kevinb230

I thought I would give this a shot, the idea is to get everyone in the group on the same audio and no more battle of the boats. Reviews look good and it has RCA in's, so ill just split the input coming from the deck to the amp.

Fm Transmitter

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

Several of us each just carry a 10-15' 3.5mm cable and Y's to go from boat to boat so all are playing to just 1 of the boats when on the water. Back at the dock, we ran wires under the dock to 7 of our slips so we each can plug in when we feel like bringing down the house.
That transmitter sounds good if the range will be solid for 100'

Nightlife1970

We have tried this. There are several problems with them. One they are only 1/2 watt. Boats are terrible on picking up radio stations because most have little to no ground plane. As such they need very strong stations to pick it up. When we tried this only the boats right next to the transmitter could pick it up, while a car several hundred feet away could. And when I say right next to it I mean the boat tied up to it.
Second the sound quality is terrible. This unit looks like it only has a mono input so that wont be good either.
These little transmitters were designed for realtors to put in a house and then people could drive by and here an add about the house.

ChargeIt

Nightlife has it pretty well nailed.

I have a Ramsey unit with external transmitting antenna. it does broadcast stereo with decent sound. Biggest problem, as mentioned most marine HU have such poor receiving antenna results can be spotty.
I hang the antenna on my wake tower which CAN get decent range (100-300') receiver dependent. Remember too, FM is line of sight so cruisers and houseboats that tie up close by can kill range too.

We had a guy that bought one of the "illegal" ebay units that was 20ish watts. It sounded much better and had solid range in the cove. Technically, these units are illegal due to power and transmission distance. You be the judge if you are in an area that might conflict and create FCC complainers. Either higher population or many existing stations where you would be overpowering a commercial station. Also, are you playing relatively clean music or graphic/Fbomb dropping that could offend goody two shoes ears into filing a complaint.
In my case, if I was going to do it again, I would buy the "illegal" and take my chances.

Another part of my plan was I would not have to play my equipment has hard if others could tune in and play too. This sort of worked but frankly, most cannot play more than 2-3 hours before dying. So they would generally play early just like always and run out of juice about 4-5pm as the party was starting to get good anyway, thus I still had to crank up.....

jonyb

Wet Sounds has a perfect solution that's gonna be released in the 2nd quarter. It's called the "A Link". You can buy a send/receive kit, and extra receive kits. The send connects to a bluetooth or auxiliary audio device, while the receive portion does just that - receives the signal transmitted by the send device. You can connect as many as you want, linking up as many boats or audio devices - that have an auxiliary input - as you want.

Another option is the WS-420 pre-amp. That's a half-din sized eq pre-amp with a 5V line driver. It has dual zones with a master and separate volume control. There's an aux out, and aux in. Boatlink is what the aux out is called, and you can connect as many of those as you want. The A link in this boating type would be the best. Most wakeboat owners use the 420 so they'll have tower speaker volume control, then use a 20' aux cable to connect pre-amps together.

WS-420: https://wetsounds.com/pages/products/WS-420BT.html

jonyb

I'm a dealer in Western KY. PM me for info.

Nightlife1970

So if it works Bluetooth you still have the 30' limitation and the compression of signal to deal with?

We just link boat to boat with RCA's.

jonyb

Bluetooth to the send receiver, each receive module should be within 30'. They're still new to me. I haven't had one in yet as they're not shipping.

Are you using the RCA output on the back of the head unit to go to each boat? In most cases that won't work as they'll be used for amps.

Captain YARRR

Not to mention even with perfect reception, FM is really limited sound quality. Everyone on this board argues about having the best speakers, yet you want to play over an FM signal?

I've been thinking about that wet sounds unit. Sounds pretty ideal.

ChargeIt

I think effectiveness depends on the goal of the transmitter. Trying to send to a buddy 100 yards away and they are trying to crank up as loud as possible on a good system, then yes there will be some disappointment and even damage if they are not paying attention.

From my personal experience the radio transmitter is very effective when a large number are all playing together. I would have a DJ or mixed play list and the cove knows what station is playing. No one has to turn up super loud since the sound is synchronized all around. Main platform had a high power PA system with multiple subs.
It was amazing how well the bass and even music traveled when all were together. Get one or two dumbazz that decides to go against the grain because he is so simple he has to play ONLY his music and sound becomes muddled fast.

I also have two 50' RCA cables I can throw 2-3 boats away for someone that has a nice system and wants to hook up. Cables to Go Velocity series has a decent quality at good price point.
http://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-291...s+to+go+RCA+50
I have various adapters and connectors that can make almost anything work. Pass thru Outputs on the amp are easy and have a stronger signal to tap but the down side is it is a variable output. If the HU is turned up, output volume goes up, if the Slave boat has his system maxed, further volume could hurt his system. This can happen when some Uninvited wanders on and turns up or tries to change something. GRRRR.
It is safer to Turn up the player and split output, then each always get the same line level. Downside can be a player's output signal is much weaker. I keep various 3.5mm to RCA adapters and splitters to it is pretty easy to make something work.

The beauty of the Wet Sounds 420 is its simplicity; clearly labeled, easily accessible audio ports, down side is its COST.