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New Sony Radio

kaydano

kaydano

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Amazon has the Sony high powered MEX-XB100BT bundled with a Sirius tuner for $208. The bundle is cheaper than the radio itself by $20.  Sorry, couldn't get the link to copy fully from my phone. 


 
So should this be a straight swap for the Bennington Sony many of us have, including the wired remotes? I'd like more power, particularly that bargain Wetsounds amp, but the boat's already in the water, and I don't have high current 12v power run to the helm area. This might be a nice option.
 
I wish I had more bass. I have the stock kickers and there is no bass once so ever. I think I saw on here a while ago there was a new head unit that put some life into the stock speakers. Is this the one?
 
Anyone know if this one retains memory when the battery is shut down ?
 
Jack M said:
Anyone know if this one retains memory when the battery is shut down ?
Click to expand...

As long as the 12v aux line is switched, then it's probably going to lose the memory.
 
What brand I dont know ,but some of the new ones have memory like a pc 
 
Oddly enough mine lost the time but retained my station presets. 
 
There was a thread about this last summer .
 
lakeliving said:
I wish I had more bass. I have the stock kickers and there is no bass once so ever. I think I saw on here a while ago there was a new head unit that put some life into the stock speakers. Is this the one?
Click to expand...

Yep.  This is the one.  Been looking at it off and on online since that old thread was started.  Amazon's recent discounted bundle with the free Sirius tuner (and I think 3 months free subscription) made it a no-brainer so pulled the trigger a couple days ago.  It will be here tomorrow. 


I'll have the boat back at the house before the end of May for cleaning and loading and I plan to install it then.  I'll let you know how it works.  I've installed my share of head units over the years, so I just plan to "strip and crimp" all the wire connections.  Maybe I'll get lucky and the Sony plug will be the same on both.  I'll only run heavy gauge power to it if I need to.  I might do a makeshift test for that using a heavy AC extension cord for the +12 VDC to the battery.  If the sound is noticeably better, or the amp runs cooler, I may do a permanent install with heavier gauge wire.   


I'll let you guys know if the old remote (R5?) still works with this.  Online testing sites show the power output is actually more than Sony says (which is hard to believe).  My hope is it brings the Kickers alive.  I don't think you can do much worse than the old stock Sony.  Plus the reviews on the other thread helped me decide.  Not a big fan of GW's past antics on this site, but I actually do put some weight in his opinion when it comes to product quality.


Our hi-def camcorder has pretty good bass recording reproduction.  I will try to do a before and after using that and the same song so you can maybe tell the difference on youtube.  No promises, but that's simple enough to do, so I'll give it a shot.
 
Looking forward to your results. Any concerns with this being a non marine unit?
 
No concerns.  The stock Sony isn't a marine unit either. 


Amazon had the Airhead Gang Plank for $99 recently, so I got one of those for my teenager the other day too.  I need to stay off that website. 


I haven't used eBay for a couple years now. Everything comes from Amazon. I only use ebay for hard to find used stuff, which is seldom. Kinda surprised it's still in business. 
 
Following this and ready to pull trigger if Kaydano says it works with factory R5 remote.


Keep us posted!


Thanks


Todd
 
Hey Todd!


The new radio came with it's own remote.  It looks EXACTLY like the one I got off ebay for the old factory stereo, but the model number on it is RM-X231, not R5.  Not sure if they are interchangeable or not.  I'll let you know when I get it wired up. 


By the way, a bunch of us went on a charter fishing trip this weekend to Lake Michigan.  Wisconsin side.  Kenosha.  Half day on Friday, half day on Saturday.  Had an awesome time.  5 of us caught 15 fish (not the best fishing, but it is early in the year).  Mostly Coho salmon.  One 20 lb King.  Several brown trout and one lake trout.  It was ROUGH on Saturday late morning when the front came in.  Our 36 foot fishing boat got tossed around pretty good.
 
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