Do you want to upgrade your boat speakers for a fun vacation?
Having high-quality boat audio is an important part of marine travels. Listening to music is a great way to relax and to clear your mind when you’re at sea, after all. Plus, a good boat speaker can set the mood if you plan to make a big, romantic gesture.
In this guide, we’ll talk about boat speakers and how to find one that best fits your boat. Keep reading to learn about how to find the right one for your boat. Below, we’ve also included a few speaker models and brands to consider.
Table of Contents
1. Types of Boat Speakers
If you’re in the market for marine or boat speakers, you’re looking for one of three types. The three different types of boat speakers are:
- Coaxial marine speakers
- Component speakers
- Wakeboard tower speakers
Each type has its unique features, pros, and cons.
Coaxial Marine Speakers
A coaxial speaker uses different drivers on the same axis. Often, these types of speakers have cone-shaped woofer.
At the center of the cone, often you’ll find the tweeter or midrange driver. Because the drivers are on the same axis, coaxial speakers use less space. They’re also easier and faster to install onto your boat.
Component Speaker
This type of speaker system has better audio, but it’s also more challenging to install. Its price is also a little higher than coaxial speakers. In component speakers, the midrange driver, tweeter, and woofer are separate.
This makes it easy to place them in different areas of the boat according to its acoustics. Judging from the increase in boat sales in the past few years, you can find many boats on the market with great acoustics.
Wakeboard Tower Speakers
This type of marine speaker gets loaded onto the wakeboard tower of the boat. Sometimes, it gets attached via clamps to a rail or pole. Its attachment feature is what makes it unique from other types of boat speakers.
You don’t need to cut out walls or other parts of the boat to install a wakeboard tower speaker. You only need to make sure your wakeboard tower has a free pole or rail to attach the speaker with.
2. Quality Boat Speakers Have Great Audio
When you look for boat audio, don’t start with the price. Instead, look for speakers with good sound and audio quality. You want to hear your sounds despite the tides and the motor, after all.
When you’re shopping for a good speaker, you need to know first how good speakers sound. These are often speakers that have no distortion, even at top volumes. Playing a speaker at a loud volume can tell you a lot about its quality.
Next, you also want to make sure that the sounds are clear and precise despite the sounds’ loudness. If the sounds start to garble and mix at high volumes, look for a different set of speakers.
3. Look for Top-Tier Durability
A sea is a terrible place for electronics and appliances. It’s salty, hot, and full of water. Often, these elements are hazardous to electrical appliances like speakers.
Marine speakers, however, can endure these conditions. High-quality boat subwoofers and speakers need protection from fog, spray, salt, and UV rays. If possible, look for speakers with a high IP rating and durability certifications.
You don’t want your tower speaker to stop working after a full day of wakeboarding. You want it to be ready to last another couple of years at least. The good news is that you can find boat speakers today that are as durable as powerful.
4. Installation of Boat Audio Appliances
When you’re adding a few boat mods, you want the add-ons to be easy to install. Since boats are expensive and already customized, you’d think twice about cutting holes in them. Rather than look for boats that will match your speakers’ mold, do it the other way around.
Look for speakers that come in standard sizes for your boat and can fit its speakers. You can even use the new boat audio to replace old speakers on your boat. This is great if you’re only starting to learn how to customize and fix your boat.
5. Check the Prices of the Speakers
Finally, your boat music doesn’t have to be from super-expensive speakers to be of great quality. Most marine speakers already cost a lot due to their tough and resilient nature. That doesn’t mean you won’t find any models that can’t fit a smaller budget and still sound excellent.
Look for boat speakers with the best value for their money. Consider the best ones that are within your budget first. Always try to get the most out of the money you’re willing to spend.
6. List of Top Boat Speakers to Consider
Music is a great way to improve cognitive performance, reduce stress, and more. You’ll need these benefits of music and more when you’re sailing or cruising. Every person onboard needs to do their part and be alert and ready for anything.
As the boat owner, you need to make sure that your boat upgrades are up to par. To help you find the best upgrades for your boat, we’ve got a list of some models below.
In the boat audio industry, a top choice is the JL Audio M7 Series marine subwoofer. It has great specs, beautiful aesthetics, and tons of awesome features. However, this JL model is quite expensive.
Other top-tier boat speakers include:
- Infinity Reference 225-Watt High-performance2-way speaker
- BOSS Audio MR60W
- Rockford Frostgate R165X3 Prime
If you’re looking for excellent budget speakers, get the Pole Audio DB+ Series. Another budget pick includes the Pyle PLMR60W model. If you want another budget choice, try the Audio MR50W from BOSS.
The Best Marine Speakers for Your Boat
That ends our guide on how to look for the right boat audio for your water vehicle.
We hope you enjoyed reading about the various types of boat speakers. If you want to keep learning about boat speakers and other audio devices, see our other posts.