Thursday, March 22, 2012

Finding The Best Marine Speakers Can Be A Real Challenge

By Petra Berg


Maritime environments create tough conditions detrimental to the workings and durability of music (audio) sound systems. Sound equipment for boats is specially designed to address these challenges. Particular attention is given to corrosion, dampness, sunlight and motion. These issues and their solutions can be highly technical making the selection of the best marine speakers for a vessel a difficult decision.

A wealth of information regarding alternative systems is available online. A good starting point is the websites maintained by the equipment manufacturers. These typically include full technical specifications as well as general information regarding product features and benefits.

One important point is that equipment designed for cars or homes are usually not suitable for installation on boats. Specifically, car and home speakers (audio systems) are not adequate for a boat setting. Corrosive attack from both salt and damp is perhaps the main problem. To deal with this corrosion issue, high quality systems are layered with tin.

Another deficiency of land-based audio systems is that they typically have paper cones that are not water resistant. By contrast, nautical systems usually incorporate a cone made from polypropylene. This plastic effectively resists moisture. Additionally, nautical audio systems typically have circuit boards that are specially coated with a protectant, have plated connections and positioned in a corrosion-resistant cover or chassis.

A maritime speaker unit typically includes the following features. First, the casing is made from 100% UV-stable, injection-molded plastic. Second, terminals are polarized and connection points are protected against corrosion by special plating (using tin or gold). Third, the cone is made from injection-molded polypropylene with UV inhibitors.

Fourth, the unit is internally equipped with full magnetic shielding. Fifth, specially designed mounting grilles and hardware is supplied with the unit. Finally, the best marine speakers are also supplied with a UV, salt and fog resistant thermo-plastic elastomer surround.




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