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Old 03-29-2019, 02:35 PM   #21
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Another vote here for a portable bluetooth speaker and your phone. We have a bose system that came with the boat installed below, I guess it sounds good, but it is AC powered, and we are seldom below so we never use it. In the 6 years we have owned the boat I think I have turned it on maybe 4 times. No speakers on the FB and I have zero interest in cutting any more holes.



My brother has a complex multi zone, multi speaker, multi amp installed system on his Ocean. Darn thing never works and he's spent a fortune on trying to keep it running. Most of the time when I go over to his boat I bring over a little speaker and we listen to it as we sit in the cockpit and have a beer.



We have a family spotify subscription which we share with our two (16 and 20) sons. It's darn near free and you can either stream or download any song or "album" you want.


I'm kind of like you, I'm not much of a music fan really. At 50 years old I'm sick and tired of all of the music I listened to when I was younger, and I have trouble finding new stuff I like. If I hear another Buffett, Beatles or Billy Joel song I think I may poison the well, salt the fields and move to a distant land.


That said, Spotify is pretty good at suggesting music based on your likes. I've managed to pick up a few newer faves, like Old Dominion. The Bluetooth speakers sound really good. A friend gave me a cool little waterproof speaker called a barnacle, it has a suction cup attachment. It's great for the SUP or the beach. Sounds surprisingly good.
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Old 03-29-2019, 07:13 PM   #22
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Off the shelf Sony car stereo that takes a USB stick. Five USB sticks with 1,000 songs each downloaded from Youtube.
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Old 03-30-2019, 11:22 AM   #23
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I put in a full integrated system, the salon even has the new Dolby Atmos sourround sound. Its great for movies but bottom line is I haven’t used any of the zones for music since getting a Bose Revolve + Bluetooth Speaker. Its just brilliant, you can carry it around with you if you move locations, easy to sync and use, seems to be semi water proof and great sound quality. Now regretting the complex wired system other than the salon for the occasional rainy movie night.
I just got the Bose Micro Bluetooth Speaker for the new RIB, will be testing it out today.
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Old 03-30-2019, 01:12 PM   #24
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Cheap solution

I have an old car stereo without USB/aux inputs. It still works fine.


I bought a cheap 12 volt plugin car FM transmitter wireless audio adapter


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I downloaded all my music unto a 32gb Micro SD card that slid into the side of the adapter (or you can use a USB stick)


I keep it on shuffle play and I don't hear the same song for days.
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Old 03-30-2019, 01:41 PM   #25
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I put in a full integrated system, the salon even has the new Dolby Atmos sourround sound. Its great for movies but bottom line is I haven’t used any of the zones for music since getting a Bose Revolve + Bluetooth Speaker. Its just brilliant, you can carry it around with you if you move locations, easy to sync and use, seems to be semi water proof and great sound quality. Now regretting the complex wired system other than the salon for the occasional rainy movie night.
I just got the Bose Micro Bluetooth Speaker for the new RIB, will be testing it out today.
AC
That Bose unit is just what I was looking for! Our boat came with 2 sound systems. Bridge and cabin. Amplifiers and speakers everywhere. Great sound. After first cocktail both are just way too complicated for an old guy.
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Old 04-01-2019, 08:35 AM   #26
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Thanks for the input and experience. I'm leaning toward a Bluetooth speaker as well.

I love the comment "If I hear another Buffett, Beatles or Billy Joel song..." sums up my feelings exactly!
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Old 04-01-2019, 01:47 PM   #27
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Both Pandora and Spotify offer free streaming music if you don't mind an advertisement every once in a while.

Some cell phone providers don't count music streaming as data, so check your cell plan.

I use a blutooth speaker that is durable, cheap and sounds great that I got on Amazon ( link below ). I leave it plugged in and use it as my main "sound system" 75% of the time. When I want to take it with me, its always charged. You can actually get 2 of them and they will work as "left" and "right" if you wanted . I have dropped it off a 12 foot ladder a few times and its weatherproof.

If you go with a built in system, make sure it has an "audio in" option so you will be able to run your phone, ipad, whatever comes next into it.

https://www.amazon.com/OontZ-Angle-U...g%2C162&sr=1-3


I just bought one of these and after using it a few times I love it. Small excellent sound, I plan on using it on my center console.
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Old 04-01-2019, 02:30 PM   #28
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The PO installed a $3000 stereo with speakers all over the boat. As I get to them I am ripping it all out since we will never use it and my wife said she didn’t want the speakers all over. We have a Bluetooth speaker that we use with my iPhone for music. Works well enough for us.
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Old 04-04-2019, 09:05 PM   #29
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Any thoughts on installed stereo vs. portable? I should add, it's a small boat so having speakers wired throughout is not a requirement for me.

Something like these portables are the low and high end range of what I'm considering:

https://www.amazon.com/Sbode-Bluetoo...gateway&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Entert...et_feature_div

Thanks.
I installed a Sony stereo years ago with 2 nice Bose/Alpine speaker systems but my TV sound is lacking. I tried tapping into the stereo via the aux but it's often occupied by the Echo Dot or my phone via BT to the stereo through that same aux channel. (It's an old pre-BT stereo!)

I saw this speaker in your post #1 and it looked like the solution to my problem. BT for the times I need to boost cellphone audio (like a dink ride) and an aux jack for my non-BT HDTV. Also, I'm losing my hearing in my elder years and it will provide great laptop audio as well.

It came today for $40 2-day shipping from Amazon. I'm very impressed with this speaker! Even fits in a cupholder.

Thanks much for the post!
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Old 04-05-2019, 07:07 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by FlyWright View Post

It came today for $40 2-day shipping from Amazon. I'm very impressed with this speaker! Even fits in a cupholder.
Glad it helped and thank you for the feedback!
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Old 04-05-2019, 03:25 PM   #31
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Quote:
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I've seen some discussion of music and entertainment systems, but have not really figured out what I want to do on a new build.

I'm a bit of a Luddite regarding stereo's and a bit tone deaf - so speaker quality is not a big issue for me. I don't listen to anything under way, but at sometimes anchor I like a little background noise. I don't listen to much music. Unless it's unusually good music, I'm more inclined to listen to NPR on FM radio than a local music station.

So I think my choices are an installed stereo that lets me plug in a thumbdrive or SD card, or run stored music off of my phone but still have FM capability. OR, some type of portable speaker with FM and bluetooth that allows me to do essentially the same as the installed stereo - but with more hassle storing it and keeping batteries charged, but less hassle replacing it when it eventually stops working or technology leaves it behind. Probably a portable system will be lower cost as well.

Any thoughts on installed stereo vs. portable? I should add, it's a small boat so having speakers wired throughout is not a requirement for me.

Something like these portables are the low and high end range of what I'm considering:

https://www.amazon.com/Sbode-Bluetoo...gateway&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.com/Fusion-Entert...et_feature_div

Thanks.
Here is one of the very best and reasonable speakers for a remote and sound is amazing. If you don't know Klipsch, you are in for a treat.

https://www.klipsch.com/products/gro...etooth-speaker
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Old 04-05-2019, 03:36 PM   #32
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Music on board

I love my Bose wireless speaker! Great sound, battery life and plug in. Small enough to move all around boat! Plug any device via aux cord or bluetooth.
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Old 04-05-2019, 03:40 PM   #33
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I love my Bose wireless speaker! Great sound, battery life and plug in. Small enough to move all around boat! Plug any device via aux cord or bluetooth.
Just got my Bose. Pretty impressive! Imagine how nice it would sound if I had 20 year old ears instead of 60+ year old ears
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Old 04-05-2019, 06:40 PM   #34
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Just got my Bose. Pretty impressive! Imagine how nice it would sound if I had 20 year old ears instead of 60+ year old ears
When mine arrived, I told my wife it was my new hearing aid.
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Old 02-12-2020, 03:52 PM   #35
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Sbode Speaker Update

It's been about 10 months since I bought my first Sbode and thought I'd update those interested in this product.

I liked the 1st speaker so much that I bought another one for the boat. All was well for 7 months of intensive summer boat/dink use until the charging port failed. It was out of warranty so I bought another. A few months later, #2 charging port failure. Warranty replaced it then #3 failed. Finally, I got my money back from Amazon and picked out another model. Amazon was easy to deal with all along the way.

Today I got my new $25 Oontz Angle 3 by Cambridge Soundworks. It's much smaller than the Sbode at 2.5" x 5" vs. 2.5" x 7". It's sound is very good for my purposes but probably not as good as the Sbode. The BT range is better than the Sbode. I look forward to using it more on the boat and dink.



Oontz Angle 3 by Cambridge Soundworks
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Old 02-13-2020, 07:39 AM   #36
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FlyWright, Thanks for the info. I ended up going with a bluetooth speaker as well. I upgraded phones and am now happy with the BT option rather than some built in system.

My speaker isn't great, but it's very serviceable and has FM built in. I'll probably replace it with something similar to what you have when I inevitably break the first one.
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Old 02-13-2020, 08:09 AM   #37
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For the past six years I have gone with Sirus satellite radio. I have it on automatic renewal or I probably would have cancelled it this year. Guess I'll keep it one more year.

More and more I listen to my music library on my phone with a high quality bluetooth speaker. There are also many ad free, all music stations on the internet.

I have an FM radio on the boat that I have not turned on in five years, doubt if it still works. I can't stand the D.J.s and their endless "babble" and all the ads. If I need news I wait until I am in port and use my laptop.

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Old 02-13-2020, 08:21 AM   #38
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This is what we have. It’s an ammo box with two blue tooth speakers and charger built in. My nephew makes them and paints them any color you want. Ours isn’t waterproof but he can make it waterproof.
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Old 02-13-2020, 08:26 AM   #39
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My boat was built with a stereo originally, 2 speakers in the salon and 2 on the bridge. Head unit is mounted into one of the sidewalls in the salon. All of the components have been replaced a few times at this point, but the basic layout is un-changed, as the mounting holes already existed. The current head unit is a couple year old Kenwood marine unit and a Fusion amp.

As far as music sources, during the season we normally use SiriusXM. While I'm working on the boat over the winter, it's in a metal building, so no signal for that or FM radio. So I threw a bunch of music on a USB stick and plugged that into the head unit.

For those worried about power consumption, at reasonable listening volume my setup draws about 2 - 2.5 amps, so not bad at all to have on for a decent chunk of the day.
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Old 02-13-2020, 08:27 AM   #40
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I went with the Ryobi Bluetooth SKAA speakers. I can have up to 5 speakers playing synchronized music using either my Ryobi batteries or a/c power. The sound is great, there is a built-in FM tuner and since it uses the standard Ryobi tool batteries if they ever die in mid song I can just slap a new battery in and keep jamming. BTW there are cheap 100% compatible batteries available at Amazon which is where I bought the speakers. You can also buy them at Home Depot.

https://www.protoolreviews.com/tools...peakers/32871/

I downloaded my iPod onto an old iPhone so now I can stream my library via Bluetooth as well a use the SiriusXM app and free internet radio as a source. We recently rented a car in the Bahamas and brought the Ryobi along to use while driving and when we went to the beach for the afternoon.
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