New tower speakers are built and on the boat!! Pic

Had a friend make me some aluminum cans for 2 sets of Focal speakers. Focal model number 165 CA. 6.5 inch Coax speaker with tweeters that are directionaly adjustable. Tweeter is mounted and wired independently from the main driver so It acts similar to a component speaker. 100w rms to each. I chose the focals over any other brand after doing hours of listening tests on all the top brands. The Focals kill mb quart speakers in the midrange and the high volume clarity. These focals are simply amazing. Currently the guy who made them is not interested in doing more due to time constraints. He did these as a favor. I will post pricing when he is ready to do more for the public market. It is time consuming for him to do them because of the cnc machine programing for each individual brand of speaker. They all have differant hole patterns and speaker basket diameters. Just wanted to share my love for audio with you guys. I am also excited to get the west marine xxl speakers off my tower. The weight and clunky look was bothering me. And these sound 10X better then the xxls ever could.

Nice cans, and Yes, Focal makes seriously good stuff. Did you use any sound deadening material inside the cans, Or Stuffing or anything?? I assume the crossover is inside, right??

I am considering doing the same thing and thought about lining the can with deadening material.

Grat stuff though, nice setup. Amp?? Sub??

I glued a piece of that eggshell foam stuff in the back of each can. It got rid of the ping and the echo effect from the cans. I was going to use the dynamat product, but why use it when the foam stuff was free and worked just great. I am running a kenwood 250rms 2 channel on one set and a DEI 225rms 2 channel on the other set. No subwoofer and will not put one in because I simply dont have a good spot for one and do not have room to install another amp.

They will hear you coming at least. There is another product called "Black Hole". It's used on home speakers, I do alot of DIY research. I would think the cans could have a nasty effect if you did not deaden them.

You probably won't miss the sub unless you really want that low Hz boom. Those focals probably get down to 50Hz. You could probably amp out some subs by replacing one of your amps with a 4 channel. Just a thought. I have seen some 8 inch subs that would probably make it on your tower.

Anyway, nice project, that is next on our list for the Sport Nat, just as soon as the tower get's here and we install the new stereo.

Rock out!!

I am a big fan of the thump from subs, but just want to quit working on stereo projects and spending money on something I can only use 5 months out of the year. The foam I used deadened it perfect. I tried them out for the first time this weekend on the lake and they were loud and clear behind the boat at 70ft. Focals stay super clean and clear at high volumes. Also worked with the amp gains a lot to keep them from clipping at the higher volumes.

I've got the XXLs. They thump & pump. Got 4 of 'em on the tower - wired in parallel for a 4 ohm load per channel to the amp. Pushing them with a Sony Xplode 2x150/300. They easily blow away any other tower mounted speaker I've heard with ease (I'm on a big lake and heard a LOT of setups - including the boss, etc.). You can easily hear the the bass and tunes 100' behind the boat.

I had 4 of them too. That was until I noticed how much the weight causing my tower to sway and actually caused the gelcoat around a tower mount to crack. I did not like having 60# of speaker on the tower. I had mine wired the same way but with a larger amp. Sounded fine, but the capacitors in the speakers kept blowing.

Andrew, how do the Focals compare to MB Quart pricewise? Any place on the internet where you can pick them up cheaper than retail?

The retail price is the same as the quart referance series. I had a heck of a time finding them online, and finally gave up because it was cheaper to go local with them. There are not car stereo shops that carry them either. I have no idea why. The guy at the shop I got them from told me that Focal will only allow dealers carry thier product if the dealer carries only high end stuff and nothing else. Try ebay. I found a couple of pair on there for about 1/2 retail, but I wanted the store warranty on them in case I had a problem. Retail for the 6.5 inch Focal 165CA speakers should be around 209 a pair.

My POS Tige Metcraft tower holds the XXLs fine. I was worried about the weight at first but no problem. I've got a Crunch 250x2 that I'm gonna replace the Sony with along with a Shiva 12" with a JBL 1000x1. That should take it to the next level.

The Metcraft tower is a sturdy one. Too bad the boardracks are on top and the boards drip all over you and are a pain to get up there. Great tower, but what a terrible rack design. Those xxl speakers should sound great with the sub pumping inside.

Hey Andrew, what size diameter are those cans? I'm making my own and I'm trying to get some ideas about size and how you mounted the speakers to the cans. Thanks

If you want Focals online try:

http://www.speakersound.com
http://www.carstereotime.com

the outer diameter is 6.5 inch, the inner diameter is 6.25 inch. I screwed the speakers into the sidewall of the can. I had 1/4 inch to work with and the factory mount holes in the speakers worked perfect. Just had the guy who built the cans tap the holes and I screwed in the speakers.