What's the Best Hot Tub

Author Topic: Anyone try SpaAudio II?  (Read 6893 times)

LittleBlaine

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Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2006, 09:36:54 am »
Here's an owner's perspective.  I bought an '06 Grandee with SpAudio II a couple of months ago.  I didn't even know about the new version when I ordered the tub, but that's what it came with.  The dealer said I was their first installation of the new system.

The external speakers are black and fairly large, and come with angled mounting brackets that can make the speaker face whichever way you want.  My tub is half under a second floor deck, and I had them mounted on the deck floor beams slightly behind the tub, pointed towards the center and about 7ft high.  I'll be happy to take a picture if anyone wants to see what that looks like.  The installers did a very good job burying the cables and bringing them up to the speakers through pillars so that they're hardly noticeable.  There are no markings on the speakers indicating brand.

The CD player is a sony marine grade stereo, seems fairly high-end, can play MP3-encoded CDs and is XM satellite-ready - which I take to mean that you can add an XM module which you can then control through the stereo's head end.  The unit is mounted at the front-left corner of the tub, and pops out by pushing the cover door in, just enough to reveal the face of the stereo.  It looks solid and well-integrated.  The face of the unit comes off, and I tend to take it off when I'm not at the house for more than a day as a security measure, since the stereo door doesn't lock.

The internal speakers do a pretty good job filling the spa with sound, and if you pay attention you can locate where the sound comes from, but there's no "bad" spots in the hot tub where one speaker overwhelms the other.  I usually keep just the internal speakers on when I don't want to disturb the neighbors, and the sound remains fairly localized with moderate volumes so that I'm comfortable playing the stereo with just internal speakers even late at night.  The bass is booming and well defined, but the high frequencies are muffled.  You really can feel the sound vibrating on your body.

The external speakers sound surprisingly good, and are much louder than the internal ones.  To keep them balanced, I usually set the internal volume to 8-12 and the external volume to 2-4.  They add a lot to the sound clarity, especially at high frequencies.  As mentioned before, the equalization as well as the volume can be set independently for the external and internal speakers (there are 5 preset eq settings for each).

The dealer did not charge me extra for the II than what they originally wrote on the invoice for Spaudio I, which was $1625.  To be honest, knowing what I know now (and I hadn't listened to either SpAudio before ordering), I would have been disappointed with SpAudio I, but love the II.  The external speakers are a very good addition, and make the price of the system more palatable.

This is my first post here and the Grandee is my first tub, which I'm enjoying immensely!  I'll be glad to provide any additional information.

Hot Tub Forum

Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2006, 09:36:54 am »

Chas

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Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2006, 10:13:55 am »
Quote
Here's an owner's perspective.  I'll be glad to provide any additional information.
Great post. Thanks, and welcome to spatopia. May you soak long and prosper.

8)
Former HotSpring Dealer - Southern Cal.

Spatech_tuo

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Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2006, 10:52:37 am »
Quote
Here's an owner's perspective.  I bought an '06 Grandee with SpAudio II a couple of months ago.  I didn't even know about the new version when I ordered the tub, but that's what it came with.  The dealer said I was their first installation of the new system.

The external speakers are black and fairly large, and come with angled mounting brackets that can make the speaker face whichever way you want.  My tub is half under a second floor deck, and I had them mounted on the deck floor beams slightly behind the tub, pointed towards the center and about 7ft high.  I'll be happy to take a picture if anyone wants to see what that looks like.  


It sounds like you've got a nice setup so please do post pictures.
220, 221, whatever it takes!

Chas

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Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2006, 11:04:48 am »
Mendo -

Yes, you certainly can put together a system for less. But this system is for folks who don't want to have to do that. This system is also for folks who want the music right in the water with them, and who want the system to be integrated into the spa. By that I mean the remote runs both spa and music, ETL has certified the whole system, all gounding/safety issues have been factored in, the system is built right into the cabinet with the obvious exception of the external speakers of course.

As to wattage: I just got off the phone with the tech support guys. They said that we will be putting the Spaudio II amps in as replacements after they use up the I - talking about warranty work here - so the two primary channels are going to the be same and the external channels have a switch to disable them. I was transfered next to engineering department: voice mail. I am going to send an email and I'll post the response.
Former HotSpring Dealer - Southern Cal.

Mendocino101

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Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #19 on: May 23, 2006, 11:48:39 am »
Chas,
Please note I was not suggesting it is not a good system....but for several reasons I am not a fan of a system in a spa.. As I mentioned before my personal feelings about them...I was only drawn into the discussion because of the mentioning of how many watts are in the system and based on my experience 300 watts per channel x 2 or someone even mentioned x4 is a lot of power and something I would be really surprised to find accurate ....I think the remote and the ability to control both the spa and sound is something many manufacturers offer.

Chas

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Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #20 on: May 23, 2006, 11:55:30 am »
We're cool.

;D
Former HotSpring Dealer - Southern Cal.

Hot Tub Forum

Re: Anyone try SpaAudio II?
« Reply #20 on: May 23, 2006, 11:55:30 am »

 

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