2001 SAN Speaker Upgrade

[ohiowake2]

Can you guys tell me if I can replace the original speakers with some 6.5" Kicker LED speakers? Thanks for any info.

[MLA]

Im sure you can, but it may not be a straight forward plug and play.

[ohiowake2]

What part might not be straight forward? The 6.5" speakers or the LED part? I have not gone out and measured the speakers to know for sure if the 6.5 would fit.

[core-rider]

If it is all still stock none of it will be exactly straight forward. The factory speakers are mounted from the rear and you will need to front mount the new speaker which requires longer screws with a nut on the back side to hold the speakers in place. There are a few DIY threads showing how to. The driver's well speaker will only fit a 5 1/4" speaker in the recessed area, but there are a few that have installed 6 1/2" speakers with modifications.

Here is one I found quickly... http://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/fo...ck-panel/page2

Getting the LEDs to work will require you to run power wire to all speakers from some kind of switched source. None of that will be factory installed. There should be multiple threads on how to do that as well.

[MLA]

What part might not be straight forward? The 6.5" speakers or the LED part? I have not gone out and measured the speakers to know for sure if the 6.5 would fit.

I did not want to presume how your boat speakers are installed. if they are back loaded behind the coaming pads with the cloth grills over them, then no, it will not be a straight forward swap to front load the speakers on top of the coaming pads. The new speakers will require a 5" mounting hole and clearance for a 7" dia grill. Your current speaker may have a smaller cutout and there may not be room for the larger grill. Your speaker wire may not be up to par, especially if you plan to add an external am.

LEDs: if you want to take advantage of the RGB LEDs that come on the Kicker, im assuming you have the new KM65 with RGB and not the discontinued KM6200 or KM130, you needs to string a 4 conductor all the way around the boat from one speaker to the next, to the helm. Then wire up the RGB controller to B+ and B- and wire up the LED lead. If you only want to do a single color, you only need a 2 conductor all the way around the boat and wire it to B- and a switched B+.

[ohiowake2]

I was going to get the KM6130 as I can get a good price on them. Sounds like you may not recommend those. I was going to get 6 and replace the 4 main in the boat and I have the two fake speakers with cloth in the bow but no speakers there so I would add some there as well. So it is not as easy as buying the new 6.5" speakers and replacing the factory speakers.

[ohiowake2]

Is there a better size and brand to go with to replace the factory speakers in your opinions?

[ohiowake2]

Reading core-riders post I think it sounds ok to do. Just will take some extra work. I think in the long run it will make for much better sound through out the boat

[MLA]

I was going to get the KM6130 as I can get a good price on them. Sounds like you may not recommend those. I was going to get 6 and replace the 4 main in the boat and I have the two fake speakers with cloth in the bow but no speakers there so I would add some there as well. So it is not as easy as buying the new 6.5" speakers and replacing the factory speakers.

The only down side i have to the KM6130 is their .5" tweeter compared to the KM6200 or new KM654 with thier .75" dome tweeter. They are a good solid marine speaker, dont get me wrong, they will last for a long time as they are built well. From a sound quality aspect, the .75" or larger 1" dome tweeter is a better speaker. So it comes down to what you fell is a good deal.

Those speakers are recessed behind the coaming pad in a tunnel. Its a lit of a job to mount them to the front in a more conventional manor and do away with the old cloth grill and tunnel. Worth it though, especially when you add some LEDs

[a0128]

While we have slightly different boats (mine is a 1999 Pro Air) the process of speaker replacement is very similar. Once you remove the coaming pad the speaker area will look something like this (this is a picture of my old right rear speaker area).



Once I removed the old speaker and the cardboard enclosure, cutout the cloth grill, I installed the new speaker onto the coaming pad using SS screws through the foam and the starboard. Cleaned up the area behind the coaming pad and remounted it.



I used 6.5" JL Audio MX650 speakers. The speaker design is optimized to operate with a large volume of air behind it and it fit perfectly in the original cutout on the coaming pad. I did not have to enlarge the hole. I drive the 4 in-boat speakers with a JL Audio XD400/4 amp. The MX650's don't come with LEDs.

The coaming pad, while not hard to remove, did present a challenge. On mine there were approximately 7 bolts on the starboard side and 9 on the port side. I had to get both hands up there, one to work the wrench and one to hold the bolt with vice-grip pliers to keep it from spinning. Apparently CC used silicone on the ends of the bolts to keep the nuts from backing off over time. The nut will get hung up on the silicone and spin the bolt. Why they didn't use a SS lock washer is beyond me, but I included one on each bolt when I reattached the coaming pad.

Your lower driver trim panel is different than mine. On mine I removed the panel and the old speaker and reinstalled the MX650.



The rest of the installation looks like this: