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My fiancé and I are opting to do a serious stereo system upgrade in the next week or so. I'm pretty handy, but I essentially work two jobs so I'm not even considering doing it myself. My brother suggested a local shop that took his boat over the top last year so I went and sat down with them. They worked up two quotes that generated a few questions for me. I had a number in mind when I went in, and we basically blew right by that and added about 20% lol. Our boat is a 1995 252 which has an enclosed head compartment. The installer's eyes lit up when I told him we only use that space for storage. He said this would give him "good options". I knew I wanted to put in 6 JL MX650 speakers in the stock locations. My brother only has 4 on his boat and they are insane. I also knew I wanted at least one sub, but where to put it and how much power to send it was a big dilemma. I really did not want to cut big holes in the interior to get bass, but I've looked at plenty of your installations and they look great.

The stereo place came back with two options for me. Both of them would have the 6 JL speakers in the boat and a new JVC head unit. Our boat has 4 speakers in the cockpit and 2 in the bow. Both options would run a single 100w channel to each speaker from a 600X6 JL amp. The differences in the two options are the bass and the way the subs would be powered. The first option is to use a single (or two) JL sub(s) mounted into the side of the boat somewhere in the interior and power this with a single channel 600w JL amp. The second option is what they recommend if we want to have the option to have "extreme bass". It involves them building a custom "4th order box" to fit in the head compartment. I've looked those up and the subs are completely enclosed in the box with a port that the sounds comes out of. Everything I've read on the internet says this is best way to set up subs for incredible bass. This option would use 2 Alpine subs that are NOT marine grade. They would be powered by a JL 1000w amp, and the installer said throwing 500 watts at each sub would not be a problem at all. I asked why they recommended not using marine grade subs and they said these subs could handle way more power than marine grade. Since they would be enclosed in the box and then placed in the head he said there is little to any chance they would be damaged by the elements. We would also have the ability to remove the box in the winter as well. The option with the custom box is about $850 more. Both options would include a bass controller where I could throttle it up or down from the helm.

Has anyone mounted subs in a head compartment? Were you happy with how it sounded, or would you rather just have "free air" subs mounted somewhere in the cockpit? I believe in letting professionals do their jobs and not questioning them, but this is a lot of money so I want to get the best sounding system I can get. They are finishing a boat with this same setup in the next few days so hopefully we will get to go listen to it before we tell them to get going.

I can't add much, but if you go for subs in an enclosure in the head compartment, I would make sure it's removable. If you ever want to try to sell the boat, you will need that head compartment to be usable.

Personally, I would not dream about doing that. I would go for free air mounted subs and be happy with it, and retain your storage area. But that's why we all have our own boats. Different priorities.

JTinMO wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:45 pm I can't add much, but if you go for subs in an enclosure in the head compartment, I would make sure it's removable. If you ever want to try to sell the boat, you will need that head compartment to be usable.

Personally, I would not dream about doing that. I would go for free air mounted subs and be happy with it, and retain your storage area. But that's why we all have our own boats. Different priorities.

X2

JTinMO wrote: Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:45 pm I can't add much, but if you go for subs in an enclosure in the head compartment, I would make sure it's removable. If you ever want to try to sell the boat, you will need that head compartment to be usable.

Personally, I would not dream about doing that. I would go for free air mounted subs and be happy with it, and retain your storage area. But that's why we all have our own boats. Different priorities.

I definitely appreciate your opinion. I already told them I want anything they do to easily removable. The only reason I’m even considering doing this way is because I don’t want to cut big holes in the boat that might not appeal to a prospective buyer down the road. Thanks for the input.

I think what will appeal to a buyer down the road is a head and a sub mounted somewhere outside.

Another thing to consider...
With massive subs booming from within the head compartment, it's likely to cause tiny rattles everywhere. And that drives me crazy when I cant find the "buzz"

Seriously, with 6 JL and a single sub your sound will be amazing! If I was going to add anything it would be an extra amp to power the sub as well as a set of speakers on the transom, along with a remote on the dash and transom. Since you've added your cool swimdeck I know ya'll spend a lot of time out back!

Add LED speaker rings too while you're at it. Night boating will never be the same.

Ytmsn wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:54 am I think what will appeal to a buyer down the road is a head and a sub mounted somewhere outside.

Another thing to consider...
With massive subs booming from within the head compartment, it's likely to cause tiny rattles everywhere. And that drives me crazy when I cant find the "buzz"

Seriously, with 6 JL and a single sub your sound will be amazing! If I was going to add anything it would be an extra amp to power the sub as well as a set of speakers on the transom, along with a remote on the dash and transom. Since you've added your cool swimdeck I know ya'll spend a lot of time out back!

Add LED speaker rings too while you're at it. Night boating will never be the same.

I'm still completely up in the air about what to do, but I definitely appreciate what you guys have said.

We went and looked at a 24' Chap they had in the shop with the exact same type of "4th order" box they are wanting to build for us. It felt like a mule kicking me in the face when they fired it up. It was the same in the fact that they were powering the subs with the same 1000 watt amp we would have as well. It went down considerably when they closed the head door so they were going to talk to the owner about cutting a grate in the door of some kind.

I also DEFINITELY hear you about adding speakers and a remote out back. I didn't think I ever wanted to cut the holes in the boat out back to do that, but I'm not ever putting a tower on this boat so that's the only way I'm ever going to have big sound back there. I have exactly a week to make these big decisions. lol This project has a pretty big price tag already.

Maybe I'll stay with the 6 JL 6.5's inside, add a single 10" JL sub but power it with an amp that I can add another one too if one isn't enough, and then mount some JL 7.7's or 8.8's out the back!

You can always add holes, it's very costly to fill them. I'd go with the conservative install now, try it out, then add to it as you feel you need. I think you'll find you're fine with less once you're on the boat enjoying it. I would also never cut a hole in the door to the head, that's going to kill the resale value of the boat.

I read this wrong... oops.

I have to agree with the others in that I'd much rather have a traditional sub mounted in the boat somewhere than a ported box mounted in the head along with a big hole in the head door. Plus, JL's 12" M-series should provide enough bass to make you feel it without having the boomy one-note quality a lot of 4th order bandpass boxes have. But, tastes and priorities vary - weigh the pros and cons, and do what will make you happy.

John

Thanks guys. I have them working in a quote for a single JL sub and 8.8’s or 7.7’s in the transom to compliment the 6 6.5’s that are definitely going in the boat.

Ytmsn wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:54 am I think what will appeal to a buyer down the road is a head and a sub mounted somewhere outside.

Another thing to consider...
With massive subs booming from within the head compartment, it's likely to cause tiny rattles everywhere. And that drives me crazy when I cant find the "buzz"

Seriously, with 6 JL and a single sub your sound will be amazing! If I was going to add anything it would be an extra amp to power the sub as well as a set of speakers on the transom, along with a remote on the dash and transom. Since you've added your cool swimdeck I know ya'll spend a lot of time out back!

Add LED speaker rings too while you're at it. Night boating will never be the same.

I really appreciate you breaking things down like you did. You definitely gave me plenty to think about. You were spot on about not molesting the head area. That was a BIG reason I bought my boat. Putting a port in the door was never a good idea.

I just got off the phone with the shop. The new system will be:

6 JL 6.5” MX series mids in the boat with 2 of the 7.7” MX’s in the transom. These 8 speakers will be driven by an JL M-Series 800/8 amp.

Then we will cut in 2 of the 10” M-series subs and power them with a 600/1 M-Series amp. One of the subs will go below the steering wheel in that bulkhead and the other one will either go in the bow or under the bench seat in the cockpit.

We’ll also add a new JVC head unit that we can pair up to 5 phones to. It is supposedly super easy to tune everything with. There will also be a dial I came use to turn the subs up or down with at the helm. I’m skipping the transom remote for now because we exclusively use our phones for our music at the moment. If that changes it’s an easy addition.

You and everyone gave me some great things to think about. I really appreciate it.

Sounds good Shurruf! The only other thing I would add is put both subs in the cockpit. Sound in a boat with an open-top is sketchy at best, but up in the bow you'll lose a lot of the resonance you will get in the cockpit.

Ytmsn wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:45 pm Sounds good Shurruf! The only other thing I would add is put both subs in the cockpit. Sound in a boat with an open-top is sketchy at best, but up in the bow you'll lose a lot of the resonance you will get in the cockpit.

Well you and my brother are a lot more knowledgeable on this stuff because he just told me the same thing. So that’s what we will do. Thanks again.