Fusion Stereo Equipment Marine Stereo Recommendations

[Madridpunch]

If you are really serious about your sound then there is nothing to stop you playing a pair of normal "bookshelf" HiFi speakers of your car head unit.

Most head units put out 30 to 50 watts which is enough to drive (very loud) a good pair of HiFi speakers. I haev a pair of Neat Petit speakers that stnd in my bookshelves in the saloon, driven by an Alpine digital head unit - very nice! No need for cockpit speakers, just turn it up a bit.

I am interested to hear if the "two zone" feature on the fusion is really that - i.e. you can play the radio in the cockpit and listen to the iPod in the slaoon - or is it just a different name for the fader controls on a car head unit?

[Madridpunch]

If you are really serious about your sound then there is nothing to stop you playing a pair of normal "bookshelf" HiFi speakers from your car head unit.

Most head units put out 30 to 50 watts which is more than enough to drive (very loud) a good reasonably sensitive pair of HiFi speakers. I have a pair of Neat Petit speakers that stand in my bookshelves in the saloon, driven by an Alpine digital head unit - very nice! No need for cockpit speakers, just turn it up a bit.

I am interested to hear if the "two zone" feature on the fusion is really that - i.e. you can play the radio in the cockpit and listen to the iPod in the saloon - or is it just a different name for the fader controls on a car head unit?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by SV Escape Plan

Not worried about waterproofing as the head unit will be mounted below decks. I would like to have a wired remote for the cockpit and I would also like it to play DVDs with maybe just RCA output for video to go to the TV. Im an XM fan too so SAT radio radio would be ideal as well.

I've seen a lot of regular non-marine car head units die a quick and ugly death below decks because of the humid environment on board.

We went with a marine unit which is slightly more expensive but is protected against humidity, condensation, etc.

I don't know the XM head units, but we went with an Alpine iDA-X100M with which we have been extremely pleased. It has no optical drive in it. It does AM/FM radio plus controls an I-Pod, plus will play MP3 files from a thumb drive. I keep my entire music collection on an old 60 gigabyte I-Pod which lives on the boat. It works great, and the Alpine sounds really good. It sounds so good that I abandoned plans to add an amplifier and change the speakers I inherited from the previous owner.

For DVD's we have a separate tiny DVD player which lives in the TV locker, and which can be easily pulled out to watch a movie from time to time. It was cheaper than it would have cost to install wiring from the stereo head unit, so hardly worth the trouble to try to make the head unit play that role as well.

[rourkeh]

Escape plan sounds like you are going through what I just did. Needed all new equipment for audio and video both for down below and in the cockpit. I searched high and low and looked at everything available and ended up with this. The basis for any really good sound is the speakers, and unless you buy decent speakers the rest of the system is irrelevent. I have used JL Audio speakers several times and they are the only good choice. The sound is 10x better than anything else. They build a whole line of equipment for the marine environment that is put together better than anything I've seen. I started with 2 sets of MX650 ($199pr) with the black grills, and 1 M101b5 10' sub woofer($223) for the salon. They have non white, black classic grills that blend in with the wood. I used the Fusion Ms av600 ($450) that you quoted for the versatility and number of input and output lines. This gives me every type of audio (ipod, Sirrus, CD) and a line out to the tv to play DVD's. This unit has high power, 70 watts per channel x 4 and a sub out line so if you do not want to spend the money on an amp you don't have to. It also has multi location control built in so if I expand and put speakers in the staterooms I can control everything from the head unit. I put 2 more 6.5" speakers in the cockpit with the white grills. For the TV I am still undecided. I was ready to go with the Jensen 32" unit for $569 because of the fact that it is built for marine use and has conformal coated boards and will last, but the picture is not that great compared to some of the regular TV's out there. I am thinking about using a vizio razor LED 32" tv I found at DELL HOME for $357 because the picture is incredible and it is only 1.3" deep and less than 14lbs. If it lasts 2-3 years I figure it is worth it for a great picture and right now they are giving away LCD TV's. I used a company in Florida called Bethel Marine Electronics because they have the best pricing and really good sevice. I did find a guy on Craigslist who owns a store in Naples Florida and was selling tons of demo JL Audio equipment really cheap, and he had speakers amps, subs, all display items with warranty for great pricing. PM me if you want his contact info. Good luck with the install.

[Nashira]

Fusion TV220LED - Poor quality sound. I've installed a number of Fusion products in two boats over the past three years - all top units. Those successes led to me purchasing the Fusion TV. Other than the sound the TV is intelligently presented and comes with most items necessary for wall or bracket mounting.

I phoned the Fusion Rep in Australia - a recording stated the Global HQ number in NZ was not connected - and questioned to poor quality of the sound. The rep blithely remarked the set "only had 2watt speaker" as if to say - "whattada expect?" He really seemed to care less...

If you plan to jack the TV sound through a speaker system - go for it - the unit should meet your expectations for a $500 marine TV set with built-in DVD and an array of port options and 12volt/220volt capability. However, if you plan to use only the set itself - you will certainly be disappointed - or plan to purchase a set of external speakers after your first cruise.

I would have been agreeable to paying a reasonably higher price for a TV one could enjoy independent from a sound system.