www.iFourWinns.com

Hello all, I am newly found Four Winns Horizon 180 Owner and new to this forum. After getting the boat home, the first thing I decided to do was I wanted to upgrade the stereo with a new deck, 4 new speakers(including speaker wires), and add an amp. I'm struggling with determining where to mount the amp and how the heck do I get to the rear speakers. They seem to be covered by some upholstry. Does anybody have any ideas/suggestions, n how easy/difficult this could be accomplished (especially replacing the old speaker wiring)?

Thanks in advance

I think my rear speakers are the same as yours, and they were a pain to take out. They have 4 screws I believe that go in from behind, and i ended up using a Phillips socket on a ratchet to get them out. It appears as though there are only some bolts that hold the entire upholstered speaker grate in place, but it was much easier to just take out the speaker by itself when I did it. One thing to make sure of it to be positive that the speakers you order have removable grates before you take the old ones out. I ordered some 4 new Sony's and didn't even think about it until after I removed all of the speakers, and it turns out that there was an extra tweeter built into the grate. I ended up just reinstalling the rears, and only put the new ones up front. Replacing the old speaker wiring shouldn't be too bad on the starboard side, you can just fish the wires right up the side cubby, under the carpeting, and there should be access to the inside of the hull right next to the console. The Port side will probably involve taking the wire forward to the bow, and either going around the seating, or trying to go under and across the ski locker.

Let me know if you find a easier way to get the rear speakers out, I may finally replace mine once and for all.

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2001 190 Horizon
Volvo Penta SX - 5.0GL
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I finally got it done. Your right the rear speakers are a pain!!! I got some Polk DB651s due to the speake mounting in the rear. When I was finally putting it all back together I found two of those bottom scres on the upholstry were either bent or stripped. I had to pull the molding off (remove the staples from the upholstry) and bend that molding out to get to the screws (another pain) and replace them then re-staple the fabric. As far as running the speaker wire, that wasn't too bad. had to get really small to try to get in behind the battery comparment. I ended up running the wire on the passenger's side up the front around the bow, and back to the helm. I used adhesive clips and heavy duty velcro to keep the speaker wires in place and off of the bottom because the anchor drains into the bilge. I mounted my amp underneath the dash and ran all my wires to that point.

After getting it all together, it sounds pretty damn good. Due to the time of year, I won't know for certain if I get engine noise due to the boat already being winterized. I did have to run the driver's side sepeaker wire along the bottom of the carpet and pulled the power cables for the amp along the same side, but zip tied them to the steering control arm (that runs along the top of that storage area.

I do want to add a sub this spring to really get the system to kick and put in another battery. Any ideas as far as where to put the sub??????? I have some and I am looking at those bazooka tubes.....

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2001 Horizon 180

One more thing...I f I knew how to add photos....I would.....

As far as the amp, I grounded it back to the battery due to not having a solid ground where I mounted it. Plus I used high quality Monster speaker wire with a Kicker amp kit. I'm hoping I don't get any engine whine when I start it up this spring!

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2001 Horizon 180

Good to hear that you got them installed. I had considered a bazooka tube, and maybe trying to put it under the back seat or under the bow seats(I think most of the sound would probably get lost up front). Ended up getting a Infinity BassLink to use for free, and wired it all up to keep it under the engine compartment due to it's square shape. Only downside is that it isn't a marine sub or amp so I have it set up so I can easily remove it after the weekend since the boat spends all of it's time on a lift. Let me know if you find a good place for a sub/a good marine sub. I also just ran my ground to the battery, figured that there really isn't any other good spot for a ground, and if you use good enough wire, it's probably as good as anywhere else since all the other ground points have to be wired to the back anyways.

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2001 190 Horizon
Volvo Penta SX - 5.0GL
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I'm thinking that basslink is going to be the way to go due to size and limited space. I've seen them through best buy and sonicelectronix.com and the prices are comparable. I actually got my 6.5s through sonicelectronix and they were cheaper than most. I'm going to keep researching through the winter and see what I find. If I find something good, I'll definately let you know.

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2001 Horizon 180