I've also mounted speakers in the footwell just forward of the lockers. The position provides decent sound but the speaker grills do take some abuse. I've thought about, but haven't actually gotten around to having a set of stainless wire guards made for them. One the specific manufacturers question ... first I had a pair of Sony speakers that only lasted a couple of seasons. Now I'm using the Standard Horizon speakers and they seem to be much better at resisting the elements. This season I have noticed that the plastic of the grill mesh has gotten brittle and cracked from being bumped. The drivers themselves seem to be fine. One issue to remember is that this mounting position isn't too safe if you're taking the boat offshore. If the drivers are punctured, water can get directly into the cabin. When we took Mondial to Newport for the North Americans in 1997, I replaced the speakers with plywood disks for the trip. For the wiring of the speakers, I used a Radio Shack fader control since I've got an old cassette deck without that control built in. I have a pair of speakers above the quarter berths that provide sound to the cabin. The fader allows me to move the sound from deck to cabin or to mix the two.
