stereo location

[Tige M.D.]

do you like the head unit mounted in the glove box or next to the helm?
we have not figured out what the boat buyer likes best. some like the unit next to the helm for easy access and others like it in the glove box for security reasons.

what do y'all think is best?

[GIZMO]

I like the deck in the glove box so passengers can DJ and not get in the drivers way. The wired remote at the helm is a must if the deck is in the glove box.

My 2 cents, GIZMO

[Matt Garcia]

What Gizmo said.

[Gardyloo03]

im with gizmo

[shane]

Me Too

[Tige M.D.]

what brand stereo do you use? we use all alpine equipment and they don't offer a wire remote.

[joe8395]

Glove box so I don't have to change out CD's...I too have an Alpine and wish I had a wired remote to the transom.

[hotrod]

I agree with Gizmo

[Gardyloo03]

I use alpine in everything but my boat because they dont have a wired remote. Shame on them. That and the new alpine head units can control your ipod. thats a plus

[lee]

We have been using the Rockford Fosgate RFX9220M for about one year now. They have a wired remote, play MP3's and 30 second skip buffer.

[Matt Garcia]

I have the old Clarion XMD2 head unit

[farmacist]

I am also with Gizmo, definitely in the glove box. Protected much better from the water and the banging that inevitably happens.

On my current boat I use Sony, on previous boat it was Kenwood. Both offer wired remote so have remotes at helm and transom. Also, MP3 is a must. Can have many more songs on one CD so that not worried about changing CD as often.

I like the idea of using IPod with the stereo. Those of you that are using Ipod, is it somehow hardwired into the system or do you use FM transmitter? Is there anyway to control it from the wired remotes or only from the IPod itself?

[GIZMO]

I use a sony head unit, I burn all my cd's in the mp3 format that way all the deck and remote controls work. When I hook up the mp3 player to the deck all you can change with the wired remote is the volume the track must be changed at the mp3 player.



GIZMO

[Tige M.D.]

we used rockford fosgate, sony, kenwood and pioneer in the past. all of which had a horrible fail rate. head units, remotes, you name it we had problems. when you sell 150 boats a year and 150 of them have a stereo, then half of those stereo's fail and the vendor says they can't get us any replacements for 8 weeks it tends to piss off the boat owner. the only manufacture that has had a near 0 fail rate and can get me equipment when i need it is alpine. but, shame on them for not having a wired remote.
last year we had a 100% failure with sony and their transom remotes. they were not as waterproof as advertised.

[GIZMO]

Im on my 2nd Sony, my first one lasted about a month, I would kill for a Alpine with a wired remote.

GIZMO

[Paublo]

First boat had the Clarion unit. Never a problem, but a pretty basic unit and the remote didn't have a display. It is also designed to be very water-proof.

Now I have a Sony. In the glove box is the only way to go. They went with Sony since I asked for a display on the remote. One year and no problem at all- with what the rest of you have gone thru, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[smendez]

I had a Sony in my first boat - It had a detachable face. It was a pain to get the face back on the radio once you took it out. We lived with it for 7 years. Other than that, it work well.

We now have the Clarion xmd2. It works great. It's in the glove box and have remotes at the helm and transom.

I tell you though, I don't like it in the glove box. The lid is always getting in the way of you changing your tunes. It's an ergonomical mess. There's got to be a better place for it.

[joe8395]

I called Alpine today and complained about not having a wired remote...if enough people call them on this it might do the trick.

Gizmo - you don't have to kill just call the number below and tell them what you want.

Alpine U.S. Headquarters:
310.326.8000

[GIZMO]

joe8395, you talked me out of killing anyone, I'll try calling Alpine first:D

smendez, Do you have the glove box lid spring that props the lid open?
They work great! Let me know if I can help get you one, I think my dealer stocks them.

GIZMO

[joe8395]

Gizmo - Hey man I want one too...the damn lid gets in my way all the time.

[Tige M.D.]

joe, i can get you a spring. let me know and i will order it.

[smendez]

Does this spring replace the hinge and keeps the door open?

We sure don't have it. I can see how it would make things easier, rather than fighting the lid while you're changing the stereo.

Is it a Tige part or aftermarket?

I'll definitely ask our dealer here in St. Louis for it.

Thanks Guys!!

[GIZMO]

I'll take a picture of it when I get home, I think its a factory part, but not sure. It was only $10, but it works great.

GIZMO

[GIZMO]

Here it is:

[Tige M.D.]

the problems y'all are having with the glove box lids is exactly why we mount them next to the helm. joe's glove box lid is worn out from over use and a new one is $250. we put a weather proof cover over them and it works good.
the reason why i started this thread is, tige changed their steering cable routing so it enables us to mount the stereo next to the helm unless we reroute the steering cable and flip the steering gear 180deg. i was hoping tige would change a few things for us to avoid the modifications we have to make.

[joe8395]

I'll stop in on Tuesday on my way home from the office and get the spring from you...like to check out this weather proof cover your talking about as well.

[Tige M.D.]

i don't have any springs in stock. you can look at a new boat to see what it looks like.

[racer]

Just moved my stereo out of the glove box on my 21i last weekend. Did not like keeping lid open, trying to aim remote to increase or decrease vol. Much easier to have manual controls at fingertips................

[TigeDuner]

Ours is next to the helm and we have no problems-probably because my son has 2000+ songs on his Ipod. We can control the volume from the Ipod as well. We also have a weatherproof door that slides down over the unit, but its only down during storage and washing. I like the helm area because I am in control of the system unless I am behind the boat.

[whitlock87]

I got a boat from Tige MD.
I have never had a problem with it. The weather cover works well. And I have an mp3 flash disk player connected to the unit directly. Buy doing this I will not get any skipping in large swells.

[Tequilasun]

I am a big fan of keeping my stereo out of eyesight. But at the helm is nice, so we have the Clarion unit with a wired remote to helm, and transom. The remote lacks a bunch of functions, but it is nice to have the ability to raise/lower the volume, change songs/stations etc.

[talltigeguy]

I prefer the stereo in the glove box. My 2002 didn't have the spring lid and was a pain in the rear to change CD's or anything. My 2005 has the spring lid and works great, but does limit how much junk I pile into the glove box, because I can't get to the stereo when it is too full.

I think it's mostly a non-issue when you have remotes both in the driver's side and the transom. I have plenty of control when I want to change volume or track number, and I probably shouldn't be trying to change the CD when driving anyway.

[jsz]

I've got a Clarion with a remote. So far it has worked fine but I really dont use it that much. Any word on their success rate.

Last year I looked at a guys boat that had a waterproof cover over the radio. It was so hard to close I just left it up. It felt cheap and I thought I would break it if I pushed any harder.

[Gardyloo03]

I had my clarion xmd3 fail and the remote fail. I think the remote failed because of poor install which may have contributed to the head unit failure. But i love the output and the sound quality of that unit. Probably the most comprehensive marine unit around for adjustability and sub controls/crossovers etc. Maybe alpines is on par but ive never used it, but i use there stuff in all my cars.

[blr]

Stereo in the glove box - remotes at helm and transom - ipod hard wired to the pouch next to the drivers chair. Since all my cd's are on my Ipod, I very rarely ope the glove box to get tp the stereo. more just to pile junk in there.

[Tige M.D.]

someone please clue me in on this ipod. i know what it is and i know what it does, i have no idea how it does what it does.

how does it wire into the stereo? does it adapt to any head unit? does it power up through the stereo or its own batteries?

more of a engine guy than a computer guy:cool:

[TigeDuner]

Our ipod is not hard wired. We select a frequency on the head unit and the ipod sends a signal to match that frequency. No wires needed. We can actually transmit a signal up to 50 yards. Its great if you have several boats together-just set them on the same frequency. My son has about 2,700 songs on his ipod with room to spare. The ipod has a rechargable battery, but we usually keep it plugged into the cig lighter to keep the battery charged.

[Tige M.D.]

so, does it read through a fm channel? if so, how is the sound quality. is it as good as digital?

[Tip]

Greg,
There are three ways to hook it up. 1)Some folks use an inline FM Modulator, which plugs into the back of the FM Receiver (the FM antenna then plugs into the modulator so you can still receive regular FM channels when not using the ipod). An FM Modulator costs around $45 and is available from circuit city or on the internet. You then plug your ipod into the FM Modulator and the ipod music comes in over a FM station (usually 89.9 or 90.1 MHZ)

2) You can buy a little transmitter for your ipod that transmits your ipod tunes to any FM receiver. These are easy to use and not very expensive (30-$50), but the sound quality can easily be comphromised by other FM stations in the area.

3) If you have a Clarion head you can make a cable that connects directly to the CD changer jack on the back of the receiver unit. This method provides the best sound quality because there is no FM broadcasting involved. I built my cable for about $6.

I also use my direct connect cable for my XM radio receiver.

Hope this helps.

-Tip

[TigeDuner]

You are correct. Usually in the 87 to 89 mhz range that does not have a station assigned to the frequency. The ipod controls the volume as well as the head unit. I perfer to keep the ipod level low and crank up the main unit. The sound is as clear as can be as long as you are in range. There is a small antenna you have to purchase for your ipod to transmit the signal for about $30. Can't beat it.

[Tip]

TigeDuner,
I was just out in Tucson last week, I loved the scenery, very nice.

I did not see any lakes though. How far do you have to drive for water?

-Tip

[TigeDuner]

The nearest lake to Tucson is Canyon Lake which is the third of 4 lakes that make up the Salt River Project. It is about two hours from Tucson and maybe an hour from Phoenix, depending on where you live. We perfer Lake Roosevelt which is the main lake that feeds Apache Lake that feeds Canyon Lake that feeds Saguaro Lake. Roosevelt is about 2 1/2 hours from Tucson. The drive is not bad but took a little getting use to from living in Houston with water in my back yard. We spend every other weekend at the lake from May through October. Then its dune season til May.
This will be a different year for Roosevelt as the water level is up 85 feet since December 04. The SRP expects the level to hit max capacity in a month or so. Should be a great summer on the board. Martin

[Tip]

I'll have to keep that in mind if my company transfers me to Tucson. 2.5 hours is not that bad. I drive 1.75 hours every weekend May through Oct, but I don't have to tow my boat, I keep in on a lift at the lake. Do they allow houses on those lakes?

-Tip

[TigeDuner]

There are not any lake front homes on Roosevelt. We leave our motorhome in an RV park about 5 miles from the lake. Our boat is kept in covered storage behind the RV park during the summer. Pulling the boat back and forth through the hills would get old fast.
We really like Roosevelt for its size. Apache and Canyon are both beautiful lakes with high rock canyon walls but get very crowded. Both of those lakes combined are about 25% of Roosevelt. The road to Apache is dirt for about 5 miles winding along the side of a hill with steep sides. Its not a fun ride but once a summer during the week makes for a nice change without the crowds.
Thr RV park is home to 4 Tiges now and after the Phoenix boat show I am sure we will meet a few more. Hope to meet you at Roosevelt some time. Martin

[Tip]

Thanks, sounds like you have a pretty good setup.