mobocracy
Active Member
My 2007 310 Sundancer has a factory installed Clarion CMD4 and CD changer combo with what I assume is a common four-speaker + sub / 2 amps setup. Obviously this combo is totally dated from a convenience perspective, but I could totally live with just tacking on bluetooth with a little bluetooth adapter plugged into the aux port vs. outright replacement.
I've done this, but I only get aux audio on the cabin speakers, nothing on the cockpit speakers. I discovered after purchase that the previous owner had installed some kind of ancillary volume control for the cabin speakers and wrote the lack of cockpit aux audio off as some kind of byproduct of this. I finally got to dig into this this spring and can't find any way this particular modification caused this. Based on how annoying the little black caps on the control panel screws were to get off, I don't think the previous owner got behind there as mine now have pry marks.
A Google search turns up a couple of people reporting the same thing (other boats, same basic setup) and I'm curious if this is a known/expected quirk of the CMD4. It seems kind of weird that the stereo wouldn't pump aux audio to all four speakers, and it makes me wonder if there's not some Sea Ray specific aspect of this (like it was only intended for hookup of a game system or something). Whatever manuals I've tracked down don't mention this "feature". Front/Rear fader control functions logically as well, with cockpit as rear and cabin as front.
My hackish fix I might try is just swapping "front" and "rear" line outputs at the head unit.
On a side note, I almost regret pulling the head unit out to check this out. The antenna cable is so short it got unplugged when pulling the head unit out and impossible to reconnect without pulling the entire top half of the control panel out (my fix, 1 ft antenna extension cable from Amazon). But as it happens, this is impossible on my boat without also pulling the bottom half (DC/AC switches), too. The door trim blocks the top half of the panel and the CD changer prevents the panel from being lowered enough to clear the bottom control panel. Of course the CD changer is screwed in from the rear, too, so you can't pull that out, either. Of course the control panel door & hinges need to be removed for any of this as they present a clearance problem.
I couldn't see any way to easily/non-destructively gain access through the sides of the control panel enclosure, either, so any future replacement or access to behind-the-control-panel looks to be a major task involving pulling top and bottom control panels out, with who-knows how much service loop is attached to any of the components.
I've done this, but I only get aux audio on the cabin speakers, nothing on the cockpit speakers. I discovered after purchase that the previous owner had installed some kind of ancillary volume control for the cabin speakers and wrote the lack of cockpit aux audio off as some kind of byproduct of this. I finally got to dig into this this spring and can't find any way this particular modification caused this. Based on how annoying the little black caps on the control panel screws were to get off, I don't think the previous owner got behind there as mine now have pry marks.
A Google search turns up a couple of people reporting the same thing (other boats, same basic setup) and I'm curious if this is a known/expected quirk of the CMD4. It seems kind of weird that the stereo wouldn't pump aux audio to all four speakers, and it makes me wonder if there's not some Sea Ray specific aspect of this (like it was only intended for hookup of a game system or something). Whatever manuals I've tracked down don't mention this "feature". Front/Rear fader control functions logically as well, with cockpit as rear and cabin as front.
My hackish fix I might try is just swapping "front" and "rear" line outputs at the head unit.
On a side note, I almost regret pulling the head unit out to check this out. The antenna cable is so short it got unplugged when pulling the head unit out and impossible to reconnect without pulling the entire top half of the control panel out (my fix, 1 ft antenna extension cable from Amazon). But as it happens, this is impossible on my boat without also pulling the bottom half (DC/AC switches), too. The door trim blocks the top half of the panel and the CD changer prevents the panel from being lowered enough to clear the bottom control panel. Of course the CD changer is screwed in from the rear, too, so you can't pull that out, either. Of course the control panel door & hinges need to be removed for any of this as they present a clearance problem.
I couldn't see any way to easily/non-destructively gain access through the sides of the control panel enclosure, either, so any future replacement or access to behind-the-control-panel looks to be a major task involving pulling top and bottom control panels out, with who-knows how much service loop is attached to any of the components.