Problem With BOSS Marine Radio - Cutting In and Out at Higher Volume

[amb4582]

Sorry if this topic has already been addressed, I DID search the forums before I posted. And it's my first post.

Any help would be tremendously appreciated. Thanks ahead of time guys.... Here it goes:

I purchased and installed a BOSS MR1520UA head unit into a pontoon boat with 4 speakers (no amp, replacing a Maxxima by Panor Cassette player). Whenever I try to turn the radio above level above 56-60, it starts chopping in and out to the point that it is unusuable (it sounds almost like bad radio reception). This happens on every input including FM, CD, and AUX. The higher you turn the volume up, the worse it gets. All the speakers work up until that volume which leads me to believe this is more of a warranty issue however I'm open to suggestions. This unit is brand new and started doing this the second I installed it.

Again, shedding any light on this situation would help me immensely and thanks!!

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[Farmacist 10+ year member]

There probably isn't any problems with it at all, its jsut a boss and has really bad quality

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

1. Boss is shitty quality.

2. All head units will clip at high volume, the built in amp just does not provide enough power for essentially any aftermarket speaker.

3. You will need to install an aftermarket amp to solve this problem, and most likely find a better HU.

That's the blunt of it, sorry if that isn't what you wanted to hear. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[NFAMOUZ 10+ year member]

yea bro, just invest in a better head unit

 

[amb4582]

UPDATE

Just had an audio technician come by and check it out. It turned out to be a bad ground. I guess it was set up as a "floating ground" versus hard grounded to the boat. After he switched it to the hard ground, everything works perfectly.

Not all head units clip at high volumes, all head units distort, but they do not clip. This indicated a power/grounding problem to me and my belief was confirmed.

I do appreciate the advice though; its always good to learn something new!!!!!!

 

[carlosg_313 10+ year member]

UPDATE
Just had an audio technician come by and check it out. It turned out to be a bad ground. I guess it was set up as a "floating ground" versus hard grounded to the boat. After he switched it to the hard ground, everything works perfectly.

Not all head units clip at high volumes, all head units distort, but they do not clip. This indicated a power/grounding problem to me and my belief was confirmed.

I do appreciate the advice though; its always good to learn something new!!!!!!

most or all H/U will clip your speaker(which is pretty much distortion)

 

[amb4582]

most or all H/U will clip your speaker(which is pretty much distortion)

Ahhh. I gotcha. You're right, clipping is just a form of distortion. I guess whenever I think of distortion though I just think of "fuzzy" or overly loud, distorted sound. What was coming out of my boat speakers was like a cutting in and out, like a nanosecond loss of power, which sounded different to me then just playing it way too loud and hearing fuzziness.

I am just happy I can go out and drink all day on my boat without the music cutting out!!!!

 

[60_cent 10+ year member]

Boss....