I was having trouble with my boat (bow rider) stereo system. The bow speakers worked but the cockpit speakers, intermittently, did not.
I have a 7 speaker system; 2 bow, 4 cockpit, 1 subwoofer. There was one amp powering the cockpit and subwoofer and the head unit directly powered the bow speakers.
I had seen Nick of NW Marine Industries, LLC (Downeast on this forum) mentioned on the forum and gave him a call. Nick is a true craftsman. He understands how these things function and doesn’t just hook things up. He makes suggestions of what fits with what and the proper way to set things up. He is meticulous in his work and things are neat and tidy when he finishes. His philosophy is to “get it right the first time”.
Nick started by tracing wiring and checking voltage levels, which were NOT up to snuff. This was not an easy task because the wires were all bundled together and in very tight spaces. They also were intermingled with other wiring and combined duty circuit breakers. The wiring was WAY undersized to the amplifier and should have had a direct feed to the battery instead of hitchhiking on other wires. Undersized wires put strain on electrical components and generate extra heat. It turns out that my amp was fried. It’s 22 years old so maybe it was due to wear out but I suspect that the undersized wiring didn’t help. Also, the amp was only 4 channel and two channels were bridged to power the subwoofer.
The first pass was to upgrade wiring (marine grade) to proper gauges for the amp, run direct, fused lines to the battery for power, and replace the amp with a 5 channel amp to power the 4 cockpit speakers and the subwoofer. The outcome was MUCH better sound and a proper installation. I also added a bass fader (an option for the amp I got) for easy bass adjustment.
The second pass (which I intended to do before I found the stereo was busted) was to replace my head unit with a new unit that supports Bluetooth from my phone and USB flash drives. In addition, I decided to add a 2 channel amp for the bow speakers and a couple faders to allow easy balancing of the amps. The outcome was another improvement in overall sound and much more flexibility in music sources (I could have Pandora and Sirius XM as well if I wanted).
As I picked components Nick was available via email to provide information and review my choices for compatibility. At Nick’s suggestion, I did quite a bit of shopping on eBay and saved $200+.
The last phase (for now
) will be to replace my subwoofer, which is at end of life (cone is dried out and tearing), and to add a hidden antenna to boost FM reception a bit.
Also, my horn had died and Nick replaced that as well.
On top of all this knowledge and excellent work, Nick works at very reasonable rates and he is MOBILE; he came to me. The marina where I store my boat was very accommodating and let Nick work there.
As others have noted, Nick exceeded my expectations, was pleasure to work with, and a really nice guy.
Nick does all sorts of marine electronics work, trailer wiring, boat lift system repair, and some small engine work. Check out his web site or give him a call if you have questions.