# Marine speakers: bad idea in a car?



## JeanGoulet

I tend to notice that every car speaker I have ever owned, produce acceptable (to me) sound for 4-5 years in general, after that the distortion goes up and loudness goes down.


I attribute that to the harsh environment that my cars go through (-25 to +32 degrees, every year) plus various snow/ice/water spray infiltrations (inevitable).


I windsurf a lot (meaning it's often very windy and the rain comes in EVERYWHERE), and ski a lot (meaning the snow can get blown in EVERYWHERE). It's especially bad in my current car, the awesome Dodge Magnum, with the huge articulated hatch, in which the rear speakers are beginning to die. Hmm, the car is 4 years old, surprise.


So I am shopping for replacement 6x9 speakers. The OEM speakers, despite being installed as part of the Boston Acoustics Premium Sound package, are paper.


And a thought occurred to me. If harsh weather slowly kill car speakers, why not put in ruggedized speakers? Maybe they will last WAY longer? Then I realized, hey, that's what marine speakers are supposed to be!


So the questions are:

- are marine speakers designed to operate in sub-freezing temperatures (I guess this is what concerns me most)

- do marine speakers sound good at all?

- do marine speakers have the same general shape as regular car speakers (especially 6x9 speakers) [or will they be oversized and be a huge installation problem?]

- do marine speakers operate at the correct volume in a car (e.g. a 4-ohm car speaker vs. a 4-ohm marine speaker: same level roughly?)


I was looking at buying a car speaker (2-way Alpine Type-R SPR-69C, very highly rated in the Magnum, 89 dB sensitivity), but now am hesitating to get a marine speaker (

Infinity 6912M, 96 dB sensitivity).


Both are 6x9" 100W RMS, 2-Way speakers, with the marine being an extra $20.


Looking forward to hearing from the people with marine speaker experience!


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## wanrom

I would suggest a good old Moisture resistant speaker over a marine one. Being in a totally wet environment is one thing but having a speaker subjected to temperate extremes is another. As the cones on both types of speakers (moisture resistant and waterproof) are both going to be polypropene with generally a rubber type of surround, the difference may lay elsewhere. IE: a plastic basket over a metal one, black mounting screws vs. stainless mounting screws, a conventional magnet vs. a encapsulated magnet.


There are water resistant marine speakers and dedicated waterproof speakers. You need to look carefully at them to know the real difference. Most people see a white grill and it is automatically a marine speaker.


In your case I would go with a good standard moisture resistant speaker that is the right size and impedence for the application. If you are getting 4 years out of speakers in a car, you are doing something right. They wear out just like tires do.

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## aaron71

Though you'd have to check the specs on them, I'd imagine the marine speakers don't have as good of quality as the non-marine counterparts.


Might want to look into sealing the doors or what-have-you first. I ran some nice Polk speakers in my Jeep and they kept going underwater (which speakers don't seem to like!) so I went with marine speakers. They put up with my off-roading habits but the quality sound just wasn't there.


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