Advice re CD player installation

[LORDNELSON]

At present I have a very elderly car-type radio (L,M & FM) + cassette combo player on my boat. I would like to replace it with a suitable Radio+CD Player+Cassette combo installation. !2 volt DC electrics. I would be grateful for advice about type/model to look for, purchase and installation including aerial needed;I cannot find an aerial for the existing installation!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Talbot]

I am surprised that you still want to have cassettes, these are definately getting very old fashioned. IMHO you would be better making sure that you have a unit that has LW/MW/FM plus CD, and will play CDR and CDRW. Furthermore you should make sure that it will play MP3, and it would be a bonus if it had a remote control. There are numerous units available that meet this criteria. You can then have endless fun converting all your CD/LP/Cassettes at home into MP3 format (you can get all of the Beethoven symphonies on a single CD in MP3 format. This will vastly reduce the number of CDs you carry, increase the range of music onboard, and enable hours of music/whatever before having to change a CD. As an additional bonus, it does not matter if you damage a CD onboard as you can always copy the same files again.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Glyka]

I also have a cassette player on board and use a portable CD player with a conversion cable (at 7 euro) that has a jack on the one side (that goes on the CD's earphones connector) and a cassette on the other. As I also own an old car (a Triumph Spitfire MKIV) with a radio/cassette player that I don't wish to change, I found it a cheap solution for both. And I always have the stand-alone CD.


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gordonmc]

I would go the way of Teo and use a discman and/or mp3 playing through the cassette head. CD units don't like damp at the best of times so I don't think leaving a unit on board for any length of time would do it much good, unless you have an exceptionally dry boat.
My radio units come from a car breakers. No great loss if I have to replace them every other year or so.


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[broadcaster]

Hi,

I would go the CD route as cassettes and the players are far more susceptible to moisture than a CD unit. If a cassette gets screwed up it is damaged forever, with a CD you just clean it.

If you have a PC at home with a CD burner then you can copy the cassettes onto CD. If you buy a head unit with aux in, then later you can add an IPOD MP3.

Andy

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Bodach na mara]

I threw out my cassette radio last season after it digested one of my favourite tapes. Took about an hour to get it out again.

I replaced it with a JVC CD radio from Halfords, cheapest they had, which cost about £80. Then I found that the thing needed four speakers and that the two that I had would not handle the power. Tried car breakers for the speakers but was put off the idea by the difficulty of getting them out: pouring rain, mangled doors, get the picture? Back to Halfords to spend another £80 on speakers (which I then left on the train, but that's another story.)

The system works fine now, but the power supply cable had to be renewed in larger size to handle the load. It works with NO aerial! Even in darkest Loch Long! Someday I will rig a lead to the aerial on the mizzen, but my radio engineer friends tell me I will then get more power from marginal stations but will lose selectivity. You can't win.

<hr width=100% size=1>Ken Johnson

 

[chris_db4]

Cd's bah
Cassettes used in the bottom of sikaflex seams
lp's enlarge the centre hole and you can fit a clock unit

for music an ampin a sealed box running out to the speakers and a jck plug going to an i Pod along with a power lead from the 12volt system i pod 200 hours of music and you can take it home with you at the end of the day. but then 6 years studing electronics i now like gadgets.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jerryat]

Hi Gordonmc!

Agree with you and Teo57. We use a portable CD player very successfully but still want to keep our 200 odd cassettes. Only changed our car type radio/cassette player last year after 14 years faultfree service, and found the new one will control a CD autochanger, as well as making a cup of tea and a cream bun every half hour etc etc!! Just don't think I could face recording all those cassettes onto CD for quite a while yet! I'll stick with being wind-up for now!

Good sailing!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Althorne]

We fitted a new CD player last summer (not an expensive damped marine type it) lasted 2 days. After hitting some bumpy weather around the Alderny Races with it working we found it not working and the fuse blown. Once on land JVC told us that the laser had been damaged and we had to pay £150 to repair it. So it's your choice, but what's the point of a CD player you can't us in bumpy weather??????
We have gone back to tapes.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[BrendanS]

I have a solution to that. In a v fast planing boat, you get quite a bit of bumps that CD's don't like.

Personal MP3 player or similar, then plug in a small device that transmits locally to FM. Standard radio, fitted where ever you want it can be tuned in. Perfect bump free music.

several threads on this previously. If interested, and can't find, I'll find the gadget for you

<hr width=100% size=1>Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabris, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

 

[MainlySteam]

If it was a player designed for vehicle use and it was used in the displacement boat in your details, then I would imagine that whoever said so were pulling your leg about its failure being the fault of being on a boat.

Any reasonable stereo equipment for car use will operate quite satisfactorily in any displacement boat and in all but fast smaller planing boats. And, for example, with larger vessels ordinary domestic equipment is fine eg with some current 35+ knot, 76 foot boats we are putting in ordinary domestic equipment for DVD/CD and video tape 'cause even that works quite satisfactorily in that environment.

John

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[cliff]

Domestic 15" TV/DVD combi used without any problem even in "rough weather"

12v car stereo radio/tape player with cd input and portable cd player plugged in solves the music issue. I have a removable stereo radio/tape player that slots into a "box" shaped unit so when I leave the boat I can press a button and "eject" the stereo radio/tape player, put it in its carrier bag and take it home to keep it from getting damp. All the electrical connections are in one block in the bottom of the "box" unit which the radio unit plugs into automatically when it is pushed home. Have a look for the removable type in your local index or car accessory shop. The TV/DVD stays on board all year round and so far no problems.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gordonmc]

Since the thread was started I have been playing around with the system on the boat. As I mentioned before, the radio is ex-breakers yard feeding two auto speakers.
For CD's I use a discman playing through the cassette head. Using the same adaptor I can play the iPod mp3 player and now I find a personal digital radio gets far better reception than FM, AM and Long Wave.
Again, the digital radio (a Perstel) plays out through mini-jacks to a dummy cassette in the radio tape player. Radio in CD quality.
I leave the radio unit in the boat but the discman, iPod and Perstel all go in a pocket to be taken home.

<hr width=100% size=1>