Sound on Board -- Bringing it Up to Date

[BrianGJS]

If the Alpine head you are using has inputs from another source and adequately handles the speaker switching you what then a Sonos Connect may be worth looking at. The connect is designed as a receiver - no amp - so you use your existing setup and only the need to power the Sonos Connect and connect to your Alpine. Not all Sonos units have line out and some only have line in. I use a Sonos 5 on our boat and my wife confirms that the audio from the salon is plenty loud enough on the bridge. (Internet and music provider required)

[SV Bacchus]

Try one of these - portable Altec Lansing speakers. Approx 10 hour battery life, waterproof (resistant), floats! Great for carrying ashore and listening while sipping on a cool drink. Grabs the bluetooth off the phone quickly and never seems to have a glitch.

Not the long term perm solution you are looking for but the sound this speaker puts forth is absolutely amazing.

Added benefit, once connected to your phone it doubles as a speaker phone. Technology is something isn't it!

Altec Lansing

[Mr O]

My house system is all Sonos, which I have enjoyed tremendously, and I was looking for something similar for my boat. Too bad Sonos does not make a 12 volt system. Some people have voided the Sonos warranty and rewired the speakers to 12 volt, but I didn't want to go that route. What I ended up with is a Fusion MS-UD750 and MS-AB206 subwoofer that is connected to existing built in speakers in cockpit and saloon plus a pair of decent quality shelf speakers in the forward saloon. Sounds very good! However, the head unit does not play well with a USB drive and works OK with BT and my iphone if you are within a few feet of head unit. My old ipod does not work with the unit either, so I am using an older Powerbook Pro laptop until I get a new ipod. I can control the unit with apps on my iphone and tablet which is nice. Might install a Fusion NMEA2000 wired remote MS-NRX300 at the helm so I don't have to fiddle with iphone. If you listen to FM radio, the 750 head unit does not have HD multi-channel capability. Disappointing for the price. Also, it takes about 30 seconds for the unit to boot up, sort of like the old tube radios. A case of unwanted retro technology. Otherwise, I'm pleased with the setup and quality of build/sound.

[CHRIS V CLEMENT]

I recently purchased two Jpride JPT1 portable Bluetooth transceivers. They are each about the size of a silver dollar and cost $17.00 each on Amazon. Their input/ output is a 3.5mm female socket. I connected one as a receiver to my JVC stereo head below decks. I connected the other to my Ipod that I keep in my shirt pocket. I joined the Ipod and the JPT1 with Velcro. Now I can go anywhere on the boat or the dock, up to 60' away, and change the song, or the volume of the entire sound system on the boat. The quality is outstanding. TRY IT...YOU WILL LIKE IT...

[kentobin]

One topic you didn't hit on was power management. Are you hooked to shore power? If you're cruising or anchored out what is your power consumption and generation like? I usually download from my computer to my smartphone what I'm interested in listening to and use bluetooth earbuds or headphones. Sometimes that gets old and then I use a bluetooth receiver connected to a 12volt sony amp to bookshelf speakers and still stream from my phone.

I do keep all my mp3 collection on my computer but unless I'm hooked to shore power I prefer not to use it just to play music. Computer does have built in bluetooth. using Windows 10. One time the Microsoft updates killed the bluetooth and I had to reinstall the factory bluetooth drivers. Beware the Microsoft.

Finding a specific music mp3 or audiobooks in a large collection can be a daunting task. You don't always remember information the computer uses to search. 'The song sounds like' or 'the book is about' unfortunately doesn't work. I don't have a solution yet that works for me.

Good luck.

[john61ct]

Ideally you make use of a consistent tagging scheme, and can use your own custom text strings to retrieve and group however you like

MediaMonkey and MusicBee as library apps, Foobar2000, MP3Tag and TagScanner are good utiliy tools.

Obviously avoid anything DRM, Microsoft or Apple like the plague.

[Luckyknot]

My wife and I have gone through several bluetooth speakers but this past holiday season we were each gifted a UE Roll. For what it is, amazing. The bluetooth range isn't so great but beyond that I have no complaints. They are most often used as vehicle speakers. We ride our bikes year round. Waterproof and loud with good sound quality. Definitely not Bose but a good deal better than your typical computer speaker setup from Logitech (nothing against Logitech). We also use them as the sound system for watching TV on our computers. You can pair two together for stereo sound or each as their own speaker playing from the same device. There is a handy integrated bungee strap that seems to fit the speaker where I need it all the time. Can be used while charging as well. Seems obvious but not all wireless things are like that. To avoid pairing and disconnecting all the time there is also a "block party" feature that allows you to decide what other devices can "DJ" on your system. Worth a look. You could free up some storage space by removing all of the wired audio components. Just take the speaker(s) with you around the boat attached to your body or your tool bags or whatever.

[SailRedemption]

We have a Fusion blackbox unit on Redemption with their signature series speakers which take a lot of RMS compared to other marine speakers and they look classic. We have two 6" in the salon and two of the 7.5" in the cockpit that are pushed by a 300w amp. The fusion has more inputs and outputs than I need and has USB capability so while you probably can't push a portable hard drive (USB powered ones) you can get a USB flash drive to plug into it and go through music. The fusion will also be able to be controlled by those Zeus plotters you have and can also see NMEA2000 data on the display units since it is NMEA2000 ready. You can control up to 3 zones with my unit which is awesome so if you want to jam outside while not so loud inside you can or vise versa. It has the newest Bluetooth capabilities and comes with extension cords for a auxiliary jack and also a USB.

The signature series speakers are pretty nice and the amp that pushes the two 7" speakers in the cockpit really sound good even when maxed out with little distortion. I actually need to change the breaker from 20a to 30 because it trips when the amp pushes the speakers at high volumes(though I rarely get that high because it's absolutely deafening at that point, yet still clear)

I'm no audiophile, but something like this seems right up your alley in my opinion. They may even have one with a optical output.

[kimtrang]

I'm fussy about sound quality. I really like the Adam Audio A5 studio monitors I use on my boat. They are amplified so I don't need a separate amplifier. AC only, so I use a good quality 450w sine inverter. At the moment I'm just using an iPod Classic line out which is surprisingly decent, but will soon upgrade to an Apogee Duet digital to analogue converter that will take a digital signal from either a iOS device or MacBook.

To me, the Adam Audio and Apogee are an unbeatable combination. Absolutely no mid bass hump that ruins other systems for me. A subwoofer[s] are available to match from from Adam Audio- the 7" one I used to own used to make it sound like a far larger system, but the speakers sound fine on their own. This model are almost 10 years old now, so I was lucky to pick them up second hand for a few hundred dollars. The new model, the A5x is more powerful sell new for around $1000.

Oh, make sure your ears are clean for music listening and audition.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/adam-a5

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by CHRIS V CLEMENT

I recently purchased two Jpride JPT1 portable Bluetooth transceivers. They are each about the size of a silver dollar and cost $17.00 each on Amazon. Their input/ output is a 3.5mm female socket. I connected one as a receiver to my JVC stereo head below decks. I connected the other to my Ipod that I keep in my shirt pocket. I joined the Ipod and the JPT1 with Velcro. Now I can go anywhere on the boat or the dock, up to 60' away, and change the song, or the volume of the entire sound system on the boat. The quality is outstanding. TRY IT...YOU WILL LIKE IT...

Hot tip -- thank you. Has the AptX protocol which is supposed to be vastly better for music. I might give that a try.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by kimtrang

I'm fussy about sound quality. I really like the Adam Audio A5 studio monitors I use on my boat. They are amplified so I don't need a separate amplifier. AC only, so I use a good quality 450w sine inverter. At the moment I'm just using an iPod Classic line out which is surprisingly decent, but will soon upgrade to an Apogee Duet digital to analogue converter that will take a digital signal from either a iOS device or MacBook.

To me, the Adam Audio and Apogee are an unbeatable combination. Absolutely no mid bass hump that ruins other systems for me. A subwoofer[s] are available to match from from Adam Audio- the 7" one I used to own used to make it sound like a far larger system, but the speakers sound fine on their own. This model are almost 10 years old now, so I was lucky to pick them up second hand for a few hundred dollars. The new model, the A5x is more powerful sell new for around $1000.

Oh, make sure your ears are clean for music listening and audition.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/adam-a5

Thanks. Powered speakers have some advantages. Just don't know where I'd put them. I'm in a war with clutter on my boat.

I grew up in an audiophile household -- McIntosh tube amps, Klipsch Horns, and all the rest, in my childhood. Over the years I have grown more relaxed about ultimate sound quality, and especially on the boat. Mostly nowadays I just need for the system to be loud enough to cover a big dynamic range (like a Mahler symphony) without distortion. Everything else I don't care that much about anymore, above some basic minimum of course.

[mkriley]

Originally Posted by kimtrang

I'm fussy about sound quality. I really like the Adam Audio A5 studio monitors I use on my boat. They are amplified so I don't need a separate amplifier. AC only, so I use a good quality 450w sine inverter. At the moment I'm just using an iPod Classic line out which is surprisingly decent, but will soon upgrade to an Apogee Duet digital to analogue converter that will take a digital signal from either a iOS device or MacBook.

To me, the Adam Audio and Apogee are an unbeatable combination. Absolutely no mid bass hump that ruins other systems for me. A subwoofer[s] are available to match from from Adam Audio- the 7" one I used to own used to make it sound like a far larger system, but the speakers sound fine on their own. This model are almost 10 years old now, so I was lucky to pick them up second hand for a few hundred dollars. The new model, the A5x is more powerful sell new for around $1000.

Oh, make sure your ears are clean for music listening and audition.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/adam-a5

I am looking for a all in one solution similar to a boombox but with FLAT sound ,no exaggerated bass! Battery operated, cd, bluetooth, Video out? Must reproduce a male speaking voice with no background resonance. Does something like this exist?
thx
mk

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by kentobin

One topic you didn't hit on was power management. Are you hooked to shore power? If you're cruising or anchored out what is your power consumption and generation like? I usually download from my computer to my smartphone what I'm interested in listening to and use bluetooth earbuds or headphones. Sometimes that gets old and then I use a bluetooth receiver connected to a 12volt sony amp to bookshelf speakers and still stream from my phone.

I do keep all my mp3 collection on my computer but unless I'm hooked to shore power I prefer not to use it just to play music. Computer does have built in bluetooth. using Windows 10. One time the Microsoft updates killed the bluetooth and I had to reinstall the factory bluetooth drivers. Beware the Microsoft.

Finding a specific music mp3 or audiobooks in a large collection can be a daunting task. You don't always remember information the computer uses to search. 'The song sounds like' or 'the book is about' unfortunately doesn't work. I don't have a solution yet that works for me.

Good luck.

I have plenty of power -- heavy duty diesel generator, heavy duty alternator, 3kW Victron inverter. I don't like to waste it, naturally, and although 230v power is available more or less continuously, I prefer to run AV gear off 24v.

[SFS]

I am a reformed audiophile as well (Mark Levinson, B&W, etc.), and have decided to adhere to the rule "don't bring anything on board that doesn't do at least 2 things". So when my cellphone recently died, I bought (for less than $200) a Motorola Moto G4. It will work anywhere in the world, but more importantly supports a micro SD card of up to 128 GB. That was enough to hold my entire music collection (around 800 CDs) in a lossless format (FLAC). I left the native 32GB internal memory available for just the phone and its apps.

I just play it through my Bluetooth-enabled AV receiver at home, and will be pairing it with a Bluetooth speaker setup on board. Small, doesn't draw much power, rechargeable, and it still does all the things a phone (and apps) do.

There are Digital Audio Players that do a fine job for under $200 as well, if to don't want to go with a phone. Without the need for a head, you may get back some room on the boat. Though if you keep your existing speaker setup, you will obviously need an amp of some sort.

Remember to back up all that music, if you don't hold on to the original CDs. Mine is on a computer, a portable 1 TB harddrive, my phone, and the cloud.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by SFS

I am a reformed audiophile as well (Mark Levinson, B&W, etc.), and have decided to adhere to the rule "don't bring anything on board that doesn't do at least 2 things". So when my cellphone recently died, I bought (for less than $200) a Motorola Moto G4. It will work anywhere in the world, but more importantly supports a micro SD card of up to 128 GB. That was enough to hold my entire music collection (around 800 CDs) in a lossless format (FLAC). I left the native 32GB internal memory available for just the phone and its apps.

I just play it through my Bluetooth-enabled AV receiver at home, and will be pairing it with a Bluetooth speaker setup on board. Small, doesn't draw much power, rechargeable, and it still does all the things a phone (and apps) do.

There are Digital Audio Players that do a fine job for under $200 as well, if to don't want to go with a phone. Without the need for a head, you may get back some room on the boat. Though if you keep your existing speaker setup, you will obviously need an amp of some sort.

Remember to back up all that music, if you don't hold on to the original CDs. Mine is on a computer, a portable 1 TB harddrive, my phone, and the cloud.

Thanks! If the new Bluetooth protocols really sound good, then I'm tempted to add a Bluetooth receiver to my head unit and call it good. There are great advantage to this - no more wires to add to my spaghetti salad, and play back from a variety of devices, including ship's computer.