Head Unit Recommendation

Jmac572 said:
I think you'll find that Fusion are the leaders for head units, while there are plenty of better options for speakers and amplifiers. The RA770 builds its own WiFi network and you simply connect to it as you would wifi in your home, in fact your iphone will automatically connect to it when the radio is on and in range and the range of WiFi streaming is FAR greater than Bluetooth, WiFi also has a much higher quality playback... The 770 is pretty complex to set up but once it's set up it's awesome.

Since you seem pretty set against Fusion, the only other GOOD options I know of for head units are the Rockford Fosgate and Infinity head units. The JL head unit is absolute junk (rebranded Chinese crap). It's just a crapshoot figuring out which one will work better, I had both head units and they worked pretty well. The Infinity in my Sea Fox was super simple and easy to use but zero frills. The Rockford in my 290 SDX had more frills but was also pretty easy to use. Ive never had a problem connecting to any radios with bluetooth, wondering if there could be signal interference on your boat? If this is the case the WiFi streaming should clear that up.
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Thanks for the experience. I readily admit Fusion is the leader for HU's. That's why I chose them in the first place and why I gave them a second chance (third chance, once I update the software). And I won't argue with anything you've said about the 770. But it's a $500 unit. I've got BT speakers everywhere in my house, on my boat. All work fine with iphone BT. All my (other) BT devices work fine on the boat, so I doubt it's an interference thing. Even my home LG sound bar (now 10 years old) also works just fine with iphone BT. And while I love tech, I just don't need the absolute highest fidelity and highest tech audio on my boat. I'm still using the orig Clarion amp (now 20 years old and working fine) with JL speakers (they sound great). The only upgrade I did was an additional sub in a box under the stairs for a little more BUMP when sitting in the aft cockpit area (added a single channel Alpine amp for that). I recognize the 770 is a great unit, but I reall y don't think I need Wifi, even if it is much better sounding. I'm outdoors, where sound quality already degrades. And we don't venture far off when listening to music, so range isn't an issue. I'm not trying to win awards at the sand bar. I just want to listen to some music. There are enough things to spend money on with a boat; I don't want to over-spend on an audio system I'll never get the full benefit from. Please don't take this as arguing with you or criticizing your setup. I'm not. It's just for me and my setup I don't need all that. You know what worked for me in my 320DA? I added the Fusion BT adapter to the AUX inputs of the orig Clarion head unit. That worked great! I never dropped connection with that dongle. And never needed more complexity in a head unit than the Clarfion XMD3.

I'm really NOT a Luddite, I swear! I'm actually an EE. I'd just rather put that $500 and brain power into getting my analog Cummins engines connected to my NMEA2000 network to show engine data on the chart plotter!

And I appreciate all the conversation here!
 
scooper321 said:
Thanks for the experience. I readily admit Fusion is the leader for HU's. That's why I chose them in the first place and why I gave them a second chance (third chance, once I update the software). And I won't argue with anything you've said about the 770. But it's a $500 unit. I've got BT speakers everywhere in my house, on my boat. All work fine with iphone BT. All my (other) BT devices work fine on the boat, so I doubt it's an interference thing. Even my home LG sound bar (now 10 years old) also works just fine with iphone BT. And while I love tech, I just don't need the absolute highest fidelity and highest tech audio on my boat. I'm still using the orig Clarion amp (now 20 years old and working fine) with JL speakers (they sound great). The only upgrade I did was an additional sub in a box under the stairs for a little more BUMP when sitting in the aft cockpit area (added a single channel Alpine amp for that). I recognize the 770 is a great unit, but I reall y don't think I need Wifi, even if it is much better sounding. I'm outdoors, where sound quality already degrades. And we don't venture far off when listening to music, so range isn't an issue. I'm not trying to win awards at the sand bar. I just want to listen to some music. There are enough things to spend money on with a boat; I don't want to over-spend on an audio system I'll never get the full benefit from. Please don't take this as arguing with you or criticizing your setup. I'm not. It's just for me and my setup I don't need all that. You know what worked for me in my 320DA? I added the Fusion BT adapter to the AUX inputs of the orig Clarion head unit. That worked great! I never dropped connection with that dongle. And never needed more complexity in a head unit than the Clarfion XMD3.

I'm really NOT a Luddite, I swear! I'm actually an EE. I'd just rather put that $500 and brain power into getting my analog Cummins engines connected to my NMEA2000 network to show engine data on the chart plotter!

And I appreciate all the conversation here!
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No worries at all... I am a tech-savy guy and I found the 770 to be VERY difficult to get set up and working how I wanted it so I am hesitant to recommend that to you anyways... (Also the Funsion 770 is actually $700 so thats likely even more of a turnoff to you haha). If you are already happy with your current system, Bluetooth aside, then maybe an external bluetooth adapter like you had on your clarion may be the way to go.
 
I’ve seen other reports of this Bluetooth issue with the fusion so you’re not alone in this regard.
 
scooper321 said:
Yep. That's the firmware I downloaded. It's on the drive, ready to take to the boat.

And I have no issue with with the Fusion app. WHEN THE PHONE CONNECTS to the head unit, the app is great for controlling tone, configuring the radio, etc. When I had the RA70 the app was the ONLY way you could control the volume with the phone. The iphone volume buttons didn't work to adjust volume (like they do on every other Bluetooth audio device). That's why I dumped the RA70 and went to the RA210. For a while, it worked OK. Still flaky connecting to phones, but this past weekend was a disasater. My wife's phone is normally connected to it (and default connects when she is in range) but for some reason she couldn't connect. Nor could I. In fact, when we tried to go through the menus on the HU to connect, before you could get to the menu to choose the phone, the HU kept resetting to "Select Bluetooth Device" screen. When you did get connected, the song would show on the screen but the audio came out the phone. Then the HU dropped the connection. Total clusterf@#$. We had to factory reboot the HU to connect to any phones. And that worked for a while. Until it started dropping connections again. Hopefully a firmware update will correct this madness. Otherwise a Kenwood unit might not be too bad of an idea (kidding)!
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So how did it go? Did the firmware fix anything?
 
scooper321 said:
But in owning two Fusion head units (RA70 and RA210) I have found their Bluetooth compatibility with iPhones stinks. Maybe it’s because I have bought ithe lower priced units,
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My RA-70 is in a cabinet, in the cabin, and bluetooth still works 30 feet beyond my boat at the dock...
 
SKybolt said:
So how did it go? Did the firmware fix anything?
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Cautiously optimistic. The update went smoothly and I removed all paired devices. Then paired with my iPhone. It paired up correctly the first time, with no issue. That’s something that had NOT been happening. Was able to stream music and control volume, as you expect. Never dropped my phone. I didn’t power cycle it to see that it picked up again (but we will see that when I get back down later this week). So in my short tests, it’s working as I hoped.
 
So it didn’t fix everything with the Bluetooth. We came to the boat today and it took multiple tries to get my wife’s iPhone 12 to pair. We got it and used it for a while. She had been playing thru a JBL Bt speaker when I put her on the fusion. So we are streaming along with the fusion and we turn off the JBL speaker. all of a sudden the fusion is no longer playing music. Keep in mind she was paired to the fusion, not the JBL. The JBL shouldn’t have had any effect. She remained connected to the fusion but no music came out. Every time we hit pause and play, the song reset to 0. Weird. But no sound. Volume was set fine. Only after forgetting the fusion on her phone and repairing did we get things working again. Crazy stuff.
 
And just now, sitting on the dock by the boat, listening to music. The music started breaking up, as if we were moving out of range (we weren’t) and then it just stopped. Nothing had changed. The phone was still playing but nothing from the fusion.
 
Unlikely. No other BT device had issues. That includes watches, speakers, mice, etc. Also has problems at the Marina and other spots. So not marina specific.
 
scooper321 said:
And just now, sitting on the dock by the boat, listening to music. The music started breaking up, as if we were moving out of range (we weren’t) and then it just stopped. Nothing had changed. The phone was still playing but nothing from the fusion.
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I will say this, when I was trying to use my BT for the 770, it's range was horrible. I could not stream music from the back of the boat. The phone had to be at the helm in order for it to not break up as you describe. Now on WiFi it's range to the end of the dock, 50+ feet away from the boat.
 
SKybolt said:
I will say this, when I was trying to use my BT for the 770, it's range was horrible. I could not stream music from the back of the boat. The phone had to be at the helm in order for it to not break up as you describe. Now on WiFi it's range to the end of the dock, 50+ feet away from the boat.
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That could certainly be part of it. But I don’t want to drop all that coin on a 770. They ain’t cheap!
 
scooper321 said:
That could certainly be part of it. But I don’t want to drop all that coin on a 770. They ain’t cheap!
Click to expand...

Except for the BT issues, which I agree with you on, it's one of the best head units you can buy. And it is the best for add-on's and remote control support, no one has what Fusion has in that regard.
 
SKybolt said:
Except for the BT issues, which I agree with you on, it's one of the best head units you can buy. And it is the best for add-on's and remote control support, no one has what Fusion has in that regard.
Click to expand...

You may be right. Not knocking all the features of fusion’s devices. But the one thing we need is solid BT. Fusion doesn’t seem to have it and It’s a must. Everything else is a bonus.
 
Bluetooth transmit power is -20 dBm to +20dBm at 2.4Ghz. Fusion is +10dBm as well as is most other audio head units. Your connecting device (Iphone, Android, etc) must also be of a power to communicate. Note that the 2.4 Ghz is, for the most part line of sight and doesn't do well going through walls and around metallic structures. Note also that Bluetooth can be interfered with Wi-Fi devices and the frequencies used. My audio head (RA770) is on the boat's bridge and unobstructed - I can always get the maximum distance without issues.

From the Fusion RA770 manual -
Bluetooth Range Information The stereo and Bluetooth wireless devices have a range of 10 m (33 ft.). For optimal performance, the Bluetooth wireless device should also have a clear line of sight to the stereo. NOTE: Wi‑Fi® signals may interfere with Bluetooth device connections. You should turn off the Wi‑Fi setting on your stereo if you are not using it.

From the Bluetooth technology web site -
https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/key-attributes/range/
 
Thanks. We’ve had trouble connecting to the unit standing right next to it. So it’s clearly a software/firmware issue. Not a range issue. From this thread and discussions elsewhere it’s clear fusion’s BT implementation leaves a bit to be desired. And apple hasn’t don’t them any favors with their mods to iOS. But we have no issues with any other BT device, so…

If my port engine oil pressure was reading flaky at the gauge and I swapped the oil senders from the port to starboard engines and the problem followed the sender to the SB engine, we would conclude that original port sender was bad. All other components were unchanged and worked fine. Similar thing here. All other BT devices work fine and it’s the same iPhone (multiple iPhones actually) that have had connectivity issues with fusion. The one constant in the problem is fusion. Sigh.
 
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