head unit with wired remotes

Time to put a stereo in my boat. I am trying to pick a head unit. It needs to be able to have at least one wired remote, preferably 2 and handle an iPod. Please offer your suggestions with model numbers and experience you have had.

links would be very nice.

Alpine has come out with some 2008 marine head units that have both wired and "remote" remotes.

I have always loved their head units. Check out this pdf and scroll down to one of the later pages. It will give you all the info you need.
http://www.floridaspl.com/Alpine_2008.pdf

http://www.turtlemarine.com/jensenmcd9425.html

How about these. The reason I ask is because I could get ahold of one for $75. Do these have the option to add a wired remote?

When I was searching last season I found it was easier to start with the remote and then find a compatible HU that works with it and suits your needs. There really is a big difference in cost and features across brands so you should probably narrow it down some or give us what you would like to spend, what features you need and what type of expandability you want/need (sat radio, amps, etc). Most of the folks around here are going to suggest high-end stuff off the bat so its really going to depend on your budget first and foremost. You can spend as little as a couple hundred or well into the thousands.

Pioneer, Sony, Alpine, and maybe Eclipse with some work.

Alpine has the new iDA-X100M and CDA-9886 than can be used with the MC1 marine controller. Both of these units look great but they are a little spendy for only having a 4volt preout.

Sony still offers a wired marine remote control but only go this route if you just want the basics and need to keep the budget low. Sony has pulled effort and resources from the car audio / marine electronics to focus more on other segments.

Pioneer has a solid 2008 line. The marine controllers are still a little bulky but both that they offer work great. You are also able to get into higher voltage preouts and good sound quality for a reasonable price. The 5000 and 6000 will be good radios for 2008. If you go pioneer make sure to get the marine controller with the display (CDMR80??).

Kenwood has some nice radios also but I have heard that the display is hard to see in the sun. I have not confirmed this.

Clarion is clarion.

Only if Eclipse made a marine controller.......
Eclipse is still my favorite manufacture of recievers. This years CD7200 is going to be great. In my next marine set up I am going to fab a marine controller for the Eclipse. Use the wired remote input with a steering wheel control interface and make my own button pad. hmmmmm...

^^^All my opinion^^^

get a stereo that will work with these rf remotes they work awsome...

www.ideasthatfloat.com

i use a pioneer 5900 with a floating remote and a steering wheel remote and its the fire!

Chris- Looks like someone already thought of what I wanted to do with the Eclipse and the steering wheel control interface.

ok, so I guess I need to tell you guys what I want.
So here's my plans.
I have bought 4 wetsound XS650s for the inside of the boat
I also purchased a wetsound 10' free air sub. Not sure what it called. I forget easily.
I also am planning on adding one more of these 10's in the near future.
I will have Cadence Marine Amps for everything. One cadence amp to run all 4 of the XS650's and 2 seperate Cadence Marine Amps to run both the 10' subs.
In the future I want to put a pair of Pro60s on the tower so I will need another sub for that.

So all in all I am looking for a head unit that will take care of a total of 4 amps, powering 4 in boat speakers, 2 subs, and a pair of tower speakers. It needs to be reasonably skip free, and I also would like one that can fit at least one wired remote. But I also want all of this for a good price. Not looking to spend over $150 -$200 for the head unit, I am aware that the wired remote will cost more though. So theres a lot more about what I want, so maybe ya'll can help me key in on exactly what I need. I'm looking for more function than style, but of course style is ok.

Clarion has 4 wired remotes that will work with 2 of their head units. I'm running 2 CMRC1-BSS's off my CMD4.

H/U # CMD5 & M475

Also runs Ipod through Cnet or the Aux inputs and is Sirius ready and BlueTooth.

You are going to want a head unit with 3 RCA outs (front, rear & sub).

Since you are running good speakers and good amps, do not skimp on the head unit. I would go with an alpine and make sure the RCA outputs are rated at 4 volts.

I would look at the Alpine CDA 9866M, it comes out this Spring and I bet you can find it for under 225 on the net: Here are the specs

18W RMS / 50W MAX x 4 • CD-R/-RW/MP3/AAC/WMA Playback • USB connection for USB memory
sticks • Full Speed Connection for iPod touch, iPod nano and all iPod models with dock connector • BioLite
Display • Bluetooth Ready • Full Speed AUX input • Quick Search • Ai-NET • SAT Radio Ready • HD
Radio Ready with Multicasting • 3 PreOuts (4V) • Remote Control Included • Steering wheel remote ready
• Sub display output for use with MC1 Marine Commander • KCE-422i Full Speed Cable included • Salt/
Fog (ASTM B117) Tested; UV (ASTM D4329) Tested

I have used Clarion with very good results. In my old 83 2001 I had a cmd4 mounted under the deck by the drivers feet and a remote mounted in the dash to the right of the helm. I used the remote with the LCD display. You can also get a Y adapter to run multiple remotes. The CMD4 and up head units have a pair of RCA in puts that I had my ipod plugged into and three sets of RCA outputs. Are you installing this in a 2001? If so I can email you photos of how and where I put mine. I live about 30 minutes from you in Tyler. I got a buddy who's girl works at imagine ink tattoo shop in downtown henderson. Small world.......

PS. you can get all the items above on ebay for supuer cheap. That is where I got mine.

Anyone know of somewhere that us getting the MC1 Alpine remote before March or April. I want one or two or three of those!

Denon made a few marine head units that were rebranded by Rockford. The all had 3-5V pre, and all the creature comforts expected in a pre-ipod post mp3 head unit. Hard wire remotes were available with splitters for multiple locations. They did have some QA issues with them, but the unit is nice if you can find them on ebay. They are no longer made.

What turned me off with the Clarion is that the remote only come with a 1' cable, requiring the purchase a 24' cable for $30 to get the remote anywhere.

My criteria was CD/MP3 with LCD remote, aux-in for ipod, and at least 2 rca outs for amps at a later time. And it had to be under $300. I ended up with the Sony F50M and X55 remote. Total, shipped, ended up being like $250 for both pieces off ebay (just email a vendor who carries both and work a deal). It's not the best piece by any means, but It does what I need it to and it was cheap. I also don't have to worry about it getting stolen since my boat is stored outdoors.

Ryan,
Did you get your ipod aux hookup off of e-bay as well? How does it connect to the back of the deck or did you have to wire it in? Thanks for the help.

Jason,
I went with a Peripheral universal adapter I had lying around, which converts the iPod dock connector to stereo RCA and also charges. The RCAs are plugged into the aux-in on the back of the deck.

http://www.isimplesolutions.com/prodDetail.asp?strID=3
http://cgi.ebay.com/Peripheral-ISVE71-iSimple-Universal-iPod-interface_W0QQitemZ130158747490QQihZ003QQcategoryZ 50552QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1 247QQcmdZViewItem

Ryan,
one more question can you control your ipod through the head unit with this setup?

No, but I prefer it that way. From the reviews I read when I did the install, the iPod interfaces that you control with the deck were still pretty bad. They may have gotten better for 07-08, so I don't know if they'd be worth it now.

Why run a deck period? Does anyone actually still use CD's in this MP3 age? It's just one more thing to break IMO.

Me I'm running my Ipod through a Peripheral charger/adapter to RCA out, That goes into a Zapco SP4-SL equalizer, then run my RCA's out to the amps. Sounds clear as day and just one less thing to have to worry about.

Just some food for thought.

David, you have a point. I have used my radio in my boat for CDs only. An improvement is CDs with MP3s. A better improvement is an ipod. After all an 8G ipod nano has more storage than 10 CDs and a 80G ipod has more storage than 100 CDs. And, since most people use external AMPs, we only need ipod -> pre-amp -> amp -> speakers. So, I would like an ipod docking pre-amp that offers remote control of the ipod.