# Outdoor Speaker Replacement



## TwoElkhounds

The outdoor speakers included on our 2012 301BQ Outback are pretty pathetic. The sound really bad and you can hear the distortion even at low volume levels. I finally got around to looking for a replacement for these speakers, but it is not easy since the speakers are mounted in a plastic case and the speaker and grills are an integral unit. The grill had to be 6 inches in diameter, no bigger, no smaller. Speakers had to be of reasonable quality, not high end, just reasonable. It is a trailer after all and cranking up the music is normally not something we would do. There are not many options out there. Standard boat sizes appear to be 6.5 inches, too big. There are 5.25 inch speakers, but the grills are about 6.25 to 6.5 inches in diameter, maybe it could work, but it would look a little clunky.

I eventually found a set of 5 inch speakers made by Poly-Planar, Titanium Series, Model MA-8505, three way speakers. Cost is about $90 on Amazon. They are pretty much a direct replacement for the stock speakers. Grills are exactly 6 inches in diameter and the mounting holes pretty much line up with the existing holes in the speaker flange (require a bit of elongating). The only major modification that you have to make is to cut a hole in the side of the trailer for the much larger magnet on the speaker. Really not a big deal since it is inside the flange.

Below is a picture of the stock speaker and the Poly-Planar replacement. The stock Outback speaker has a max power of 25 Watts, the new Poly-Planar speaker is 200 Watts.



Here is a picture of the hole I cut to accommodate the larger magnet.



The finished product, looks stock.



They sound much better than the stock speakers, maybe not as good as I would like, but they are only 5 inch speakers. The grills are held in by friction, which is not good for the road. I plan to get a couple small SS screws that I will use to secure the grills to the speaker frame. Overall about as perfect a replacement as you could ever find.

Now, if I could just find a straight replacement of the crap Jenson stereo/DVD player they put in these trailers I would be set.







Anyone know of a replacement that has three selectable output channels, one for the living room, one for the bedroom, and one for outside?

DAN


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## TwoElkhounds

One more picture, stock speaker on the left, replacement speaker on the right.


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## mybad

robertized said:


> A buddy of mine has a 09 Keystone Hornet and his speakers went out so he ordered new speakers and yes they were bigger than the originals. The trim was about 7" overall so I guess they were 6" speakers and they also had larger magnets. He asked me to help him out so I had to figure out a new base to house the new speakers. My solution was to use a 6" SCH 40 PVC coupling cut in half and the overall diameter is right at 7" lucky me. I cut a 1" long piece of 6" PVC and glued it inside the coupling to make the end thicker where the speaker mounting screws needed to go. His trailer has aluminum siding so I had to cut the siding to the size of the coupling so it could be mounted to the wood wallboard underneath, and could be caulk for a watertight finish. I looked at the bases on my trailer and I believe with a little engineering they could be used in conjunction with the 6" PVC coupling to allow for larger and better speaker applications. Good Luck.


as in my thread on this, schoche has an adapter to do that they make 1" adapter to move speakers away from the wall that have larger magnets. i have the repiept in my trailer and can get the part # off that if you need it. they are black so i painted them with crylon fusion gloss white paint.

Andy..


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## pep_

Did you buy them online Andy? and if so where? I bought some nice marine speakers but same issue, deeper magnet and was trying to figure out how add on or replace the adapter. Thanks



mybad said:


> as in my thread on this, schoche has an adapter to do that they make 1" adapter to move speakers away from the wall that have larger magnets. i have the repiept in my trailer and can get the part # off that if you need it. they are black so i painted them with crylon fusion gloss white paint.
> 
> Andy..


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## iflawdya

pep_ said:


> as in my thread on this, schoche has an adapter to do that they make 1" adapter to move speakers away from the wall that have larger magnets. i have the repiept in my trailer and can get the part # off that if you need it. they are black so i painted them with crylon fusion gloss white paint.
> 
> Andy..


[/quote]
Part number would be great! I have the same problem with large magnet. Thanks!


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## cdawrld

iflawdya said:


> as in my thread on this, schoche has an adapter to do that they make 1" adapter to move speakers away from the wall that have larger magnets. i have the repiept in my trailer and can get the part # off that if you need it. they are black so i painted them with crylon fusion gloss white paint.
> 
> Andy..


[/quote]
Part number would be great! I have the same problem with large magnet. Thanks!
[/quote]

Search Amazon. They have several sizes.


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