Best marine stereo receivers according to redditors
We found 11 Reddit comments discussing the best marine stereo receivers. We ranked the 6 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 11 Reddit comments discussing the best marine stereo receivers. We ranked the 6 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I've replaced a couple NA Miata radios so I feel like I can comment. Whatever you do, buy the Metra wiring harness for your car. You splice it (using wire nuts) to the wiring coming out of your new head unit, and it plugs into your factory wiring connector. No cutting of your car's wires. It's the proper way to do it and you will be very thankful if you ever replace that radio again.
That out of the way, one thing to remember in a convertible is readability in direct sunlight. Most modern head units have LED displays that completely wash out in bright light. I have my eye on this mechless unit that has an LCD display: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07717WCVN
And finally - fitment. If you have a factory radio right now, chances are the size is not the standard "single DIN" or even standard "double DIN" because...I don't know. But if you buy the above mentioned unit, there will be a gaping hole below it and the size is odd. Moss Miata to the rescue! They sell a little cubby designed to properly fill the hole. It's stupid priced for a plastic box but it is a very specifically sized plastic box. Here's how it looks in my car below my weirdly mounted old head unit.
You should be able to mount your new head unit into the "rack" that your current radio is mounted to. It's fairly straightforward after you get things apart. That unit is lightweight too, so should be simpler to mount.
FINALLY - to get your old unit out you have to remove the center console and then the "tombstone" - which means you have to pop out your two eyeball vents. It's a harrowing thing on old plastic and there have been a few reports of broken trim. I've always been OK but I don't think I'd do it during really cold weather when the plastic is most brittle. To pop my vents I used a bit of paracord with a loop at the end. A bent piece of wire was used to fish the loop out of the opposite side of the vent, then a quick yank and out they pop. There are screws above the vents to remove the trim. You can look this all up online (miata.net).
Hope this helps.
P.S. if you have a power antenna, you likely will lose independent control of it. It will go up when you power up the radio, and go down when you turn it off.
I'm on my 3rd stereo. I have found the most important aspect is that it needs to be water proof. My stereo has a cover, and the first two got a little wet. they stopped working immediately.
These were my first two:
Pyle
Kenwood
The Pyle had decent sound, and good reception. It got a little wet and died.
The Kenwood had better sound and better reception. It got a little wet and died.
If you dig into the review on these, you will find the same feedback. The features were great, sound, reception, all good or great. Little wet- kaboom!
The Sony I have now is water proof. The description says the inside is treated to be waterproof, unlike the others. The reception flat out sucks, but the features are good. The sound is good.
Again, I only got the stereos a little wet. This was the Pyle stereo. You can see it had no cover. I got caught in heavy rain on the highway, so it took a good wetting.
The Kenwood had a cover over it. We got caught in the rain on the water one day. The cover protected it, but it got a little wet. It died.
I've been caught in a couple storms with the Sony and haven't had a problem.
I loved the Boss head unit I had in my VW a few years ago. The one in the link is similar..a bit newer. Nice big screen, but good tactile buttons and knobs.
I'm in the car market now, and all the cars I like have shitty center stacks with barely-there buttons and big screens.
Clarion M303 Marine CD-USB-MP3 Receiver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCOHDW6/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_d-rdvb1VYX564
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCOHDW6/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_d-rdvb1VYX564
Rockford Fosgate has a few compact digital media receivers that will fit in the slot. From basic ones to fancy ones with a screen. I've played with a few of these and they work well. I've had good luck personally and professionally with RF. Here's one https://www.amazon.com/Rockford-Fosgate-PMX-3-Compact-Receiver/dp/B06Y19L9TM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549053137&sr=8-3&keywords=rockford+fosgate+marine+radio
Hi, according to this Amazon listing, the dimensions for the JBL-PRV 175 are 7 x 6 x 6 inches (obviously it's a circular cutout but those are the dimensions provided).
These two are some that I found that look like they might fit with little to no change in the hole size:
Rockville RGHR2 - 7.09 x 10.24 x 5.94 in
Clarion GR10BT - 6.8 x 1.9 x 5.5 in