Budget Stereo Upgrade
 

One of my projects for this winter was upgrading the factory 6-speaker in-boat Kenwood system in my Supra 20SSV. My goal was to add a Sub and Tower speakers and do it under a $1000 budget that I set for myself. I basically knew nothing about audio systems and got most of my info from this forum.
I built a custom sub box out of MDF, coated it in "Bed-Liner" and wrapped it in SC carpet. I only lost about 3 inches of foot room and the sealed box is about 1.4 cu. ft. with a 12" Kicker Sub.
http://imageshack.us/a/img266/6222/imag0267jl.jpg
The amp is a Kicker IX 500.4 2 channels bridged running the sub and the other two running the tower speakers.
http://imageshack.us/a/img62/4351/imag0271vk.jpg
Thanks to Earmark Marine, I picked up a pair of Exile SXT65Q on close out.
http://imageshack.us/a/img22/5889/imag0262mu.jpg

Goal Achieved!!!
It's not like many of the amazing systems I see on this forum but I am very happy with the results and it is something I can build on next winter.

Congrats man. Looks great, especially for that tight of budget!!

Looks like you did good for the price!!

Michael,
Nice job. Your work looks very clean and precise.

David
Earmark Marine

Great job Michael!
Looks clean and tight.
How does it sound?

Looks good, all my projects are on a tight budget so I know how that goes, you did well. What is the tube diameter of your tower? I'm trying to use those same Exile clamps to mount another brand of speaker and would like to know if the bolts are going stick out the bottom of the mount that's attached to the speaker. My tower is a Titan 3 2 1/4" I believe.

looks, and i bet sounds, incredible. congrats on doing it on a budget.

Michael - Looks nice. The black on black SXT's are my favorite of the line. I always say, "Black is the new chrome". Looks really nice. Mounting them where you did will give you the option down the road to add another pair onto the inside mount locations...so good job on that. Sub enclosure looks nice and form fitted to the helm area. Nice execution.

@ Nate - The Exile clamps are form fitted to our enclosure on both the front / inside of the speaker enclosure. I suppose it could be modified to accept another enclosure with some modifications. tower wise, it will go from 1 and 5/8" to 2 7/8. 3" can be custom ordered. the bolts will stick out on the smaller towers. And flush out to the mid size towers....

-Brian
Exile Audio

Thanks Brian, the recessed area of that clamp where the mounting bolts go through into the enclosure appear to be about 2.5" on center. The bracket and mounting holes on a Pro80 appear to be very close to that. I couldn't decide which brand so I decided to use both :D

So i know exile is a bigger name in boat audio and the speakers on your tower say surf speaker. Is there a big difference in quality between these and the pair of Kicker KMT6's for the same price... i'm in your "boat" too looking to add some tower speakers affordably.

Thanks for all of the kind comments! I couldn't have put this together without the input from the forum members! Obviously, this system sounds amazing compared to stock setup. I intentionally mounted the tower speakers so I could possibly add another set next year.:D

I honestly do not know how the Kicker KMT6 would compare to the Exiles but I am sure many on this forum could explain the differences. For the price I got the Exiles, I got speakers that could swivel and quickly disconnect as well as no "flying wires" which I prefer for a clean install. Those features by themselves make it a "no brainer" but I perceive the Exiles to be a nicer system anyway.

My buddy has two pair of the Exiles and I have the KMT6's. I would say sq of the Exiles is noticably better. Overall loudness would be similar. Pretty sure they can handle about the same power.

I think the above statement by Nate is fair.
If you erase the brands, with two pair of SXT65Qs you get four 6.5" drivers. With the KMT6s (now replaced with the improved KMT60) you also get four 6.5" drivers. So if equally powered you would expect the collective output to be similar.
You would also expect a noticable sound quality difference and hardware difference because these two packages are normally priced very differently. One package costs more than three times the other. In that sense you are comparing apples to oranges.

David
Earmark Marine

will sound from KMT6's reach a boarder at 60-70 ft.

Yes if properly powered. Once again, they're not Wetsound or Exile HLCD quality but you can certainly hear it.

J,

I am going to reference my comments toward the current model Kicker KMT60 and the Exile SXT coaxial, since thats what is on the tower in this thread. If you want to expand the comparison to the Exile 6.5" HLCD or 8" XM9, we can

The Kicker KMT60 consists of twin 6.5" continuous-cone mid-bass drivers flanking a 20mm horn loaded titanium dome tweeter in each pod. When you purchase this setup, you get two pods. The pods come with Billet-aluminum mounting brackets adjust to seven common sizes. This is double the mid-bass surface area of a single pair of 6.5" coaxial as well as a pair of Horn-loaded tweeters. This setup offer great full-range sound quality when listening near-field, as well as the projection of the horns for reaching a rider in tow. It would take 2 pair of the 6.5" coaxials to compare.

Keep in mind, Kicker has been around since 1973 and making marine specific audio gear longer then Exile. They are an OEM supplier for many boat brands. Their build quality is far better then most give it credit for. This is backed up by first hand experience with both brands.

Since BuCrew is down, I cant PM you. Bring one of those pods by the shop, I may have some clamps that will work for you.

Thanks Mike, when I get them I'll see if what I've got will work, if not I'll look you up, thanks!!