Speaker replacement and wiring.

[VintageRacer]

So gang-I looked through all of these electronic posts and have certainly learned plenty-but I have a simple question that I did not see.

I have no arch-so tower speakers are out. My boat did not come with transom speakers-but I am adverse, right now, to cutting any glass; but I would like to know what speaker I should replace my stock speakers with? I want to just plug and play-and wonder if that is possible for replacement speakers that have LED lighting too? (Or does that require a different lead for power?) I have the transom control and the remote one at the helm, and for now, don't need (or have the time) to rewire everything. I assume, I would need to change out the whole unit to add a sub and amp-and maybe after a year of this, I may go down that path, but for now just want the best speaker that plugs in and fits the existing spots. Thoughts?

I saw these

https://creativeaudio.net/43q2km2/

[Big Block Power]

Those will work. Kicker to me has a lot of low end. I like the higher end of music. So they will work yes. Polk makes a nice speaker. Or go with JL or Wet sounds. If your going to upgrade go big now with the speaker.
Yes for leds you have to run the wires for that. Yes for a sub you will need to add a amp. Head unit is fine with what you have now. You can get 1 amp if you want to run a sub and speakers.

[AsLan7]

Those will work. Kicker to me has a lot of low end. I like the higher end of music. So they will work yes. Polk makes a nice speaker. Or go with JL or Wet sounds. If your going to upgrade go big now with the speaker.
Yes for leds you have to run the wires for that. Yes for a sub you will need to add a amp. Head unit is fine with what you have now. You can get 1 amp if you want to run a sub and speakers.

.
+1

[Holy Smokes]

Pull one of your speakers and measure the cutout. Match that to what speakers you select. Case-in-point.... years ago went to replace OEM 6.5 Sony's with 6.5 Morel's. Cutouts had to be enlarged about 3/8" all around. Made the not-so-easy DIY job into a larger project left for a stereo installer.

[Mike in SC]

JL Audio has templates that you can download and print out.
I think they came with the speakers also.
You can hold the template up to the existing hole and decide whether cutting more fiberglass is needed or not.
I imagine other manufacturers would do the same.

[VintageRacer]

So I took the 4 screws off of a rear cockpit speaker but could not remove the speaker. Is this a stock Cobalt speaker? How the heck does one remove it? I pulled pretty hard too and it would not budge!

[Big Block Power]

Those are Kicker speakers. Prob is factory. That speaker should come right out. Just held in there pretty tight. Those should be pretty decent speakers.

[xlint89]

It's prob just the gasket is stuck.

Wet Sounds makes a powered subwoofer that has an amplifier already installed. you would just need to run an RCA cable, power and ground wires to it.

https://creativeaudio.net/stealth-as-10/

[VintageRacer]

Thanks gang..I will try again this weekend. Wanted to try to do a simple upgrade-speakers sound ok -but wanted to see if there was an easy upgrade. Also-Big Block Power-You are like a friggen encyclopedia for these Cobalts!

[Big Block Power]

Thanks. I give Google lots of credit. Lol
What kind of sound are you trying to get? Kicker has plenty of low end. Which I'm more of a high end range guy. That's why I like my wet sounds. JL has a very nice all around sound. I don't think you can go wrong with either. But you need power for them. I didn't run a amp on mine the first season and they didn't sound any better then factory speakers. Add power and it's a diff story. I didn't think I needed a sub year 2 wrong year 3 added a sub and tower speakers. World of a diff.

[VintageRacer]

I like high end sound too..This stock system sounds way better than what I had..But I have been thinking I would like to add some more power..without needing to rewire everything..Looks like I will need to do just that though. Not too difficult to get wires run in the sides is it? Power from on of the batteries for an amp easy enough to do as well?

[VintageRacer]

The radio unit is a Sony DSX-S310BTX unit by the way. It has bluetooth-which my other boat did not-So that is a great upgrade!

[Big Block Power]

I like high end sound too..This stock system sounds way better than what I had..But I have been thinking I would like to add some more power..without needing to rewire everything..Looks like I will need to do just that though. Not too difficult to get wires run in the sides is it? Power from on of the batteries for an amp easy enough to do as well?

Will I say easy sure on my boat. Newer one I'm not sure. I don't think it would be that bad though. But the wires are already there. Are they large enough for wet sound and jl amp wants no. But for other amps yes it will work. So you might not have to get to crazy to do it. But but to do it right yes rewire is the way to go. It's a budget thing too. Go big gets expensive fast.

[jhnmdahl]

I did a similar project last summer, and put in an amp rather than using only the existing head unit.

First, I chose Roswell speakers because the sound was very good and it's Cobalt's premium option (pretty similar to JL audio, which was my alternate choice) and I got a good price on them. Wet Sounds is the other speaker brand you'll find people end up picking for upgrading, but I found them a bit bright for my taste. Kickers are decent speakers but not quite in the same league - they're what my boat had stock, so you might be able to find some cheap from another member who is upgrading. Polk, MB Quart, and a few other makers are in the mix too depending on your budget and sound preferences.

LED lighting requires either two additional wires per speaker for a single color LED, or four additional wires (all can be small gauge) for a programmable full-color LED light on each speaker. You'll also need a controller and power to the controller. I decided this wasn't something that was important to me, despite my speakers supporting it.

I also decided if I was spending the cash on six new speakers, I'd do it right and buy an amplifier and run new wire that was 14 gauge. I found the factory connectors on the speakers I picked and bought matching connectors from Digi-Key, and soldered/crimped them to the new wires. Running new speaker wire is easier than it sounds - there's pretty good access under the gunwales of the boat, behind the seats, and behind the panels in the side consoles. You could run new wire and get new speakers but use them with your stock head unit for now, swapping in an amp as part two of the project a couple years down the road.

My new speakers were indeed slightly larger than the existing speakers and required expanding each hole somewhat to fit. It was not difficult, but took some time with a combination of something resembling a large Dremel tool (Foredom, with a carbide burr grinder bit) and a drill with a sanding drum to make the curves smooth after hacking at the holes a bit. I pulled the upholstery back and reglued it down after expanding the holes in the front and rear locations, but I could see deciding to skip that step too.

I took a few pictures and made a thread here - viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4198

John

[VintageRacer]

Thanks John-Great thoughts. I need to pull up the cushions and spend some time looking at the wiring and perhaps make this a summer project and not try to rush it. We never used our boat stereo system before-just a bluetooth portable speaker-but this boat has me thinking bigger picture and even as it sits-sounds way better than what I had.