Head unit replacement

[jhnmdahl]

I have one of the old Sony head units with a wired remote on the dash, and am less than enamored at its ease of use. I've started looking at replacements, and it looks like having the main head unit in the 3" hole where the current Sony remote is located may be my best option.

Anybody have any feedback on either the Rockford Pmx-3 or the Kicker 46kmc4? They seem very similar, but I'm leaning slightly toward the Rockford unit. I'll mainly be playing from a USB drive (FLAC or MP3), or from an Apple device via Bluetooth.

It looks like the Fusion MS-RA210 is also an option and would fit in the existing DIN space on the passenger side, but adding a wired MS-NRX300 remote brings the cost up to well above the other two.

John

Edit - looks like Wetsounds has a WS-MC-20 that's in the same price range and would sit in place of the remote too. Might be the best of the bunch...

[wss48126]

I just replaced my Sony a few weeks back and installed the RA-70NSX in its place and installed 2 of the NRX300 remotes. One in the spot of the old Sony remote on the Dash, and one in the stock location in the transom. I had the smaller sized Sony remote on the dash though and not the giant 3" variety. I also at the same time swapped the Garmin 431 that was in it out for the Garmin 743. The one thing with the NRX300's is needing to put them on a NMEA 2000 network. Not sure if the radio will power the single remote of if you would also have the expense of having to install the full NMEA 2000 starter kit and wire that in to get the remote to work. I went through all the work as I didn't want to have any Bluetooth controllers for the radio and I wanted them all hardwired. The other added bonus was with the NRX300's on the same network as the Garmin, it could pull many things up on the remotes. Such as water temp, depth, ETA if using navigation. Just a few things to think about if you plan on updating other devices as well. I'm having to do things in stages to keep the audio up and running each weekend. This week I am installing the JL amps and speakers. So far though, I am pretty impressed with the Fusion series of Radios and controllers. I was looking at the RA210 as well, but when I was looking at the dimensions, it didn't look like they were standard DIN dimensions. It looked like it was close to 1" narrower than a standard DIN opening, and it was 1" narrower than the RA70 series. I didn't want to deal with having to do any of the mods to the glovebox as it was very tight, and I already had to deal with it being a flip open door for the Porta Potti area in my 242

[Dhooghe81]

Fusion RA670 and added 2 erx400 remotes. I couldn't be happier with the ease of operation and quality of these products. Best money I've spent on my Cobalt so far. Fusion is made by Garmin also.

[johnehr]

1. What did you do with the 3” hole from the Sony remote? The fusion remotes all seem too small. I bought a fusion ms-ra770 for my 2011 a25 assuming the remote wasn’t wired.

2. How had was it to run a different wire for the remotes? My wife is demanding that we boat rather than me tinkering with the boat since the weather is nice in Seattle so early in the season.

[NautiWeasel]

I juts installed a Fusion RA670, with an SRX400 remote, to replace the factory Sony unit and remote. I don't love my temp fix for the remote hole that I have, but I'm working on something to take are of it... I'll post back when I have the solution. For now.. mine looks like this, and it's noticeable, but not obnoxious. In this picture, you can just barely make out the half circle hole below the Fusion SRX400 remote that is empty.