Speaker Life and Durability Survey / Thread

I thought this would be an interesting topic to start. My Rockford Fosgates which came in the boat are 4 years old now and done. I store my boat outside with the cover on, so I'm sure the elements took its toll on them. I'll be buying new speakers soon.

I'm wondering...

What speakers do you have?

How long you've had them?

How they still sound compared to when you got them?

and Is your boat stored indoors or not?

And I guess I should ask how many hours you put on your boat a year, as that would be a decent average of how much you use your speakers.

Infinity's are going on 6yrs old. Boat is stored outside. About 50hrs a season and they still sound great.

I have Kickers in my '07 that came from the factory, 5 seasons of use and the speakers still look and sound new. 3 seasons of indoor storage, 2 seasons of outdoor. Wish I could say the same for the grille's, they are beat to crap and have been since season 1. Very brittle plastic and lots of broken off pieces, just not a great design for the speaker locations that Tige chose (near people's feet).

(off subject) My stereo actually sounds the best that it ever has. Tige put 8 ga power wire to the Kicker 700.5 and I added a 2nd amp and ran 0 ga to the whole setup and I swear the amp runs a lot cooler and puts out more power now.

First boat had infinity's inboat and kicker on the tower, lasted 9 years without a problem. Boat was stored outside, with the tower down, under the cover.

Bu Coo,
4 years seems like a short time. We sell a number of brands and also have to carry a little of everything to support the existing OEM products in the boat from the factory.
I can tell you this with some consistency. Most boats are stored under cover and the UV exposure is limited to weekend hours during the boating season. Comparatively that is only a few collective hours per year.
However, for a cruiser that is at the exposed edge of a boathouse or where the bow extends out from under the boathouse, where the speakers are largely uncovered, the UV toll definitely shortens the life of the speakers to just a few years...even for the best of speakers. Also, a single season uncovered on a dealer's lot can be the equivalent of many years under some cover with occasional exposure.
Direct UV exposure is the worst culprit. But heat and humidity do contribute to a lesser degree. So some shaded cover and a dry bilge is important.
There are 'marine rated' speakers and then there are true 'marine' speakers. There can be a vast difference in construction. If you want the maximum longevity go with a speaker that is a true marine construction for off-shore usage and you should get double the lifespan.

David
Earmark Marine

I have MB Quart on my tower, 11 years so far and still sound as good as new. 100-150 hr seasons, always on, rarely screaming, stored indoors.

David, thanks for the info. I didn't know UV was that big of a culprit. I screwed up by never covering my tower speakers with socks or anything. Very interesting though.

This is something I was just noticing this week, My system was never a mega-blaster, however it just doesn't seem as loud as it used to. Maybe 25-33% less volume for the same level on the head unit. Polk DB651's are a little over 3 years old. Stored inside except for when the boat is in use. Is this commonly how speakers degrade?