music on board

[captedteach]

What kind of music format do you use?  How much stereo does your boat have?

tapes/cds  mp3 or a combination?

Right now I have a am/fm/cd head unit with a pair of plate speakers and a 200watt powered 8 in sub  a pair of 6x9's will be added this year to fill in the mid bass.  My biggest concern is speaker placement - those big magnets play heck on the compass.

I'm thinking about changing from my current CD player to one that has an input for a MP3 or at least adding an FM modulator thingy so I can quit taking all the CDs to the boat.  I'm sure it wont be too long before they have in dash units that will take an SD card so whole libraries wont take up any space to speak of

[Zen]

What they do have is:
A transmitter that is built into a unit that plugs into your cig-lighter. You then plug your USB flash drive ( loaded with music ) into that and all your mp3 will play through your FM radio

[captedteach]

Yeah Zen  - thats the FM Modulator thingy - Wally World has em for about 20.00  With that you still have to have an AC plug close to the stereo and keep a supply of batteries for the MP3 player - I dont think it powers the player thru the USB cable like a computer does and some of the modulators use the headphone jack for input instead of the USB

[Skipper Dave]

Capt,
After I installed my system which includes 2 6x9s in the cockpit I purchased a Simrad autotiller that the magnets mess with every time.  So now I need to move them a minimum of 3ft from the autotiller.  Had I known I wouldn't be cutting two more holes in the boat.  My sound system sounds great.  Kenwood AM/FM CD w/2 Pioneer speakers below and the 2 6x9s in the cockpit.  Good Luck.

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This morning it looked so nice out I thought I'd leave it out.

S/V "Tina Marie" Cal 2-27

[Zen]

Yeah Zen  - thats the FM Modulator thingy - Wally World has em for about 20.00  With that you still have to have an AC plug close to the stereo and keep a supply of batteries for the MP3 player - I dont think it powers the player thru the USB cable like a computer does and some of the modulators use the headphone jack for input instead of the USB

This runs only off the power from the plug, no other batteries.

[Zen]

As for me.

Currently for tunes I have a AM/FM auto reverse cassette deck ( with hard to find aux in/out plugs), with a house DVD/CD player.

This will be turned into:

Playstation 2 (for music CD's, games, DVD movies), electronic piano keyboard, Silver Flute, Guitar(for making my own music). pre-record Music will be recorded on to CD (orginals on shore) or I may go with a USB-mp3 setup

[captedteach]

 Had I known I wouldn't be cutting two more holes in the boat.  ---------------------------------------------------------

Quick way to fix that - well sorta quick - anyway make a template out of poster board or whatever thats 12x15 or so with nice rounded corners. Figure out where you want the speakers located and trace around the template. Cut this out with a FINE jig saw blade and take your time so its nice and neat.  NOW remove the speakers if you have not done so already and cover up the hole with the template then cut it out. Now take the two sets of cut outs and glass them in the opposite locations - the ones with the spearker cut outs in the new location and the ones with out where the speakers were.  You will have some lines where the cuts were made but  if you ever paint the boat it will get covered up.  Another option is a set of teak combing boxes to hold wench handles - mostly depends on if you like doing glass werk or not.

When I add the 6x9s to my boat this year I'm building a box to fit the location and will only have a few screw holes to deal with if I need to move  the speakers. I mounted my plates like this too so there is just the four screw holes and the hole for the wire to pass thru in the bulkhead. 

[seanshine]

Yup Capt., I love my stereo setup too.  Only problem is, I like to light air sail and I need about  five 27s to keep it going....

[CapnK]

Jensen Marine MCD 5110 AM/FM/CD player, and my ancient Archos 10G mp3 player, with FM modulator. I have one of the Belkin/Wally World modulators, it works pretty good.

I saw - onboard a Hinkley - a modulator for iPods which *does* run off of house current. That would be nice. As it is, I have many NiMH rechargeable batteries (AA and AAA), and a 12V charger that accepts both sizes.

I am considering a swith to the CD-MP3 playing head unit this year, although a unit which I could just slip a Flash Mem card into would be *awesome*.

Speakers are a pair of the small white Poly-Planars, and 2 larger cheap 150 watt car speakers from WalMart ($20 for the pair, they were my "Christmas present" to Katie Marie... ;)), all in the cabin. I may mount some exterior speakers in the future, but as it is I just crank up the cabin loud enough to hear it well out on deck.

It's not an audiophile-level setup, but I'm no audiophile - I just like music. ;D Most of my MP3's are ripped at 128. Some I used a variable bit-rate encoding under LAME, and those are from 96 to 192 bit. Sounds good enough to me...

[Jack Tar]

Car sterio DVD player with a nice pair of small cabinet speakers   AM/FM   One Dean acoustic guitar and a harmonica.

[Solace]

Currently I have a AM/FM/CD with remote with 4 speakers - 2 6" JBL marine co-ax in the cockpit and 2 MB Quartz with titanium cone tweeters which I have built into cabinets, in the cabin. I also have built in a PS2 for DVDs and a 15" LG flat screen TV.  ;D Hey - I'm a full time live aboard - gotta have my creature comforts.

I am looking to change the stereo to a newer one which has DVD built in so it can run on the 12V system and the kids can watch movies while at anchor. We'd retire the PS2 - rarely play games on it. We have satellite but the dish is mounted to the dock.

We also have an FM modulator which we use to play tunes from either my daughter's new IPod or the laptop directly.

[s/v Faith]

Zen,

Playstation 2 (for music CD's, games, DVD movies), electronic piano keyboard, Silver Flute, Guitar(for making my own music). .....

  Now I know why you needed the bigger boat!  ;D

[Zen]

 ;D

indeed!!

Now you understand  ;)

[Zen]

Well, since my Tape deck died this weekend. A replacement sound system is is being installed...

Jensen AM/FM/CD car stereo. Powered at dock by a 12volt converter plugged to shorepower. Afloat, house battery.

25 watts per channel = 25x4
run through a 40 watt amp.
4 - 50 watt 5.25 speakers

[Pixie Dust]

I installed a Jensen AM/FM/CD by the companion way.  For my speakers, I made 2 wood speaker boxes. I mounted one by the V Berth and the other on hooks by the galley.  When I am in the cockpit, I can just take that speaker and set it in the cockpit.  I also have heavy duty velcro on the back so I can actually velcro it to the outside cabin area.  Works great!

[Skipper Dave]

Hey Capt'n,

Thanks for the idea of using the cut-outs to fill the current holes that's exactly what i am going to do.

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This morning it looked so nice out I thought I'd leave it out.

S/V "Tina Marie" Cal 2-27

[Dougcan]

 I think the best speakers for sailboats would have to be the computer speakers.

A main reason for this is that they tend to be magnetically shielded, which helps reduce interference with the compass.

Plus as a rule, they do sound good for such small and cheap speakers.

Lastly, they don't need a whole lot of power to operate, which is an important factor with our limited power budget!

[captedteach]

Puter speakers do seem like a good way to go - you just need to find a set that is 12v remove the transformer and wire to a power source -  I think I have two or three extra sets of those around here

I saw that JVC is making head units that take an SD card - a 128MB card holds about 80 songs and cost around 20.00, cards upto 1gig are available - Only problem I can see is misplacing the cards since they are pretty small

[CapnK]

{snip}I saw that JVC is making head units that take an SD card - a 128MB card holds about 80 songs and cost around 20.00, cards upto 1gig are available - Only problem I can see is misplacing the cards since they are pretty small

* CapnK drools.

I've been thinking that a stereo which took memory cards would be great to have. I've got an extra sunglass case or two I could keep the cards in. :D By the time the head unit price comes down, maybe those 1G cards will be closer in price to what the 128M cards cost now. (One can always hope... ;))

Never thought to look and see what voltage those PC speakers I gave away when I moved onboard were drawing out of the transformer. Dangit... They were good speakers, too... ;D

[Zen]

I saw a pair of 12volt Puter speakers today at Radio Shack - $50.00