Marine tower speakers, also known as wakeboard tower speakers, are speakers designed to be mounted on the tower of a wakeboarding boat. The boat’s tower, or frame, not only helps elevate the towing of the wakeboarder, it can be used to mount awesome speakers to make your wakeboarding and water skiing experience more enjoyable.
Before you go out and purchase your marine tower speakers, keep these 5 fast facts in mind to ensure you make an informed decision!
1. Marine tower speakers can be single or double-barreled
Many manufacturers offer both single and double barrel tower speakers. Single barrel means that the unit only has one speaker while double-barrel units house two speakers. Just because one speaker has more speakers than the other, doesn’t mean that it will be inevitably louder. There are many cases of single barrel speakers, such as an 8″ speaker, actually being able to handle almost twice as much power than 6.5″ double-barrel speakers.
2. The process of installing marine tower speakers is fairly simple
After purchasing your tower speakers, attaching the marine tower speakers to your boat’s tower is a fairly straightforward process. You will have to drill holes on your tower, then you feed the wires through the tower to the base of the tower where you will then connect those wires to your amplifier. Then you will mount them using either the provided clamps or the ones you purchased. Simply clamp the tower speakers and secure the bolts in your desired location. To speed up the process make sure to have someone else there to help you. For a detailed look on how to properly install these speakers, make sure to read our full step-by-step how-to article.
3. Not all tower speakers have the mounts included
It is important to note that not all tower speakers actually have the mounting clamps included in the box. Some speakers will use universal mounting clamps that are included while other manufacturers will require you to also buy specific clamps for different size diameters. This also means that if you ever want to move these speakers over to a different boat, you will have to buy another set of clamps to fit the specifications of that new boat.
4. Make sure you have a powerful enough amplifier
Besides getting your speakers mounted to the tower, you will need to wire them to your boat’s amplifier to get up and running. If your boat already has an amplifier pre-installed, you might want to look at upgrading it something more powerful. Many tower speakers require large amounts of power to allow them to perform at their best. There are some tower speakers that can handle 300 Watts RMS or more for each speaker. Therefore, you need to be careful when selecting which amplifier you decide to buy. You will also want to pay close attention to the impedance of your tower speakers (most are typically 4 ohms). This will help you find an amplifier that can output enough power at the correct impedance. At Sonic Electronix we have a wide variety of marine amplifiers to choose from. We have everything from monoblock amplifiers to power a single speaker, all the way up to 8-channel amplifiers.
5. Some tower speakers have pre-installed LED lights
One way to quickly make your boat stand out is by using RGB LED lighting. It will completely change the entire look of your boat at dusk and at night. Similar to regular marine speakers, there are many tower speaker options that come with built-in LED lights. This will allow you to change the color of speakers at any moment with just the push of a button.
Wakeboarding and water skiing can be a blast on their own. Adding music to the mix through marine tower speakers can really amplify the energy and excitement throughout the day and boating season. These 5 fast facts have ideally shed some light on what to look for and consider when purchasing your next marine tower speakers!
