www.iFourWinns.com

The Sony radio that originally came with my Vista started behaving quite poorly a few years back and I replaced it with the same Sony radio so that my remotes and all of the existing wiring would not need changed. That has worked for a couple of years now however when we started things up this spring the display on my existing unit appears to be dead. We can use it by using my wife's iPod but have to guess what mode it's in and keep trying until we hear music coming out of the speakers. Lesson learned I'm certainly not going to buy a third Sony POS and am now researching what might be available. I'm not trying to run music for anyone other than myself and whoever is on my boat so I just need something comparable to the Sony I am replacing. That radio is a CDX-H970MW and I'm thinking of going with a Rockford Fosgate marine radio specifically RFX9700. Just wondering if anyone else has used that unit or if there is a better option I should be looking at. It appears I can replace my remotes on the helm and swim deck without too much trouble with this unit. I'm kind of hoping the remotes would be the same size but that's probably too much to hope for.

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2008 Vista 278 Volvo Penta 8.1 Gi 375 hp
1999 Horizon 220 5.7 GSi

Fusion 700, it is a true marine radio/deck. If your boat went down, it would still work. There water tight sealed.

+1 best advice you will get from any Chaparral owner on this Four Winns site. It likely won't be plug n' play like the Sony, but the difference will be amazing.

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2005 H200

Vista stereos are in the cabin. If it gets wet, your boat has already sunk.



I prefer kenwood stereos. All their high end automotive units work with their marine remotes. Kenwood marine remotes are almost identical in size/shape to Sony



They also work with the previous model remote for small/tight places or to replace Clarion/JBL style remotes (like on my Chap). They're also backlit.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Heh, I wonder if their wired remote could make use of the existing wires from my clarion setup? Perhaps with an adapter? Save me the trouble of pulling new wire all the way back from the helm and transom..

Hmm, from their website it appears the round remotes will only work with the 600 series? Not the 700s? I just don't know if I have the the room at the transom nor the helm to replace the existing Clarion round remote with that larger Fusion. But I do have the oval M301RC remote, not the smaller round one. I know it takes a 2" hole but I don't know it's width. The Fusion needs 4-3/8" width.

I managed to find a picture of the remote back at the transom. There might be enough width for the larger remote. But I don't have a picture of the remote at the helm location. Go figure, I've got pictures of just about everywhere else on the boat! Thankfully a quick STFW found me the old BoatTest.com video of the 348 and it does look like I'd have enough room.

I don't hate my radio enough to ditch it, yet. But if/when the time comes I'd really like to have a better remote interface than what the clarion units up to the CMD4 offered. What bugs me the most is not being able to single-step up/down through the channel numbers. Nope, instead you're stuck scrolling up/down only through the pre-sets arranged for that 'group'. Now, you do have multiple groups, but that just makes it even more tedious. And don't get me started on the nonsense required for their iPod link.

Who's got decent pricing on the Fusion stuff? Might want to at least get some numbers 'in my head' to think about it...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Gee thanks!!

Its easy to change over, the color code for the speakers are the same. The remotes, no, but the Fusion remotes are far better. They can also display, depth, speed, COG, but its the depth I like. Last weekend we anchored and had lunch, is was great that I could just glance at the remote. Not to look over my shoulder to the fishfinder. Also the speaker zones really come in handy.

Ric, really!! The point was its made better and will last longer, not that it would get wet. I had a V258.

Depth and temp? Ah, a side benefit of NMEA2K interfacing. Assuming your sensors are on it, or your chartplotter can forward them (and remains turned on).

That would encourage me to replace the depth/temp sensor with an NMEA2K one...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Multiple zone control is just fader balance. I do the same on my cuddy. Fusion has cool toys to make up for their lack of audio quality. I do admit though on a vessel that large the WiFi streaming is superior to Bluetooth.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

No its not Ric, a fade control works like this. It only adjusts the "balance" between 2 sets of speakers and if any remote is used to change volume. It affects the whole systems volume which is not true for Fusion. Thats is why its call zones vs front to rear. Any questions on fader control Ric?

The Fusion head comes with 4 zones and more can be added. Also the remotes can be programed to control any one or combination of zones. So if my wife wants it softer in the cabin, she just turns it down with out affecting me out in the cockpit. Same hold true for the cockpit remote.

On a boat of 30+ feet I'd almost rather have two stereos. All the fancy zones you're still stuck listening to the same music.

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1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

On a live-aboard setup, sure. Or a big cabin-cruiser sort of layout. Different levels or even sources at the helm, cockpit or inside. I could see us using it on our 348 if the kids were below watching TV while we listen to music up in the cockpit.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

The cabin stereo would be a very easy thing to retrofit. Tie it into the TV's output too and use a stereo with an IR remote. Snag a nice universal remote like a Harmony and you can control it all from one.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

I wouldn't necessary say it's easy to replace the cabin stereo. The wiring harness usually doesn't have much slack. That and on our 348 it's in a very hard to reach location. So trying to splice in a new set of wires is not as trivial as one might hope.

I recall some auto setups make use of adapters. But most adapters are designed for the vehicle's harness connector. There isn't the same sort of connector like that in a boat. It's just the radio's connection hard-wired into the boat wiring. So unless there's a Clarion-to-Fusion adapter it would be a hassle to swap. But probably worth it given the features to be gained.

But I've got a longer list of things well ahead of the radio that will get bought first. New canvas, rugs, port risers/manifolds, etc.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista