Marine speakers or regular?

I am looking for putting up a stereo in my boat. I live in Norway, so I don't have the massive selection of marine speakers you have. The ones affordable I've seen so far are pretty small, and I keep hearing I should just go for regular speakers.

Therefore I am wondering, would regular speakers do the job? They will be installed right where you enter the boat after riding, so people are always dripping salt water on them. My last regular speakers lasted a month, but they were old and probably not with plastic cone or whatever they call it. (Not too big into this)

So, what do you guys reckon? If I go for regular speakers, should there be any specs I should consider that would make the speakers more long lasting?

Regular speakers are fine, not paper cone or foam surround though. If you want to go with Marine try to find a place willing to ship them to you. Kicker, Infinity, JBL, Bazooka, Pioneer, Sony, Clarion & Kenwood all make them as well as some other companies.

From what I have gathered most people do not use marine speakers unless their boat came with them. I think the extra expense the Marine speakers have really hurt the sales on them and if they were priced the same as there non-marine counter parts a lot more people would use them, at least I know I would. Example the Marine Kicker KM60 sells for $149.99 at Crutchfield.com. The Regular Kicker K60 sells for $99.99 at the same place.

only marine component in my boat is my infinity kappa marine 6.5" coaxials. the reason i got them is because that is what malibu will put in, and I did not want to have to deal with the tight space under the windshield. these speakers are pretty nice, almost could be considered separates because the tweeter is mounted in the grille and not through the center of the woofer like most coaxials. my amps, deck, and subs are all non marine. granted those components all stay dry, and the boat is garaged so it rarely sees rain.

Thanks for the replies. Should I ask for a plastic cone then? Are there anything else I should ask for to make it more water resistant?

Looks like most people do use regular speakers..

One great thing to do in the US which I hope you have at your electronic stores is to buy the "replacement guarantee". I normally NEVER buy these warranties, but I make the exception for boat speakers. Then when I get too "amp happy" and cook one or if it was ever to die of natural causes, I just go get a new pair for free.

Bill

Most boat audio enthusiasts use regular poly cone speakers. Marine speakers are almost identical with the exception of the grill and the welds.

-John
http://www.wakeside.com

(Message edited by wakeside on June 08, 2003)

one other difference in some marine speakers is for example, my infinty kappa 6.5"s have a poly basket rather than a steel or aluminum one.

Yea, what Tim said if your running in salt. Ive also got the infinities with the plastic/poly basket. Id hate to see a rust stain running down from the speaker, caused by salt water.

2nd that on what Tim Said. I have found the Hardwear on most Marine Speakers is Stainless Steel so it dosen't rust around the speaker connections, Thats another differance between MB quarts Diskis Series and Refferance Series Not only do the Refferance speakers sound better they woun't rust like the diskis do.

Marine speakers typically run an alluminum voice coil and/or have a coating on the voice coil (at the cost of degraded sound). A speaker can look fine on the outside but if the voice coil has rust or oxidation on it, destruction is eminent. I would worry more about moisture than splashing.

Boats with even the nicest covers that sit out in the sun will develop a high humidiy inside and inside the speaker. If you can controll the moisture go for non paper cone, butyly surrond, normal speakers, plus they sound better.