmdahl]

I think upgrades are a significant profit center for Cobalt and dealers, not simply preselected accessories sold at market prices. Porsche in particular is notorious for excessive accessory and upgrade pricing - add a handful of parts that might be $50 extra to make for only an additional $3995, and pretty soon a $60k car is $100k.

With respect to stereos, my guess is half their market just think "oh, a stereo, that's nice," while a significant part of the other half that cares more about the stereo are going to rip it out and do their own thing eventually no matter what Cobalt installs. I suspect even the premium packages play to a sort of middle ground, but it would be interesting to see if they upgrade the installation (e.g., use separate heavier gauge wire for each speaker rather than thin wires powering two speakers off the same channel) along with the parts. That alone could make the difference between a stereo upgrade being essentially a drop-in vs. a laborious install with a lot of rewiring.

John

[Table Rockin]

I have a 2016 220 and my transom speakers were also Sony and all the interior speakers are JLs. I'm not sure why they did that. The JLs are great. I may look to switch out the transom speakers over the winter. The Sonys don't project out very well. I am also a little underwhelmed by the JL sub on the premium package.

BClark When I upgraded I was surprised when I pulled my JL sub and found one of JL's cheapest subs. I also purchased the premium package.

GD

When u are swimming behind your boat and have people in the cockpit, are you listening to transom speakers or tower speakers?

Btw factory put in a non marine amp in my boat...no problems yet

Not sure about GD but when we are anchored I have all my speakers going (dont have tower speakers). The transom speakers really do a great job of pushing sound out on the water. and if your in the cockpit area the other speakers do the job well.

[gdane]

I have a 2016 220 and my transom speakers were also Sony and all the interior speakers are JLs. I'm not sure why they did that. The JLs are great. I may look to switch out the transom speakers over the winter. The Sonys don't project out very well. I am also a little underwhelmed by the JL sub on the premium package.

BClark When I upgraded I was surprised when I pulled my JL sub and found one of JL's cheapest subs. I also purchased the premium package.

GD

When u are swimming behind your boat and have people in the cockpit, are you listening to transom speakers or tower speakers?

Btw factory put in a non marine amp in my boat...no problems yet

AJ I can switch the system to all tower, cockpit and transom or any combination. When I upgraded I amped the system for the Subs, cockpit, tower and transom. So have the ability to play in any combination.

[ajcampen]

Thanks guys

[gdane]

I think upgrades are a significant profit center for Cobalt and dealers, not simply preselected accessories sold at market prices. Porsche in particular is notorious for excessive accessory and upgrade pricing - add a handful of parts that might be $50 extra to make for only an additional $3995, and pretty soon a $60k car is $100k.

With respect to stereos, my guess is half their market just think "oh, a stereo, that's nice," while a significant part of the other half that cares more about the stereo are going to rip it out and do their own thing eventually no matter what Cobalt installs. I suspect even the premium packages play to a sort of middle ground, but it would be interesting to see if they upgrade the installation (e.g., use separate heavier gauge wire for each speaker rather than thin wires powering two speakers off the same channel) along with the parts. That alone could make the difference between a stereo upgrade being essentially a drop-in vs. a laborious install with a lot of rewiring.

John

John, At the KC Boat show you could see that Malibu has already upgraded the premium upgrade on the 2019's Cobalt's. Didn't look at the upgraded expense and of course not the internal wiring ect. It will be interesting to see TGrace's 2019 stereo this summer to compare.

[Big Block Power]

but it would be interesting to see if they upgrade the installation (e.g., use separate heavier gauge wire for each speaker rather than thin wires powering two speakers off the same channel) along with the parts. That alone could make the difference between a stereo upgrade being essentially a drop-in vs. a laborious install with a lot of rewiring.

John

Ok Jeff and I payed close attention to this at the factory. Yes we would agree malibu is helping Cobalt with this situation. The amp board and wiring they are using at the amps are nice. I think Jeff took a picture of that. We will see if he chimes in. Ok here's the wiring at the sub. A36 series boat cheap crap wiring in 2019 boats. Just saying nothing changing.

[NautiGirl]

Just posted this in the stereo thread, but yes Cobalt has stepped up stereo setup in the new boats. Here is a 2019 R5 /w tower speakers we saw at the boat show tonight. One M800/8 one M600/1 for the sub and a M200/2 for the towers. Properly sized power and ground wires, JL Audio interconnects, all run really really well. Most important the right number of amp channels for the speakers in the boat!

Cobalt is also using the nice JL speaker tower mounts that swivel. They retail for $250 a set. I passed and went /w the fixed mounts.

Thanks Malibu.

20190124_180825.jpg

[tgrace98]

Just posted this in the stereo thread, but yes Cobalt has stepped up stereo setup in the new boats. Here is a 2019 R5 /w tower speakers we saw at the boat show tonight. One M800/8 one M600/1 for the sub and a M200/2 for the towers. Properly sized power and ground wires, JL Audio interconnects, all run really really well. Most important the right number of amp channels for the speakers in the boat!

Cobalt is also using the nice JL speaker tower mounts that swivel. They retail for $250 a set. I passed and went /w the fixed mounts.

Thanks Malibu.

20190124_180825.jpg

This is exactly what I saw in the R7 I just put a deposit on. Except I’m missing the bottom 2 channel amp since I do not have the tower speakers. It was rocking in the show room. But that was indoors so I cannot comment on in the water yet.

[NautiGirl]

I will say I have zero idea why cobalt ran a input signal to all 8 channels on the main amp. They could have saved some money and run a single stereo interconnect to channels 1 and 2. The JL amps can be setup to send that same signal to all 8 channels.

I should make a phone call to KS, maybe I can get an advisory position on their staff.

[jhnmdahl]

I went to the Twin Cities boat show on Wednesday night, and the thing that stuck out the most to me is that Cobalt is putting panels with "grill cloth" that looks something like seagrass over a lot of speaker cavities, with plates on the cloth that say Cobalt Audio on them. I didn't hate them, but don't exactly wish I had them on my boat either. Then again, with a toddler running about, maybe I should welcome all the protection/obfuscation I can get...

[Big Block Power]

John I said that a few years ago about that. I happen to like speaker covers. Not seagrass covers. Lol

[AsLan7]

.
Not happy with my sub.
Will most likely change out the sony speakers in the spring.
Possible tower speakers.

A7 if you upgrade I love my JL M10 SG subs and M880 ETX with neons light upgrade for the towers!

.
Have I seen pics of this Gdane? Sounds like a sweet setup.
I did replace my sub with an RF 12. Much better.

.

[Table Rockin]

I went to the Twin Cities boat show on Wednesday night, and the thing that stuck out the most to me is that Cobalt is putting panels with "grill cloth" that looks something like seagrass over a lot of speaker cavities, with plates on the cloth that say Cobalt Audio on them. I didn't hate them, but don't exactly wish I had them on my boat either. Then again, with a toddler running about, maybe I should welcome all the protection/obfuscation I can get...

I love those speaker covers. To me it just looks clean and classy. But i could see why folks dont like them. Its not traditional. Maybe they are trying to cover up the shitty wiring...lol..

[tgrace98]

I went to the Twin Cities boat show on Wednesday night, and the thing that stuck out the most to me is that Cobalt is putting panels with "grill cloth" that looks something like seagrass over a lot of speaker cavities, with plates on the cloth that say Cobalt Audio on them. I didn't hate them, but don't exactly wish I had them on my boat either. Then again, with a toddler running about, maybe I should welcome all the protection/obfuscation I can get...

I love those speaker covers. To me it just looks clean and classy. But i could see why folks dont like them. Its not traditional. Maybe they are trying to cover up the shitty wiring...lol..

Hahaha no I think it is all about making the boat a luxury bowrider. Little things like that make it stand out from the rest. Instead of seeing a white circle speaker cover they make it look like the rest of the interior.

While I could go either way on this one. I like them both. I’m just wondering what they will look like in 15 years. The speaker covers in the front of my 262 look pretty dated.

[ajcampen]

I went to the Twin Cities boat show on Wednesday night, and the thing that stuck out the most to me is that Cobalt is putting panels with "grill cloth" that looks something like seagrass over a lot of speaker cavities, with plates on the cloth that say Cobalt Audio on them. I didn't hate them, but don't exactly wish I had them on my boat either. Then again, with a toddler running about, maybe I should welcome all the protection/obfuscation I can get...

I love those speaker covers. To me it just looks clean and classy. But i could see why folks dont like them. Its not traditional. Maybe they are trying to cover up the shitty wiring...lol..

Hahaha no I think it is all about making the boat a luxury bowrider. Little things like that make it stand out from the rest. Instead of seeing a white circle speaker cover they make it look like the rest of the interior.

While I could go either way on this one. I like them both. I’m just wondering what they will look like in 15 years. The speaker covers in the front of my 262 look pretty dated.

Let’s be serious....you won’t have this boat for more than 2 yrs with you cobalt track record....hahahaha