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I have a 2015 Cobalt 220 and need to replace head unit as it has no bluetooth. It is a sony unit and it has a sony remote at the dash. Going back and forth on doing a big upgrade with amp and new speakers or just upgrading the head unit and see if i am happy with that. Anyway, how are the speakers wired to the head unit? It has 6 speakers. Does cobalt usually wire 1 pair to the front and 2 pairs to the rear channel? I know i can crawl behind the unit and look or just use the fader but I am at work now and just trying to think this through so any help is appreciated.

Thanks

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Hey d99.
Yes wired in parallel with the front speakers and rear speakers on two separate channels for fade capability.

Option one—the four cockpit speakers are connected to the rear channel and the two bow speakers on the front channel.

Another option—the rear cockpit speakers are connected to the rear channel and the front two cockpit plus two bow speakers are connected to the front channel.

We did our stereo upgrade in phases. The first change we made was replacing the older Sony Xplod head unit with a Sony MX100BT for Bluetooth capability.

Not sure about your budget but we gradually continued the upgrade eventually replacing the Sony unit with a RF PMX-5CAN unit and remotes for even more capability like zone and subwoofer control connected to separate amps for inside and outside boat audio.


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I've basically done what Aslan is describing too - replacing things in phases, with this summer's project being a six channel amplifier, each driving a new speaker using newly-run speaker wire. Not a massive project, but a big upgrade in sound quality.

Head unit alone should be easier - maybe a couple hours, more if you end up running a cable for a new remote to the helm or the transom.

John

jhnmdahl wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 8:09 am I've basically done what Aslan is describing too - replacing things in phases, with this summer's project being a six channel amplifier, each driving a new speaker using newly-run speaker wire. Not a massive project, but a big upgrade in sound quality.

Head unit alone should be easier - maybe a couple hours, more if you end up running a cable for a new remote to the helm or the transom.

John

John,

Any pictures of running the new speaker wire? I will admit I haven't really gotten much chance to crawl around on the boat and look how the wiring is run! Any tips on how you ran everything would be great!

It's so much easier than I thought it would be - 90% of it is just reaching up under the gunwale of the boat, wherever you can get at it (speaker holes, under the bench seating, behind the flip-up benches in front of the left and right consoles, or right out in the open in the rear cockpit of my boat). I have a couple pictures here: viewtopic.php?p=80012 and plan to take a few more if the rest of my parts ever arrive.