If you can’t understand your speakers, it’s not good!
If you find yourself in a nasty situation when you urgently need to communicate with someone – whether it is the USCG or just someone on shore to relay urgent information – I’d say it is critical that you are able to understand what is being said through your speakers. You may have the best radio in the world, but if they are not doing the job for you, you might as well not even have ANY speakers! Marine speakers have improved so much in recent years (and they aren’t even expensive) that it is foolish not to upgrade your speakers so they will not be the “weak link” in an emergency situation with a bunch of crackling, distortion, or simply breaking up. I have an acquaintance with a very expensive boat. In just the past couple of months he took out the factory installed speakers and upgraded his system with marine speakers just so he could listen more clearly to what was being sent to the speakers – both his favorite music as well as communications. Take advantage of today’s techology. Happy Boater.