Music is all around us. It can relax, excite and thrill us in equal measure. However, it can also annoy! So how can we get more from our music without negatively impacting others’ enjoyment while afloat? Join Carl Hynes as he reaches for the controls …

I am a melomaniac. Music inhabits my very bones and always has. I use music to relax, trigger memories and give me an energetic lift when needed. Having been raised in a musical family, I love all genres, from orchestral to guitar-based rock, high-energy electronica and everything in between. I realised my obsession at an early age and have always tried to keep it under control, and I have never knowingly annoyed my neighbours by playing music too loud in the garden, on the beach or around the house.

© Sea Ray / Richard Steinberger. Sea Ray Sundancer 320

Imagine the thrill of enjoying your favourite tunes as part of your boating adventure without causing any disturbance. The key to this is understanding and recognising good-quality sound reproduction. The most distressing music reproduction is that from a distorted source. Distortion is horrible to listen to and can damage your ears. Without it, one can interpret sound, especially music, even when played at low levels. Good-quality sound should allow the listener to pick out individual instruments without too much effort.

Fusion audio display © Sea Ray / Richard Steinberger

Listening to music on a boat presents a unique challenge. Open spaces swallow sound, and we also have engine noise, the roar of wind in our ears and the sound of the hull against water to contend with. Our natural response to these factors is to turn the volume up, but this is where the key problem lies. Simply competing on loudness with other sounds is the fastest way to madness.

Fusion Apollo RA700

Fusion Apollo SRX400

The human brain is highly complex. Our auditory system is naturally very good at filtering ‘noise’ so that we can analyse sound. This comes from a primal fight-or-flight response. This ability makes us run away from a roaring, dangerous beast or towards a sound that suggests safety, tranquillity or even easy prey! However, our senses can become overrun when exposed to high noise levels.

Speakers can be positioned out of the way but will be still very effective. © Sea Ray / Richard Steinberger

These Fusion speakers have ambient lighting. © Sea Ray / Richard Steinberger

The noise you make inside your boat will not travel far outside, provided the sounds emitted are kept to reasonable levels. Bass will transmit through walls and bulkheads, however. I am sure we have all been in situations where we have struggled to get to sleep as someone somewhere was producing lots of bass tones without any high-frequency content for it to make any sense. So, keep the bass under control to avoid distressing others.

Listening on deck is more challenging. The following elements will set you on the right path to listening pleasure, even at low volumes.

Water resistant full-range Hertz speaker

Separate Hertz Amplifier 8” subwoofer mounted out of the way

Clean up the source

In the digital world, there are many sources from which we can play our music. Hopefully, we are now all beyond low-resolution MP3 and are streaming from higher-quality sources. If yours is not of reasonable quality, no end of money spent or care taken will make it sound good. In most cases, people use a mobile phone to deliver their music. This is fine, but the quality of the phone is just one consideration. Most are perfectly capable of reproducing distortion-free music.

Hertz 10” Subwoofer

Hertz Coaxial speaker with Cone lighting

Music itself can be stored on a mobile in different formats. You may be forced to play downloaded music files on the water, especially in areas with poor mobile connectivity. Make sure these are of as high a quality as possible. WAV files are preferable, although they take up quite a lot of memory. FLAC files come a close second. FLAC is a form of digital compression, but full quality is reinstated when your head unit receives the data. Increasingly, and where possible, music lovers like to stream music from an online service via an app. There are many streaming services around, such as Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, etc.; however, there are better-quality services that will improve listening enjoyment. My personal favourites are Tidal and Qobuz. The holy grail for music enthusiasts is Hi-Res. The Japan Audio Society (JAS) defines Hi-Res as having a word depth of 24 bits at a minimum sampling frequency of 96kHz. Devices that deliver music files to this specification will provide more life, better timbre and more detail, giving enhanced fidelity even at low volumes. The much-increased dynamic range from Hi-Res content helps listeners hear details in a recording that they may not notice at a lower resolution. This adds clarity and precision and reduces distortion.

Fusion Apollo RA700 and speaker package

Solid connections

Depending on your craft of choice, it may not be easy to connect your source device to the head unit with wires. Bluetooth has become much better at delivering music than in the past. Many Android devices (e.g. Samsung, Sony, Pixel) use a Bluetooth CODEC called LDAC. A CODEC is simply a way for Bluetooth to handle large amounts of data, providing your head unit also has LDAC. This connection will enable you to stream your music in Hi-Res up to 24-bit 96kHz. You don’t have to worry too much about this as devices are filled with lots of CODECS and will sort themselves out, but if Hi-Res is what you are looking for, then awareness is handy. Apple does not have LDAC, and so the quality is inferior.

Hertz Clamp Speakers

Speak up

There are some great water-resistant speakers available these days. However, placement may compromise quality. Generally, high-frequency speakers (tweeters and coaxials) are ideally listened to ‘on-axis’, pointing directly toward the listener’s ears. Clamp-mounted speakers are handy for this purpose. Most speakers designed for mobile applications have an increased dispersion characteristic. This means they project a wider field of sound than home speakers.

Low frequencies are less directional. Subwoofers, for example, can be mounted anywhere and still add all the drama and excitement you need.

Power means control

The BHP of an engine may not always relate directly to the speed your boat will travel at, but it often corresponds to the amount of control it offers. In the same way, the power of an amplifier (quoted in watts) does not always lead to loudness.

Speakers and amplifiers work in perfect harmony to move air. The lower the frequency, the more power is required to move the air between speaker and ear. Power not only moves a speaker cone but also stops it. This is just as important for delivering a tight and honest reproduction of the music you are listening to.

Hertz Marine Amplifiers

In many cases, manufacturers will overstate the power of their products. They are not lying, just misleading. Often they do not present all of the vital information. Having worked extensively in car audio, I know that many head units in cars can run into 20% distortion at around 30% of volume! An external purpose-built amplifier will offer full specifications when quoting power. There are many different kinds of watts; the best are quoted in RMS with a low distortion figure (0.1% is typical).

Processing

Digital signal processing (DSP) is useful when speakers are mounted in less-than-perfect conditions. It can help to ensure that different frequencies are distributed appropriately through the speakers (tweeters, mid-range, woofers, subwoofers). Features such as time alignment and phase adjustment can help create a semblance of a stereo image, taking your enjoyment to higher levels.

DSP set-up on an iPad

Show restraint

When all of these elements are correctly aligned, there is no reason why you cannot achieve near hi-fi results and all the excitement you are looking for without disturbing the neighbours, beach users or wildlife.

You are the most significant influence on the disturbance caused by music on board, so try to be considerate and mindful of the environment around you. If you want it loud with loads of bass in your face, go to a gig or a nightclub!