For anyone thinking of adding a pair of tower speakers and an amp, here is what I did. This is just FYI, and hopefully helpful to someone out there, I know I have learned a lot from these discussion forums.
OK, this work was done a 2000 MC Prostar 195 (open bow) with a 13th Floor tower and I did the install myself (a total stereo novice). My criteria was just one pair of speakers on the tower to limit the amount of weight bouncing around up there and one amplifier, both for a $1000 budget. I like to support my local (Portland, OR) MC dealer and liked the Skylon Deafcon series best out of what there were selling. I went with a set of the Deafcon II's painted white to match my white tower. These have 6.5¨ Kicker component speakers with poly-graphite speakers cones coated with a thin layer of titanium - I think they are pretty cool. See
www.skylonsports.com for more info on the speakers.
My MC dealer recommended the stereo store that does most of their boat system installs, so I checked them out (Stereo King). I ended up going with an MTX Thunder 6304 4-channel 325 watt amp. See
www.mtxaudio.com (Pro Audio section) for specs on the amp.
I installed the amp on the inside wall under the observer seat.
I installed the tower speakers on top of the tower so I wouldn't bang my head into them, which I did when I first installed them underneath. At this point the speaker wiring is just zip-tied to the outside of the tower but I am sure I will end up drilling the required holes in the tower and running the wires inside. Getting the system working and taking it for a test run was my first priority. The four Clarion marine (stock) boat speakers are being powered off the two front channels of the amp (4 ohm speakers wired two in parallel to run at 2 ohms) and the two tower speakers wired to the two rear channels of the amp (just one 4 ohm speaker on each channel). I don't know if this is ideal, but those are the instructions given to me by the stereo guys.
OK, enough description already... What are the results? Well, from most of what I have read on this forum about needing so many square inches of speaker area, so many watts, etc. I was skeptical about how well my setup would work for the rider. I am happy to report that at 75', 22 MPH and on a quite windy day, I could hear the music just fine. Of course I gotta crank the tower speakers, but I can hear all of the instruments, beats and lyrics of whatever song I am playing. Its not awesome sound, but good enough to listen to and it helps get me more motivated to try that next big trick. It was easy to install, looks good and I stayed within budget. So, I guess this was a success.
BTW, I have NEVER been out in the water so early in the season (mid-March) before. BUT, I just HAD to go test the new system. The river must have been 50 degrees (if that) and all I had was a shorty wetsuit. When I jumped in I couldn't breath and then I just went numb. Did I care? Sh*t no, I was wakeboarding and listening to my new stereo system.
I hope this helps anyone thinking about a similar setup. Please fire away with any tips, questions or criticisms you have.
-Jeff
(Message edited by jeefy on March 23, 2004)
Good one! Yes, we do actually use the boat (admittedly not as much as we would like) and yes, I need some good in-water pics. 
Some people enjoy that.. That 13th floor tower looks really bad ass though.
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