Speaker Wire

[GMaurer]

My 1988 E28 has two sets of loose ended speaker wire, originating at the straboard electrical panel. One pair terminates starboard behind the cupboard in the head, and the second terminates port in the clothes locker.
Is this a part of the Ericson original installation?
I've tried to trace the routing, but not too much luck. Where does the wiring cross from starboard to port?
I'm thinking about installing an AM/FM/CD stereo, using these wires. Any recommendations on installation location, brands, etc?
Thanks

 

[jreddington]

I don't know if the wiring is original to the boat but in my 1984 E-28 I've got speakers installed by the P.O. in those positions (small bracket mounted units). Don't know the wire crosses over from starboard to port. If you want the wires the easiest way is to connect an ohmmeter to the ends of the bare conductors behind the electrical panel. Have someone on the other end short the leads on each of the speaker wires on the other end. When the ohms go to zero or near zero, you've identified that pair. If you have an audible continuity signal like on my VOM you don't even need a helper.

As far as players I finally replaced my ancient stereo (came with the boat). FM reception was great but the cassette still warbled after $100 of repairs. I installed a Horizon unit with AM/FM/CD MST660. There's also a cassette version of this for less money. Mainly chose this one because it is the only one I could find with its own enclosure and bracket. It fits neatly on the shelf to the right of the electrical panel with my VHF (also Horizon) and tried and true backup Loran. All the rest are flush mount types and you'd have to purchase a separate enclosure if you want to mount it on a shelf.

Unit works well. Connect the marked speaker wires to your speaker leads behind the electrical panel (small hole drilled in the shelf to behind the panel). There's a nice plug that lets you pull the unit easily for the off season. Then connect the power and ground leads. One lead goes to the circuit breaker power connection. The other lead connects directly to the battery lead (with in-line fuse). This lead maintains the radio memory for time, station presets, etc. Then connect the ground. There is also a plug connection here to allow for easy removal.

The unit does have a removable faceplate but this is more useful in a speedboat with the radio exposed in the dash. There is also a smoke colored splash guard. Being mounted in the cabin I don't need this and took it off.

The unit does have secondary speaker leads and a fader which I may later use if I install cockpit speakers.

Haven't used it on the water yet but so far it sounds good, actually better than the old unit which I thought was OK. FM reception is good. Haven't tried it out for skip protection with CD's but I'm guessing if you're in rough enough conditions that the CD is skipping, you're worried about a lot more than just your tunes.:eek:

 

[escapade]

speaker wires

My 1980 E30+ was wired from the factory the way you describe yours. One of the nicer touches found on Ericson's. As to the routing I'm not real sure where they actually go as they we're installed prior to the hull liner being set in place. The E30 terminated @ the nav station behind the panel. It was noted in the original litature that this is what it was for. Worked real nice for my set-up. Put a speaker in each corner of the main cabin. Bud E34 "Escapade"

 

[GMaurer]

Turns out everything worked out fine.
The wires were functional (still not sure about the routing!), and I installed a Polk Audio I/O speaker in each forward corner of the cabin. Coupled it to a Kenwood stereo and CD changer, and put a small powered subwoofer in the aft quarterberth.
I'm happy!

 

[jreddington]

Oooooh. Subwoofer in the quarterberth. That's got to be one heck of a wake up call.

So much for my little Horizon system. When's the plasma screen digital high definition home (or boat) theatre system being installed. Just the thing to watch White Squall on while on a cruise.

 

[Mindscape]

Subwoofer

I've been looking at subwoofers and wondered which powered one you choose - how is it working out?? TIA

 

[GMaurer]

Subwoofer

I bought a Clarion SRV303 7" 120W Amplified Subwoofer. It has dual controls to adjust the bass presence. May be a little overkill, but it fills out the lower end real well. Also, the configuration of the unit (fairly flat) puts it well out the way.

 

[Jim Payton]

compass pts

Just as a thought about mounting speakers, one of the previous owners of my boat thought it cool to mount two speakers near the entrance to the cabin from the cockpit and face them toward the cockpit. Makes for real nice music while out on the water. But I kept getting strange deviations on my compass which is mounted just to the port of the cabin entrance so it can be easily read from the tiller. Then one day as I was swinging the compass on a coastal range it dawned on me that the speakers have big ole magnets in them. I removed the speaker from the portside of the cabin and wow the compass deviation almost disappeared.

 

[Lew Decker]

speakers vs compass

Just a note here - The PO of my boat installed some high-end cockpit speakers (Bose) P&S near the compass on my boat - Makes me wonder...Thanks for bringing it up -

 

[Mindscape]

Speakers and the Compass

Many of the 'marine' speakers do come with shielded magnets - I noticed compass problems on my last boat, switching to shielded speakers did the trick. Don't know about the Bose 151's, Poly Plannar makes a number of waterproff 'marine' speakers with shielded magnets that seem to work well and minimize compass isues. I think they use shielding and a canceling system of some kind.
I'm installing box speakers in the cockpit (on the stern pulpit) since I can't come to grips with cutting holes in the cockpit.