Wiring in a music radio

[Stemar]

FM radio gets a sort of fizzy distortion when the signal is a bit weak, while DAB works until the signal is too weak, then it just doesn't. Bluetooth is a must to play music from your phone, and I also want USB for music on sticks. I got a Kenwood, but over the years, I've also had Blaupunkt and Pioneer. I'd just look for a reputable make that does what you want and fits in the hole. You may get a good cheapie-chinky, but they're a bit of a pig in a poke. Someone who knew once told me to spend around 1/3 of my budget on the radio and 2/3 on the speakers, and that's been born out in my experiance.

 

[Refueler]

FM radio gets a sort of fizzy distortion when the signal is a bit weak, while DAB works until the signal is too weak, then it just doesn't. Bluetooth is a must to play music from your phone, and I also want USB for music on sticks. I got a Kenwood, but over the years, I've also had Blaupunkt and Pioneer. I'd just look for a reputable make that does what you want and fits in the hole. You may get a good cheapie-chinky, but they're a bit of a pig in a poke. Someone who knew once told me to spend around 1/3 of my budget on the radio and 2/3 on the speakers, and that's been born out in my experiance.

Good speakers can literally turn a shite music head into a reasonable sound .....

Where one of my boats sits at bottom of garden - the pontoon is next to my BBQ area .... the boat provides the music ... I have extension speakers that plug into the aux 2nd speaker outlets ... the speakers are compact Hi-Fi ones designed for partys - music supplied from PC ... they have internal amp. But plugged into the unit on board ... 12v to the speakers amp .... no-ones ever complained about the sound !!

 

[Refueler]

mmm just looking back at that comment ....

Old days AM as an analogue was where as distance increased - noise would invade the output .. till it eventually overcomes the signal.
FM changed all that - then it became literally signal on ... signal off ......
DAB built on the FM ......

 

[alahol2]

I do like having the car radio for news, comment, plays, books, some comedy etc.
What I am not so keen on is the amount of battery power it can consume. We've taken to using a little tranny that runs on a few AA batteries for months...

 

[Boathook]

interesting thread. I’m one of those that likes to have music on a lot and am happy to stream it from an iPhone via Bluetooth ( or play music stored on the phone if out of decent 4G / 5G range) At present I just have a hole where one of previous owners removed the standard fit radio and no speakers so starting from scratch.

I quite like the fusion range but they do look pricey for what they are. Any thoughts or alternatives?

I've got a Kenwood KMR-M508DAB. Sounds good and retains memory. was around £160 back in March. Got it from Kenwood KMR-M508DAB Marine Digital Media Receiver with DAB+ Bluetooth and the price has dropped !

 

[PaulRainbow]

mmm just looking back at that comment ....

Old days AM as an analogue was where as distance increased - noise would invade the output .. till it eventually overcomes the signal.
FM changed all that - then it became literally signal on ... signal off ......
DAB built on the FM ......

You sure about that ? FM is still analogue DAB is digital (which cuts out if the signal is too poor). Wouldn't swear to it, but i think FM hisses and crackles the same as AM ?

 

[Stemar]

Nowhere near as much as AM, but it gets a bit fizzy when the signal is weak, especially with classical music when the whole orchestra kicks off. We haven't had the DAB long, but we got a good signal in Newtown Creek, where our phone struggled to get an H connection, never mind 3/4G Cheap phones, so no 5G

 

[chris-s]

For those thinking about adding a radio, Amazon have the Kenwood KMR for £130.

 

[Refueler]

You sure about that ? FM is still analogue DAB is digital (which cuts out if the signal is too poor). Wouldn't swear to it, but i think FM hisses and crackles the same as AM ?

Maybe ... but I can well remember the difference when changing from MW ...... which was Amplitude based ... to FM .... frequency based .....

As I understood it - DAB was built on the foundation of FM.

 

[Stemar]

Anything digital is going to be less error-prone than anything analogue. Yes, FM is far superior to AM, because AM depends on the amplitude of the signal to provide an analogue signal, while FM uses a change in frequency, so it's less error-prone. Digital anything is an on/off signal, so much less prone to distortion in the first place, plus they can use error correction (don't know if DAB does it) so an intact signal is more likely to get through.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Maybe ... but I can well remember the difference when changing from MW ...... which was Amplitude based ... to FM .... frequency based .....

As I understood it - DAB was built on the foundation of FM.

Digital broadcasting, Audio and TV. uses a FM carrier wave, Which is probably what you are thinking off.

 

[lustyd]

Digital anything is an on/off signal, so much less prone to distortion in the first place, plus they can use error correction (don't know if DAB does it) so an intact signal is more likely to get through.

Straight from the marketing material, and technically it's correct. In my experience though, this plays out as the radio dropping out any time signal becomes weak, which I find considerably more annoying than a bit of hiss.
Add to that the many other issues with DAB and I've all but given up. Despite being billed as superior to FM they neglected to mention it wasn't even a stereo signal until last year, and it still doesn't have proper volume/gain management that analogue has.
Unfortunately the march of progress requires the bandwidth for networking applications such as WiFi and 5G, as well as satelite comms, so there's just no room for FM, MW etc. any more

 

[davidmh]

Using a battery powered radio with FM the batteries last a fair time but change to DAB on the same set and the batteries do not last very long, I suspect that a 12 volt DAB set will be quite power hungry compared with FM.
David MH

 

[Boathook]

I do like having the car radio for news, comment, plays, books, some comedy etc.
What I am not so keen on is the amount of battery power it can consume. We've taken to using a little tranny that runs on a few AA batteries for months...

I haven't looked at the power used by my kenwood (see post 45) yet but suspect it requires more power.

 

[alahol2]

I haven't looked at the power used by my kenwood (see post 45) yet but suspect it requires more power.

In the description it says... Maximum Current Consumption - 10A. I doubt you'd ever get close to 10A but even 5A over a few hours adds up.

 

[Johnny WAFI]

Out of interest what did you fit? I have been umming and aaaaahing for some time. about fitting a 'car radio'.

A cheap JVC because it is the first radio I found with the same dimensions which I do NOT particularly recommend.
But I do recommend a portable Panasonic RF-D30 BTEB -K which I run off rechargeable C batteries.