Sony Bluetooth Head Unit

[Kells]

First of all, I mainly use Pandora so having a dedicated Pandora feature on this unit is awesome!

There are a couple things I want to address and am wondering if anyone has input on this.

Has anyone installed the mic that comes with it?  It's a simple jack but i'm wondering about the placement of the mic...

The power from this unit is pretty weak, has anyone installed a dedicated AMP with this headunit?  I'm curious if there is a aftermarket harness that I can connect into the headunit instead of splicing into one of the existing harnesses.  If not, is there an explanation about the coloring of wires and to what speakers they go?

The harness is just above the fuse...  

 

[Kells]

Found the manual for anyone else looking for a digital copy which also answered my question on the speaker wires.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchfield.com/Manuals/158/158DSX310B.PDF

Pg. 52

(EDIT UPDATED LINK WITH PROPER MODEL)

My next question is would you suggest splicing directly from Sony's harness and leaving Bennington's intact?  Seems like the logical route, but I wanted to reach out in case someone knows of a better method to get the amp power to the speakers.

Thanks!

 

[Jack M]

If I were doing it ,I would splice into the sony and leave the Bennington intact . ( warranty ) 

 

[Willb]

Stereo output (rca) to amp to speakers. You have no choice but to go in and cut the speaker leads. Give your dealer a call, they should have stereo guy that they work with.

An amp shouldn't affect your warranty, other than blown speakers not being covered. Lol

 

[T-Rex]

I left the Bennington harness intact and spliced the wires.

 

[Kells]

same here, i just took the Sony Harness and put .25" interconnects on each wire so I can still use the same harness with any headunit.

 

[Jim_R]

I would cut the wire leads for the existing headunit, then splice the Sony headunit into those connections keeping the existing Bennington harness connectors intact.

*edit - Be certain to use the Sony headunit inline power supply fuse rather than the one from the old headunit.

 

[Kahlua0517]

I'm considering adding a 4 channel amp to the Sony unit also.  IMO it's sounds pretty poor for a high end boat without some external amplification.  Anyone have a suggestion to get an amp feed from the battery distribution panel to the console with a wave shield and the boat in the water?

 

[Jim_R]

Where is your battery located?  Perhaps a run from the battery outboard of the starboard toon, to the underside of the deck and then up and into the helm area through the existing pass-through in the deck?

 

[Kahlua0517]

The battery distribution panel is located under the rear port side seat.  I guess that I will need to get into the water and take a closer look.