can you recommend a bluetooth 12V bluetooth receiver?
 

I'm wanting to plug in a 12V bluetooth receiver into the aux in on my WS420 and control the playlist from the top of a houseboat or the beach with the phone versus having to climb back into the boat. I'm not concerned with battery drain on the iPhone using bluetooth, just looking for something good that works at least 30ft. Is this possible and can anybody doing this recommend a product? I know there are several options for cars, but I'm guessing you have to be fairly close by proximitey-wise. How's the sound quality? I've not heard Bluetooth Audio yet. Do the receivers draw quite a bit? Thanks in advance.

clarion blt 370: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clarion-BLT3...ht_2237wt_1089

Sound quality is "pretty good." In my garage, when it's quiet I can tell the difference between BT and USB-connected audio. On the boat in the water with wind and other ambient sounds, it sounds just fine. Better than FM.

I don't think it draws much. It's got a really wimpy fuse (1a?).

30'? Hmm... pretty sure it'll pull the signal from that far, but never tested it that way. The sony BT headunit in my old boat was good for at least 60'.

Exile has their Puck. Not sure if it's out yet, but here is the press release: http://wakeworld.com/news/latestinwa...h-airpuck.html

the exile puck is dead for now: http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showt...=791564&page=2

Thanks guys for the replies. I had read that thread on the Exile a while back, but didn't know it wasn't out yet. Guess that explains why I couldn't find it on their site. I don't really need it until July, so maybe Brian will chime in.

I might give this one a try if nobody else has any recommendations. I like the fact that it can run on its own via internal Li-Ion battery (up to 8 hours) or while charging via USB. I can't imagine needing more than a few hours at a time. Sounds like the 4s has a decent range since it's Bluetooth 4.0, so I'm hoping this will do the trick.

http://www.amazon.com/Miccus-BluBrid...pr_product_top

If anybody else has anything to add, much appreciated.

I put this one in from monoprice over the winter. I wired it in to a 12v switch. I honestly can't tell the difference between music playing over bluetooth or the aux cable.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

The only other one I have heard is the avantalk unit that looks just like the exile one. The sounds quality on it was terrible. It was completely unusable.

Bruce - There are lots of off the shelf solutions out there as linked by ops. the Exile piece was placed on hold at the last minute because we specified lossless codecs and the build house was unable to provide proper documentation for licensing in the USA market. We will still bring the unit to market but we've pushed it back until such a time as it can be legit. Sorry bout that! The ZLD part of that press release has been shipping for a month or so.

-Brian
Exile Audio

Thanks again guys for the replies. One last question, you can't control the volume this way via the phone right? Pretty sure the answer is no since I believe you completely bypass the DAC similar to the dock connector, but at least I could stop, pause, search and skip. I think I'll give that Miccus product a shot.

yes you absolutely positively CAN control volume. depends on the bluetooth stack that's on your phone, but iphone 4 with current firmware will control volume just fine via bluetooth. can be used in conjunction with adaptunes for speed based volume control.

The Belkin F4U037 works well enough for me: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CLYJ2I

You do need to press the button on it to initiate the BT connection each time, but that hasn't been too annoying. I have not used it for phone calls.