As boat prices climb, so do consumer expectations for marine audio. While boaters want what they’ve always wanted – great sound – the standard for what qualifies as “great” continues to evolve.
Consumers are increasingly prioritizing high-quality audio, whether they are buying new boats or upgrading existing systems. Much like the automotive industry years ago, when audio became a key feature as vehicles grew more tech-focused, boaters expect immersive sound without distortion.
“As boats get more integrated systems, boaters are expecting better sound to come with it,” said Jeremy Bale, national brand manager of Kicker. That means audio brands must deliver clear audio in a demanding environment at price points OEMs can also support.
Salt, spray, vibration, and sunlight push marine audio systems harder than most consumer electronics. Lee Teeples, vice president of new product development for Wet Sounds, emphasized the extensive product testing conducted to ensure products remain durable year after year.
“Salt spray is a huge test for us,” he said, “which is an accelerated test that represents how even the air on coastal regions can penetrate materials and destroy them. It’s pretty easy to say, ‘oh yeah, that stuff will destroy anything.’ But that’s not a good enough answer for the customers. We want them to be happy years on end.”
Teeples also pointed out that products must be able to handle prolonged high-volume use due to wind, water, and motor noise pollution. Because ultimately, the expectation is the same on the water as it is in the home. “You bought a boat; you expect it to hold up. The audio and electronics need to hold up as well,” he said.
Tuning and digital sound processing (DSP), which essentially shapes audio to sound “perfect” to the average listener, even if it’s not technically flawless, is where audio companies compete. Brands are focused on the psychology of how people experience sound, designing systems that adjust volume automatically, protect equipment during long, loud play, and ultimately deliver an enjoyable experience.
“Bass performance is the most demanding and where we see the most opportunity,” Teeples added. “Different boat styles and categories have different obstacles, and all suffer from being open to the environment which makes creating the bass that people have come to expect from automotive, theater, and home audio difficult.”
Boaters also expect seamless streaming, intuitive controls and integration with displays. But simplicity remains just as important.
To meet these needs, Kicker designs systems that work with digital displays and wireless controls, making installations easier while giving boaters simple, flexible control across the boat.
Wet Sounds has also kept pace with shifting expectations. “Bluetooth has been relevant for quite a while, and constantly improving range and speed is definitely a priority,” said Teeples. “Younger generations are even more accustomed to using things like AirPlay (Wi-Fi access to two components). Those things are kind of new to the industry, but definitely on the roadmap to advance our products.”
Wet Sounds first unveiled its Boat-to-Boat technology over a decade ago, allowing multiple vessels to link their systems and share the same audio. “That started as an accessory,” Teeples noted, “but it’s quickly becoming an expectation. So integrating some of that technology into the audio system from the get-go is definitely on the horizon.”
The bottom line – audio brands are chasing both integration and ease of use, ensuring boaters can control their systems as effortlessly on the water as they do in their living rooms.
Looks matter too. Wet Sounds addresses this with the announcement of a new look for its 2026 products. “Obviously, cosmetics don’t have anything to do with audio performance, but when it comes to the look, the feel, the boat, the pride of owning the product, offering something that’s updated and exciting looking is a huge part of it,” said Teeples.
Discoloring grills and screws that bleed rust are no longer acceptable.
Understanding who drives audio purchases is as important as delivering the product itself.
“It’s a weird mix from a consumer sentiment of what they want,” Bale said. “They expect it to work really well and always be there, but they don’t want to tinker with it at all. The ones that want to tinker with it will. That’s the DIY group. They’re going to be constantly adding to it, switching it, changing it around. But the bulk of customers just want it to work and always be there. So that combination of quality sound and durability and lasting products, those are the things we’ve noticed the big switch on.”
While younger boaters often influence the conversation, it’s typically older, more established owners who drive buying decisions. That divide creates a unique marketing challenge.
“The marine environment is a lot different than the car audio environment and even the powersports environment in that, with boaters, you get these 18 to 30 year olds, and audio is super important,” Bale continued. “It’s part of the experience, but they’re not the ones spending money on it. They’re out there maybe influencing the decision makers, but the decision makers are the 35 to 60 year olds that are on their second or third boat.
“As a brand, as a marketer, you’re trying to reach both audiences, and sometimes you’re reaching both of them through the one that makes the most noise,” he explained. “For us, that’s heavily the 20 to 35 crowd, because even though they may not be the ones spending the money, they’re the ones telling mom and dad and grandma and grandpa what to buy next.”
So younger boaters are pushing innovation by demanding seamless connectivity, while more seasoned buyers are the ones making sure premium audio is included on their boat. Brands are keeping both audiences in mind to stay competitive.
Not all boat segments value audio in the same way, but each has its own opportunities.
“The wake segment, when you look across all of boating, it’s fairly small. But it’s real noisy, partly because they have a lot of speakers on the boats,” Bale said. “A lot of boating gets focused around them, but it’s a fairly small segment of the industry.”
He noted that over recent years, the perception and use of pontoon boats has shifted. “They are becoming event spaces, and with that, audio is a huge piece of the experience,” he continued. “So we’re seeing a lot more audio going onto pontoon boats.”
Boaters are also taking advantage of the space available on center consols and aluminum boats to add speakers.
“Just last week, I consulted an aluminum boat owner who was simply putting a waterproof Bluetooth receiver with two speakers in his boat, and an over 50-foot catamaran motor yacht owner putting over 30 Kicker products on his vessel,” Bale said, emphasizing the solutions available for different boat segments.
Wet Sounds sees opportunity in boats under $100,000, which make up a large share of sales. At this price point, buyers expect high-quality audio comparable to what they experience in cars, headphones, and portable speakers.
“We give lots of layout support, training and guidance so our partners feel confident along the way, from design to putting boats out on the field with the new owners,” Bale said.
Teeples addressed the role product testing plays in satisfying OEM partners. “OEMs very much care about warranty,” he said. “It goes back to all the testing that we then improve upon every year. So [Wet Sounds is] constantly building on our arsenal of testing equipment as well as relying on third party nonbiased labs.”
He also noted that the brand caters to OEM engineering teams, aware that their focus is on all aspects of the boat, not just audio performance. “We’re making sure that we’re building audio systems and products that can be installed in the boats consistently with minimal effort on their part,” Teeples explained. “It’s like having to remove the expert from the installation process but still have consistent results.”
On the dealer level, Kicker conducts in-person training and offers KickerU, its online university. “Every quarter, we bring a number of dealers to our headquarters and we have two days of meetings and training where we walk through the existing product line and new products that are coming,” Bale said. “We’re there to answer every question that they can come up with – on the needs they have in the field and the needs they see coming in the future.”
In the aftermarket segment, both companies are key players. As a company dedicated to the marine industry, Wet Sounds, Teeples said, got on the map by “doing things in boats that were undeniably noticeable. We were the first to do the extreme audio on boats. There’s value to that. The OEMs understand and if they don’t put our products in the boats from the factory, their customers are going to seek our products and put them in the boats after the factory.”
While aftermarket remains the driver of extreme audio performance, OEMs are not far behind. “At some point, it’s our goal to do things on the OEM side that can’t be done on the aftermarket side,” Teeples continued. “So aftermarket becomes more of a retrofit kind of category as opposed to, if you buy a cutting-edge boat, you’re going to get cutting edge everything.”
He shared that five years ago, about 70 percent of Wet Sounds’ business was aftermarket and 30 percent was OEM. Today, those percentages are about 60 percent and 40 percent respectively.
“When we design new product, it’s OEM first,” he explained. “We do adapt it to the aftermarket, when possible, but first, does it meet all the OEMs’ needs?”
As a privately owned company, Bale could only share that Kicker has seen strong year-over-year growth in aftermarket sales. While there has been some decline in OEM sales in recent years, the brand has seen a significant uptick in interest and expects strong growth in that business over the next several years.
For almost every boat segment, audio has become essential to the boating experience. Brands like Kicker and Wet Sounds invest in durability, integration, design, and dealer support to ensure that when boaters turn up the volume, their experience lives up to their rising expectations.
“When [audio is] built with intention, that’s what the consumers can build their experience around,” Bale said. “The premium packages, the precisely tuned layouts, the helm integration – all that has real value and that’s where we see audio creating experiences. And those great experiences are what keep bringing people back to the water.”
“Every day we’re trying to rewrite the roles and push the envelope of what we’re able to do basically across all budgets,” Teeples added.