Wireless IPhone for Controlling Stereo

[mgerbos]

Folks,

I am fairly new to the forum and just got my 2008 21V a few months ago so if this topic has come up before please let me know. I was out cruising with the boat yesterday and what was bugging the crap out of me was having to reach over to change the song on my IPhone. Is there some type of wireless device that I can use to control my music? Right now I basically hook my IPhone to a short wired plug into the Aux port. I can always get a longer plug but then anyone trying to walk thru to the playpen will have to deal with the wire in the way. Thanks for the advice.

[Wylietunes]

Get a bluetooth and plug it in that AUX port, then stream your music. Not the best sound quality, but convenient.

[jonyb]

To add to what Mike said, Scosche makes one that will work. BTAXS is the part number. It will plug directly into the aux port. Charging will be necessary sometimes.

[Zim]

Does your boat have a kenwood cd player in it? If so, get the kenwood ip500 interface, connect it to the back of your head unit in the cd changer/sirius port, and then you can control your music on the cd player.

[mgerbos]

Hey Zim,

Yeah it is the standard Kenwood CD Player. So will I be able to control everything from the Driver's side interface as well or just the head unit in the storage compartment?

[tg0824SSVGG]

Drivers side, and if you have it, the rear controller. Be warned, it really only works well with playlists. I didn't like it and got rid of it.

What I did instead was to by a WetSounds WS-420 that I put over by the driver - the primary function of this is to allow inddpendent control over
in-boat/tower speaker volume and an equalizer.

It also allows the AUX-in function to be over by the driver.

I then got an cable that plugs into the connector on the BOTTOM of the phone so it charges, and hooks into the WS-420 on the aux-in connection.
I have the cable, but the phone is by the driver, can be controlled and charged there.

Works well for me.

This is the cable I use, and it also has RCA jacks for input into the WS-420 - better than the headphone jack:

http://www.amazon.com/iSimple-PolyWi.../dp/B001TH8O7E

[jonyb]

That's exactly what I'm using on my Can Am Maverick Todd. The isimple cable into a WS420. Works pretty good, but on a boat, he'll lose the transom remote and radio control when using the ipod that way.

[Sirgonz]

I had a Blue tooth stereo in my last boat and the quality was WAY better then say using the tuner.... then you just make changes on the phone from anywhere on the boat and only have to switch to aux...

May not be as good as wired but definitely sounded good

[mgerbos]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the replies. At least now I have choices. The way I look at it both ways have their negatives and positives. If I am understanding correctly here they are:

IP500 Interface
Good - Lets you control Ipod/Iphone from drivers side, storage compartment, and remote transom
Bad - If you don't have the playlists set-up already it gets very cumbersome to operate

WS420
Good - You get the benefit of the equilizer and can control the Ipod/Iphone on the drivers side like I want
Bad - Cannot control Ipod/Iphone from remote transom

Does that just about sum it up?

[Zim]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the replies. At least now I have choices. The way I look at it both ways have their negatives and positives. If I am understanding correctly here they are:

IP500 Interface
Good - Lets you control Ipod/Iphone from drivers side, storage compartment, and remote transom
Bad - If you don't have the playlists set-up already it gets very cumbersome to operate

WS420
Good - You get the benefit of the equilizer and can control the Ipod/Iphone on the drivers side like I want
Bad - Cannot control Ipod/Iphone from remote transom

Does that just about sum it up?

That sounds about right. The controls on the head unit for the ipod interface are just clunky. Your Ipod will have to be organized flawlessly to get anywhere somewhat quickly. When I used the ip500, I always had playlists set up. I'd disconnect the ipod from the connection to the head unit, select the playlist I wanted to play, start playing it, then plugged it into the ipod interface connection. This resumes the ipod to play where it left off... so wherever you start, it continues to play once plugged into your stereo. If you use a lot of playlists, this might work great. If you pick songs individually and let everyone play DJ after every song, it's probably not your best choice.