Ditching a head unit?? How do I do this?
 

Am tired of having a head unit...how do I get away from this ? I don't listen to radio, CDs...only Ipods or MP3 players.

What do I need to bypass this alltogether and just have input to run my amps (I''ve got 3, one for subs, and 2 for mids).

Wet sounds has an equalizer that can be used as a stand alone unit.
https://wetsounds.com/pages/products/WS-420.html

With multiple amps, I think you will still want/need something for pre-amp, sub levels and zone control.

WS unit is nice with several extra audio features but you will pay more for it than a HU.
I like the mid priced Alpine units with 3 outputs plus they have gone back to a 5v pre-out for 2015. "Marine" HU is irrelevant if you use any reasonable care and are not in salt water, IMO.

Yes, I don't need a marine version, my head unit is currently underneath in the cabin anyway. The WS thing looks interesting!
is there another way to tie multiple boats together, head unit/input wise? I see the WS equalizer has the ability to link up with other boats. This would be ideal!

Bluetooth repeater? One source, multiple output signals?

Lots of different ways to skin this.....
Tap the output from source HU or amp. 50' RCA cable and into the input of the receiving HU. Keep a couple different RCA to 3.5mm connection options.
Just watch out if they turn up HU volume, it will turn up downstream input signal so be careful to communicate or keep downstream volume level lower to protect.
C2G has tons of options - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you have a Garmin there is a unit that will interface with it and you can control your MP3s on your nav. Pretty cool. I'd do it if my Alpine wasn't doing such a great job cheap.

Why not go with a Fusion Head unit that has the internal ipod dock? We only use our iPod, but using the Fusion allows for multiple zones, volume control, remotes, etc. They are excellent units, especially for the money. If you go with the newer models, you can even add a wireless router and use a smartphone to control the system, and the newer ones are NMEA compatible so you can integrate with the Garmin and other GPS Brands. Also with the multiple inputs/outputs you can easily connect multiple boats/stereos together (allowing each their own volume controls). I have no ties to Fusion, other than falling in love with their products a few years back. If you want more info on the capabilities and setup of the Fusion head unit (and how we connect multiple boats together) shoot me a PM, I will be more than happy to expand a bit.

Fusion is a great option for sure. But this guy is wanting to simplify and that's doing quite the opposite.

Yeah, exactly. I want to simplify.

I have an older model (2010) Sony Marine Head unit with a nice wired remote.
Cheapest option is to just source anothe Sony marine unit. But I'm just wondering If I can eliminate a head unit all together?

I basically have this already:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-DSX-MS6...-/151607339673

But the head unit is dead...
Unless I can find another head unit that will work with that wired remote? I had to cut a hole in my dash to install it, so if I go with something else, I'm stuck with this 3.25" hole!
The head unit is in the cabin out of the elements, so I don't need marine version

I think you're in the position I was last year. I had a dying Alpine and needed a new deck. I just bought a new one with Bluetooth and it plugged right in to the existing wiring.

If I were you, I'd just buy another Sony as long as it has enough RCA jacks and plug in to the existing wiring. Take you 15 minutes and way less money than the other options.

Looks like this would do it:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-cd-...UcuxoCbRXw_wcB

I did this on my last boat. I was gonna use a line level amplifier, because the phone Jack doesn't put off enough voltage. But instead I just used a Logitech home bluetooth, which was cheaper. it also had strong output voltage plus I didn't have to have a wire running to my phone.

I installed a 12v cigarette lighter in my glovebox, put in a dual USB plug, then an adapter to power the BT. Mounted the BT unit in the glovebox also, ran RCAs off it to the amp. I only had one amp. Worked great except it only had volume control on the phone. It would work perfect with an amp that has one of those remote gain knobs you could mount on the dash as a seperate volume control.

All that should cost you less than $70. Can't beat it.

I'll probably do my next system with an FM broadcaster too.

The WS Equalizer is the way to go, plus you can link with other WS equipped boats when you raft up . They will all Synch and it sounds better than a concert!

Another option if you want simple and effective is the audiocontrol 3.1 .i run 3 amps with it off my phone ,plug and play in minutes and does a good job of uncompressing stored music files if nessesary .
Well made piece and could litteraly go from out of the box to jamming in minutes .

Use this with a 12 v feed and a remote turn on switch to your amp or preamp. Run the output to your amp or preamp and now your headless...

http://www.parts-express.com/bluetoo...2-vdc--320-351

Chris

http://www.fusionentertainment.com/m...dules/ms-bt100

Same idea as above. Just a little cleaner

Clean yes.. Same sound Quality..NO..

The link for the bluetooth board I referenced is Bluetooth 4.0 and aptX +EDR
That protocol has much less dymanic signal loss. The sound quality difference is night and day.

Chris

I guess I don't understand... Is bluetooth not all the same?

Nope not all the same.. Lets say you need bluetooth to connect to a 2 inch desk speaker.. Then you dont need the Large frequency range of higher end bluetooth chips. 3.0 is much cheaper chip. Some are not even stereo. The Bluetooth 4.0 aptX +EDR sound is audiophile quality. Also has much higher gain.

Chris.

Wet Sounds has a product called the "A-Link" coming out soon. THey're still working on extending the range, but basically you can buy a send/receive kit, or receive kits individually. It allows one send module to send signal to multiple receive kits with 1 bluetooth source.

The WS-420 pre-amp/EQ is a good option to ditch a head unit, as it has a 5V line driver from each output. It's completely dual-zone, so you can control volume and tone to each zone independently. There's the SQ version that has 1 RCA input, and 1 3.5mm input, then there's the BT version that has bluetooth built-in, and also the same RCA/3.5mm input. Both units have boat/tower/sub controls. The tower output has a microphone that broadcasts over the tower speakers only. You can either coach wakeboarders, or scream at people like an idiot. Either way, it could be fun.

I sell a lot of the 420's to the UTV crowd as they're a simple solution to not have a head unit.

Ok time to call you out.....On a serious note i am getting tired of lugging around cd's just so i can get full range sound and take advantage of all that sub amp money i spent and really get full range sound? Just what medium does on use???? usb stuff steaming blue tooth from a phone or HD radio MP3 i no longer have any ideal what is really full dynamic range in these new sources.

I don't even use CD's any longer. Ipods have the worst sound there is unless you are using the interface, if using Bluetooth or headphone jack they are terrible.

I switch to using a laptop with a good sound card and a DJ program called VirtualDJ. Laptop costs $300...less than a head unit these days. In that price range you will get a decent sound card and 500+ gig of storage. You can put a lot of music on that size drive.

I setup play lists on virtual dj and let it play. All you need is the 1/8" to RCA adaptor and plug it into the AUX input on your head unit, or you could go right into your amps if you wanted. Sounds almost as good as a cd, and far better than any MP3 player such as a smart phone or Ipod. The program is free a www.virtualdj.com

That's a very good point which I think we all have lost sight of over the years.. ?

Ok I really like this option! What exactly is the cable needed to connect to aux adapter!?

Rambocj7 I think Nightlife has RCA outputs on his laptop and uses a cable that converts rca to Headphone plug and plugs it into the head unit. As far as bluetooth goes, Its only as good as the source file plus the type of bluetooth protocol.. I dont know anything about iphones but with my samsung tablet the sound is crystal clear. I use the samsung for GPS via a navionics program and play the music at the same time. I usually have my tablet hot spotted to my phone and can also pull in youtube if I dont have the song someone wants. There really is no need for a head unit anymore.Or a an expensive marine GPS.

Chris

It's really going to depend on your setup. I have a Rockford head unit in the boat. The AUX input is RCA, my laptop is 1/8". So I use an 1/8" to RCA adaptor. If you head unit has an 1/8" Aux input (that's what a headphone input is) then all you will need is an 1/8" to 1/8" patch cable.

If you wanted to go straight from your Computer to your amplifiers you would use an 1/8" to RCA cable. At that point all you would need is a switch to turn the amps on and off. I just use the Rockford HU at this point because I have the remote control on the dash to control volume.

What I really want is a Bluetooth volume control or some kind of volume control that I could control from my phone. There are volume controls you can use that I could install but it means more wiring. At this point I don't want to do that.

if your just using an Ipod or Mp3 player the easiest way to ditch the HU is to get a phono to RCA adapter to plug into the player....then that goes to a splitter that gets routed to the amps.....the player will control the volume. If you want to get all fancy and link other boats up then the bluetooth would need to be integrated in but the other boats need to have it as well to play the same music...its either that or you can buy a small FM transmitter and have everyone tune into the same channel your broadcasting on.

The only thing is Ipod's, MP3 players, and most of the phones I have tried sound like trash out of the headphone output.
There is a night and day difference between my computer and any of the other devices I listed.

We link boats together every year for the raftoff at Muskamoot bay. We just run RCA cables between boats and they all run of my computer program. I just have all the different Y-cables, and adaptors to connect everyone up. We tried a FM-transmitter it was pretty much useless as most boats suck at picking up FM signals.

Ok, I like this option! So what are other people running if you're able to hook them up? What output from your computer?
I do have a laptop I can use.

Most new head units have an AUX input. Some are RCA and some are 1/8" headphone jack input. Depending on the amount of boats I can just run them all off my computer, or I have a line driver that I use to boost the power from the computer. I have done 8 boats off just the computer with no problem.

I carry an array of RCA cables, RCA splitters, RCA Y cables and 1/8" adaptors. We just go from boat to boat with an RCA cable and connect depending on what input their radio has.