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I am in the middle of working on a 2023 R4 Surf Build and have asked the dealer a few questions regarding options/lighting, etc. He was told by Cobalt rep that Roswell will no longer be supplying audio components for 2023 builds. They are being replaced with Harmon Kardon. What I don't know if that is for both Premium and Platinum options, or just Platinum.

To me this is an upgrade. Harmon owns the JBL and Infinity brands and has many more decades of experience building speakers than Roswell. Also remember how much noisier the boat environment is anytime the engine is on compared to a car. The high end JBL/Infinity/Harmon marine speakers are plenty of quality for a boat and any serious audiophile won’t find factory speakers from Cobalt or any other boat manufacture that won’t need upgrading after they take delivery.

MnLakeBum wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:56 am To me this is an upgrade. Harmon owns the JBL and Infinity brands and has many more decades of experience building speakers than Roswell. Also remember how much noisier the boat environment is anytime the engine is on compared to a car. The high end JBL/Infinity/Harmon marine speakers are plenty of quality for a boat and any serious audiophile won’t find factory speakers from Cobalt or any other boat manufacture that won’t need upgrading after they take delivery.

We can only hope. I pd extra 1800 for the upgrade in my SUV and HK sounds like A tin can very disappointed. The base alpine in my 2019 sounded way better. Just saying.

I'm no audiophile, but I do appreciate a good stereo. When you talk about acoustic environment - a boat has to be the absolute worst. All this high end speaker is just marketing. Are you really going to be listening to can really capitalize on the high end acoustics in a boat? No, you're going to be listening to party music at a higher than average volume level. All you need is a speaker that can tolerate high wattage without distorting.

I was told the same by my dealer. He claimed that Cobalt believes that the new system will provide an enhanced audio experience. I agree that the boat environment is the worst for listening and so such a change will likely not be noticed (unless the subwoofer(s) provide more of a punch).

I agree and disagree. My boat sounds system sounds better than my home and car stereo. Yes I have more money into my boat Stereo as well. When I'm in the garage I can get the full effect. Out on the water I'll still say it sounds great. I've been on plenty and I'll still Say if it's a nice system it sounds great. You could go back to the old Sony days. Those sounded bad when new and sound worse 15 years later. Lol

I agree that the Cobalt sound systems sounds better than many and especially good for a boat environment. For that reason I crank mine in the dock on the lift for those sitting on the dock.

Big Block Power wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 1:00 pm

We can only hope. I pd extra 1800 for the upgrade in my SUV and HK sounds like A tin can very disappointed. The base alpine in my 2019 sounded way better. Just saying.

I think the main reason our HK sounds so good is the the Mercedes SUV we have is SO quiet.

Krob1114 wrote: Sat Mar 05, 2022 5:16 am

Big Block Power wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 1:00 pm

We can only hope. I pd extra 1800 for the upgrade in my SUV and HK sounds like A tin can very disappointed. The base alpine in my 2019 sounded way better. Just saying.

I think the main reason our HK sounds so good is the the Mercedes SUV we have is SO quiet.

It's a diesel silly

I pulled the Kicker speakers out of my boat a couple years ago and put in Roswell, and don't consider them "mid-level" by any stretch. I preferred them slightly over JL audio after listening to a bunch of options, but used a JL audio amp to power them. There's no such thing as a Scan Speak marine speaker driver, so the audio nuts among us are a bit limited in available marine speaker brands, but I'd put Roswell right near the top.

Big Block Power wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 1:00 pm We can only hope. I pd extra 1800 for the upgrade in my SUV and HK sounds like a tin can very disappointed. The base alpine in my 2019 sounded way better. Just saying.

I pulled the Harman Kardon speakers out of my car too (the little aluminum dome tweeter especially was just too harsh), and upgraded to Eton (a German driver manufacturer). Big upgrade. Biggest issue is the DSP in the audio system was also programmed by Harman Kardon to match their drivers, so some passive crossover design and careful equalization were also needed.

jhnmdahl wrote: Sat Mar 05, 2022 8:27 am

Big Block Power wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 1:00 pm We can only hope. I pd extra 1800 for the upgrade in my SUV and HK sounds like a tin can very disappointed. The base alpine in my 2019 sounded way better. Just saying.

I pulled the Harman Kardon speakers out of my car too (the little aluminum dome tweeter especially was just too harsh), and upgraded to Eton (a German driver manufacturer). Big upgrade. Biggest issue is the DSP in the audio system was also programmed by Harman Kardon to match their drivers, so some passive crossover design and careful equalization were also needed.

Yes I had to turn off surround sound that helped. Try not to listen to Sirius that's worse. Turn the treble way down. I heard going from a 8 to a 10 inch sub helps. I think it's a 8 inch in the now. But it's painful to listen too at a low volume. If you crank it up it's much much better.

Back in my 20's, I competed in car stereo competitions for a few years, and IMO, none of the factory systems that come in boats are anything special, including the Platinum system in my 2018 R5 Surf. Again, it's such a noisy environment that spending big $$$$ on audio is somewhat of a waste as the engines and wind drown out the sound. The co-ax speakers are fine, but the sub is weak on my R5 and worthy of an upgrade this summer.

The problem with the runabout boats most of us own is it's not an enclosed space, so it takes way more sub(s) and sub amp(s) to approach even 50% of the amount of bass response you can get in the enclosed space of a car with just a single 12" high-end sub. Some of my reasoning for me not going through the expense of installing a couple quality 15" subs and a $2000 amp to drive them properly, is the end result would be my three teenage/college-age kids and their friends attracting even more attention from the sheriff and DNR than they already do.

If I had a big(40+ foot) boat with an enclosed cabin where I'd be listening to music anchored for long periods with just a generator running, I'd likely go all out and put the same Focal ES 165KX2 speakers and matching sub that I have in my car. I was able to get those two items for $1,450 on eBay, and the local dealer that did the stereo installation wanted $2,250 for them. All together, my car system was about $6k, but the fabrication for the fiberglass sub box was expensive($1,200) and complicated. These Focal speakers blow away any factory speaker/subwoofer combo Cobalt or any other boat OEM will ever offer, so I suppose the smart thing to do for a new boat buyer is to skip the $6,400 Cobalt($9,200 with tower speakers) is charging for their "Platinum Sound" as $4,000-$5,000 spent on aftermarket speakers/amps plus about $2,500 for installation would get you a lot better sound.

Of course captain's call is the best of sounds on the water.

VTENGR wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 2:38 pm I'm no audiophile, but I do appreciate a good stereo. When you talk about acoustic environment - a boat has to be the absolute worst. All this high end speaker is just marketing. Are you really going to be listening to can really capitalize on the high end acoustics in a boat? No, you're going to be listening to party music at a higher than average volume level. All you need is a speaker that can tolerate high wattage without distorting.

+1

You can certainly like the sound you get, but as VTENGR notes, the acoustic environment in a boat,
especially in a running boat, sucks (technical term for "is less than optimal"). I'll spend my money on
my home system, and just try to enjoy the music as best I can when on the water. To each his own,
however.

I really hate that they are dumping the Roswells. These are really great speakers, IMHO but I have had HK's for my house once upon a time and they also sounded amazing so I'm curious now!