New gear has changed my mind about cockpit speakers--unfortunately too late to stop me from ripping big holes in the cockpit and installing permanent speakers of low quality and disappointing sound.
Maybe if the sound were better I'd use them more. But not sailing in good air. Generally music seems right while lazing along in 8 knots, or in the slip when Manhattans are being poured. The boat is stable then, no need to have everything nailed down.
If that's the case, this bluetooth JBL portable speaker, mentioned several times recently, really does fill the bill. Waterproof. No wires. Battery life almost 10 hours. Recharges off a wall socket. No holes in the boat. Well under $100.
And the sound is really good, no kidding. There's a speaker on top, and one under the base. They work in concert to again illustrate the advances in speaker design and miniaturization we have all noticed, and can easily apply to our boats.
Also: there's no worse audio quality than that of a small flat-screen TV as may be found in the kitchen, or the saloon of a live-aboard sailboat. One of these solves that, too: merely plug in with a $5 two-channel stereo cable.
Maybe if the sound were better I'd use them more. But not sailing in good air. Generally music seems right while lazing along in 8 knots, or in the slip when Manhattans are being poured. The boat is stable then, no need to have everything nailed down.
If that's the case, this bluetooth JBL portable speaker, mentioned several times recently, really does fill the bill. Waterproof. No wires. Battery life almost 10 hours. Recharges off a wall socket. No holes in the boat. Well under $100.
And the sound is really good, no kidding. There's a speaker on top, and one under the base. They work in concert to again illustrate the advances in speaker design and miniaturization we have all noticed, and can easily apply to our boats.
Also: there's no worse audio quality than that of a small flat-screen TV as may be found in the kitchen, or the saloon of a live-aboard sailboat. One of these solves that, too: merely plug in with a $5 two-channel stereo cable.