Old Jensen Radio
 

hi,

still have the original Jensen XCC 7100 stereo cassette player on my Shabah 182 and i'm thinking it needs an update as the sound was always poor.
After removing the radio i can see at the rear there are only 2 connections, a 10 pin connector and i assume the radio antenna connection.
Has anyone have any experience in fitting up an updated radio as just looking around i can see on the new models i have looked at the connectors are different now. Was rather hoping i could simply fit a new model using the old connectors. Maybe there is an adapter i could use instead? Or a make or brand that still uses the 10 pin fittings?

one other point, were the speakers ever any good or should i replace these too? i'm not looking for a sound blaster system just something better than what is already fitted.

thanks guys for any guidance you can offer.

cheers

Lewy

Re: Old Jensen Radio
 

Most all radios use different plugs in the back of them, and the new head units will come with their own harness. Unlike cars, the boats i've owned have not had a adapter harness. However, I'm not sure how old your jensen unit is, but for the last 15 years, all aftermarket head units i have installed have used the same colors for the same purpose. Left +/- right +/- constant 12v, switch power, ground. Might be able to just cut the old harness off, and splice the new one in. Stereo wiring is fairly easy, if you have 4 speakers, you'll have a positive and negative for each speaker, making 8 wires. Then you'll have a constant battery power for memory, a 12 v power usually from the ignition switch, and a battery ground. The antenna is usually a pretty thick round black with a metal pin in the middle.

Our mariah came with the original speakers from '99, which didn't sound great, and blew pretty quickly, powered by a sony head-unit. I replaced them with JL Audio 6.5" 2-way speakers, using the same head unit, and was definitely a waaaay better sound. They were bigger than the old ones, so I had to open the speaker holes up in the fiberglass, no big deal. This year, the old head-unit had some static, so I bit the bullet and bought a new head-unit and a JL Audio amplifier. The amplifier alone was well worth the money, clear crisp, and it can go loud enough to hear clearly without distortion from the water while we're swimming.

Crutchfield.com usually has the best prices and a ton of reviews usually on products so you can get a feel for what you're buying, they also have great customer support.

Re: Old Jensen Radio
 

Bigwhite is right....

Stock unit is garbage as are the stock speakers. My 98 202 only had two 5-1/4". I had added a couple of JBL 6.5" up front. Last year replaced the JBL deck with a Kenwood bluetooth compatible deck. So far I'm very happy with it. Also swapped the 5-1/4" in the side panels for JBL 6x9.

Crutchfield is good, but not always cheap. You can get things on amazon for cheaper but don't have the customer service.

Re: Old Jensen Radio
 

I changed out the stereo on my 98 202 with a marine version Sony system. I added 4 triaxials and a 600W power amp.....


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Re: Old Jensen Radio
 

I would replace or upgrade the speakers first. Frequently the problem with bad sound is with the speakers and not the head unit. Speakers don't last long in a car much less in a boat.
Sorry about your hearing problem Phil ;-)

Re: Old Jensen Radio
 

Wanted to add too this, when I swapped my Jensen to a new unit (JVC). When wiring it up the original only had two speaker outputs. So there are two speakers on each output. Also wiring is well labeled on these boats, was amazed at the effort that went into labeling the wires!


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