Upgrade to 6.5" Outdoor Speakers

[jimmyv13]

My wife and I enjoy listening to music everywhere we go and the outdoor speakers on our TT were simply not cutting it. I found a great deal on 3 sets of 6.5" JBL marine speakers, two sets for the boat and one for the trailer. I know the outdoor enclosures on the trailer will not work for 6.5"...so I am hunting for ways to make the bigger speakers work. My initial thought was getting a bigger enclosure, but haven't found anything after a 30 minute Internet search. I then began thinking about an adapter/spacer...so I don't know which would work better. I can't possibly be the only person to go to a larger outdoor speaker, am I?

The trailer is used quite a bit on our property all summer with very few people around. It is grand central station for the other family members that reside on the property....we are ALL teachers and enjoy our summers on a fairly remote island in the Upper Peninsula of MI.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[JRTJH]

I'm not sure what you would need to do, but as an observation, the enclosures on most "quality speakers" act as a part of the speaker by enhancing the sound and helping the speaker be more efficient and "true to tone". If you start modifying the enclosure or trying to work around not using one, you may find that the new "better" speakers reproduce sound even less appealing than the factory speakers.

There are many marine speaker assemblies that do have waterproof enclosures and would mount easily on your RV. It may be that you would need to get the new complete surface mount assemblies rather than use the "bare speakers" that you bought.

[jimmyv13]

Thanks for the reply, John. I am not against getting new surface mount enclosures, in fact, I'd prefer it...problem is, I can't find any. This would be the easiest method and probably cheaper than having an audio shop modify the existing enclosures for the larger speakers. I know the existing enclosures can be modified with some fiberglass work, but I do no possess the skills to do so.

[f6bits]

If your setup is like mine, you have A, B, and C speakers, with the B set being unallocated. If you've got the time for a project, set up an outside connection for the B speakers and plug your boxed 6.5s in to that. You'll still have your stock outside speakers when needed, and the ability to use your louder setup.

[jimmyv13]

I do have the A, B, C audio control system, but all three "channels" are used. A is for the living room, B is the bedroom and C is the outdoor.

[JRTJH]

I looked for speaker enclosures (actually just round plastic cylinders) to mount a set of speakers in our RZR ATV. I couldn't find anything that would work, so finally gave up and bought the Polaris speaker setup for too much money. WAAAAAYYYY back when we had our Holiday Rambler, I wanted to put outside speakers on it and finally had to go to a set of "square box type" speakers mounted up under the awning to help shield them from rain and sun. The problem I then had was the "factory stereo" didn't have enough power to drive the Bose outdoor setup, so the next step was buying a new inside unit with enough amplification to drive them, that caused "issues" with the cheap indoor speakers, overdriving them.....

To make a long story short, by the time I replaced it all to get the decent outside sound, I'd spent well more than my DW was happy with. That was a long summer with "limited beer funds" <sigh> :p

JBL, Bose, Klipsh all make great outdoor speaker assemblies, but they are "square boxes" mounted with "C" type hangers. They will work if mounted properly, but you may find the Jensen just won't cut it......

[Randy_K]

The problem I then had was the "factory stereo" didn't have enough power to drive......

Hit the nail on the head. without more power to drive the new speakers you will not gain much , if anything.

Randy

[CUFFS054]

This is very much the same as the oven igniter issue (Thanks again Trucker Larry!) There is not a high powered "sound system" that will replace the Jensons. I want to keep the radio,dvd and the 3 speaker zones. Surely, since the big Jenson is pushing $400 they could tweak the amps and charge $500. I'm jusy saying...