6 1/2" Speakers

I want/need to replace my factory speakers. Do I really need marine speakers? If so wich ones sound best?
Douglas walter

i really don't know much about audio, but we are currently running regular car audio speakers in our boat and they work with no problems whatsoever! There are actually a bunch of people on these threads that use car audio speakers. Just make sure you try to avoid anything that uses a cone that may not mix very well when splashed with a little water! sorry i really can't chime in much, but i'm sure someone will answer your question soon enough!

Unless water is going to be splashed directly on your speakers, car audio should be fine. Honestly, most marine grade speakers are pretty subpar...I've got Sony Xplods in mine and they do fine.

Most Sony speakers have a soft cloth tweeter with the 6 1/2". If they get wet, they will short out. I am not necessarily a big fan of Pioneer (speakers) but I recently put the 6 1/2" in my boat. They aren't polk or mb quartz, but they sound ok. Remember, people never think their speakers get wet, but they do. The last thing you want is to have your speakers go out at the beginning of a great weekend!

I've had the xplodes in my boat for 2 years with no problems. And I'm sure they've been wet before. They do have the paper cones I believe. Still working fine.

dont malibus come standard with the xplodes

I have four Sony xPlod 6.5s in my X2. I can't remember their exact model number, but they were $79 per pair on www.CBRStereo.com. They sound VERY good, maybe the best 6.5s I've ever heard, and they are running directly off of the Sony CDXF7700 Head unit.

They have the tiny little paper tweeter in the middle, but it hasn't been a problem. I had four girls in the bow the Saturday that were looking a little warm, so I nosed the X2 directly into a wake from a fully loaded X10 that was passing by. I'd say a solid 45 gallons of water came over the bow. The speakers were soaking wet, but they still play just fine.

You did that on purpose?

Are your speaks red. If so.. I have the same ones.

Yeah they are red. I typically wouldn't have done it, but I had three friends in the back seat all whispering, "I'll give you 5 bucks if you soak 'em!"

I couldn't let them down!

the difference in Marine speakers and Car audio are the grilles, and that is it, the marine speakers come w/ the special grill that is plastic not metal so it wont rust over time and protect the speaker (hence the small openings) so basicaly you are paying more for a less quality grill/speaker by buying marine.

car audio is fine. the best to get is Infinity, Kicker, Polk, MB Quart, etc. get something at least 50w RMS.

best bang for the buck, pioneer, with rubber suround's. if your not running a amp you should get speakers with a high sensitivity rating. you can compare ratings at crutchfield.com

I run Infinity's, the poly cones and foam surrounds do well but they never get soaked in my Ski Nautique. Fairly efficient and bright so they tend to sound louder. They also seem to hold up when you push dirty power through them.

Thanks for all the feed back. I guess I should have given more info. I will be running two amps
(1) five channel and (1) four channel, This will power (1) 10" sub "already have" (6) 6.5" through out boat and (2) Mako tower speakers w/. MBQuart 6.5" "already have". If no one has had problems with regular car audio then that`s what I'll get.
Douglas Walter

(Message edited by Douglas on July 19, 2004)

I run 6.5" and 5.25" PPI carbon fiber coaxils they have been wet and no probs. And they sound so good, you can hear the words (clearly) about 100 + yards away. Pheonix Gold gets it done.