Best CD/Radio for a boat?

[Richard10002]

19 minutes ago, Robbo said:

The Fusions don't need a always on power.  The full installation manuals are on their website to double check for the model you want.

https://www.fusionentertainment.com/marine/products/stereo-units

I can live with an always on power requirement if the alternative costs £400-£500

I wonder if there are any of the usual suspects which dont need always on power? Sony, Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, Pioneer ............?

[Robbo]

12 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

I can live with an always on power requirement if the alternative costs £400-£500

I wonder if there are any of the usual suspects which dont need always on power? Sony, Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, Pioneer ............?

Your quoting one of the top of the range units their.   I find the Fusion units appealing as they look basic without all the unnecessary knobs you get on car radio systems these days.   There also designed for the marine environment which is handy if you need a unit up on deck.   They also have multiple zones as well so you can have a integrated system if you want.

[WotEver]

18 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

So... having read all the hype about cables and the fact that very expensive ones are better, is it all to do with current and voltage drop? After all, the speaker doesn't know what kind of wire is connected to it, and all the wire can do is carry a current and voltage, (presumably fluctuating in a variety of ways), from amp to speaker. I suppose it is also to do with how well a wire provides the same to the speaker as it receives from the amp, both in terms of levels and timings?

There is a HUGE amount of BS written and discussed in 'Hi-Fi Purist' circles. I maintain that there is absolutely no difference whatsoever in sound quality between speakers wired with oxygen-free cable and speakers wired with good old-fashioned copper. The cables do need to be fat though - that bell wire figure of 8 stuff is rubbish - so as not to drop any appreciable millivolts down them. Think about it, if the cables are dropping voltage every time the bass thumps that's going to be colouring the sound  

As for gold-plated HDMI (and other digital) cables - it's a complete con. It's a digital signal. It either gets there or it doesn't. Many double-blind tests have been carried out to prove this (one tester used wire coat hangers as the alternative just to prove a point) and they all prove conclusively that it's yet more BS. That hasn't stopped Monster Cable Company from making millions though. 

[Richard10002]

33 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Your quoting one of the top of the range units their.   I find the Fusion units appealing as they look basic without all the unnecessary knobs you get on car radio systems these days.   There also designed for the marine environment which is handy if you need a unit up on deck.   They also have multiple zones as well so you can have a integrated system if you want.

I had a look at the web site and thought I'd found the most basic model with integrated Bluetooth, (rather than having to buy additional kit).

Looks like it can be done for much less:

http://www.cactusnav.com/fusion-msra55-compact-marine-stereo-wbluetooth-audio-streaming-p-21854.html

 

[bizzard]

2 hours ago, WotEver said:

There is a HUGE amount of BS written and discussed in 'Hi-Fi Purist' circles. I maintain that there is absolutely no difference whatsoever in sound quality between speakers wired with oxygen-free cable and speakers wired with good old-fashioned copper. The cables do need to be fat though - that bell wire figure of 8 stuff is rubbish - so as not to drop any appreciable millivolts down them. Think about it, if the cables are dropping voltage every time the bass thumps that's going to be colouring the sound  

As for gold-plated HDMI (and other digital) cables - it's a complete con. It's a digital signal. It either gets there or it doesn't. Many double-blind tests have been carried out to prove this (one tester used wire coat hangers as the alternative just to prove a point) and they all prove conclusively that it's yet more BS. That hasn't stopped Monster Cable Company from making millions though. 

Indeed, several other industries are similar, the wine and the arts for example, by and large a load of old cobblers in the main, hiped to extort money from rich people. Look at Tracey Emmins efforts, she doesn't even seem to be able to draw a pin man properly and that other buffoon that's made millions making eyesores out of heaps of old junk and hardcore and stuff. Now the graffiti artist chap Banksy I think is clever.  During the vinyl record era some folk would keep  buying special test records with either nothing on them at all, just the plain groove or just white noise and sit listening to them to check out the performance of their Hi-Fi system, they never seemed to listen to records with music on em.  One thing to remember though is, it's not advisable to drive expensive high powered squeakers with a tichy under powered amplifier which can't drive the speaker cones properly, which can flutter, stall and jamb ruining the squeakers. The neighbours will probably appreciate this happening though.

 

[Neil2]

19 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Indeed, several other industries are similar, the wine and the arts for example, by and large a load of old cobblers in the main, hiped to extort money from rich people. Look at Tracey Emmins efforts, she doesn't even seem to be able to draw a pin man properly and that other buffoon that's made millions making eyesores out of heaps of old junk and hardcore and stuff. Now the graffiti artist chap Banksy I think is clever.  During the vinyl record era some folk would keep  buying special test records with either nothing on them at all, just the plain groove or just white noise and sit listening to them to check out the performance of their Hi-Fi system, they never seemed to listen to records with music on em.  One thing to remember though is, it's not advisable to drive expensive high powered squeakers with a tichy under powered amplifier which can't drive the speaker cones properly, which can flutter, stall and jamb ruining the squeakers. The neighbours will probably appreciate this happening though.

 

There's a similar thing going on at the moment in photography.  To all intents and purposes the digital scene reached its peak some time ago but the camera companies keep hyping up the latest technology because they need to persuade the gullible public that the SLR they paid £3K for 18 months ago is now a worthless piece of junk.   

 

[bizzard]

12 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

There's a similar thing going on at the moment in photography.  To all intents and purposes the digital scene reached its peak some time ago but the camera companies keep hyping up the latest technology because they need to persuade the gullible public that the SLR they paid £3K for 18 months ago is now a worthless piece of junk.   

 

Quite so, they add some some trifling thing to them to justify their claim, something your unlikely to bother with anyway.  The car industry is famous for all this too. of course, especially the super car part of it.  My Brownie box camera didn't even have a lens and it took great pics.

Edited April 8, 2017 by bizzard

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, bizzard said:

One thing to remember though is, it's not advisable to drive expensive high powered squeakers with a tichy under powered amplifier which can't drive the speaker cones properly...

I completely agree. An amp that is theoretically higher power than the speakers can take is ideal - say a 40W amp on 25W speakers. Obviously if you turned it up full then you'd burn out the windings on the cones, but at sensible levels the amp won't be straining and the sound will be all the better for it. 

Having said that, the best sounding power amp I have is a 1970's Quad 303. It's only 40W but it's 40W of pure sound joy

[RichM]

I have 2 identical JVC head units at the bow and stern. They have bluetooth & USB functionality but I don't think they're brilliant head units. Only reason I went for them was because it was to replace two old JVC units, meaning the wiring harness was the same. Ideally I would have preferred a Sony head unit as those are better designed in my experience.

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/dab/car-stereos/sony-mex-n6001bd-cd-mp3-usb-dab-player-with-bluetooth-ex-demo

[MoominPapa]

9 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

I can live with an always on power requirement if the alternative costs £400-£500

I wonder if there are any of the usual suspects which dont need always on power? Sony, Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, Pioneer ............?

I've just installed a Kenwood BT502DAB which is has no CD player, but does have bluetooth, DAB and FM radio and a USB input. It doesn't need power to retain settings. (Cuttng the power seems to make it forget which preset it's tuned to, but the contents of the preset stations, bluetooth pairings, settings etc survive fine.)

 

With a phone and a Spotify account, and I can in the middle of nowhere and listen to any music I like. It's magic.

 

MP.

 

 

[Richard10002]

1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

I've just installed a Kenwood BT502DAB which is has no CD player, but does have bluetooth, DAB and FM radio and a USB input. It doesn't need power to retain settings. (Cuttng the power seems to make it forget which preset it's tuned to, but the contents of the preset stations, bluetooth pairings, settings etc survive fine.)

 

With a phone and a Spotify account, and I can in the middle of nowhere and listen to any music I like. It's magic.

 

MP.

 

 

Does it have a wireless remote control? Cant see any mention of one in the specification on Kenwoods site.

 

One thing Ive liked about a JVC I had previously, and my current Sony, is the fact that they have a remote control so most things can be controlled from the sofa, rather than having to get up to change things.

[MoominPapa]

11 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

Does it have a wireless remote control? Cant see any mention of one in the specification on Kenwoods site.

 

One thing Ive liked about a JVC I had previously, and my current Sony, is the fact that they have a remote control so most things can be controlled from the sofa, rather than having to get up to change things.

No remote, certainly it doesn't come with one and I don't think it's an option. For music listening, using Spotify via bluetooth from a phone makes this moot: the phone is the remote.

 

Cheers,

 

MP.