Author Topic: Fusion Radio  (Read 1733 times)

Offline kipbass

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Fusion Radio
« on: 09/09/13 06:13 UTC »
http://www.fusionelectronics.com/marine/products/head-units-50-series/ms-ra50
I'm looking for a radio for my boat. This one seems ideal with a small foot print and shallow mounting depth. Anyone have experience with it? I wonder how the reception is?

Offline kipbass

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Re: Fusion Radio
« Reply #1 on: 10/06/13 09:26 UTC »
Here's my review....
The radio interface is simple and easy to use. I'm used to multiple menus for car receivers like Kenwood, where you need to set speakers hz, tones etc. This is not like that at all. One menu for tone setting, bass and treble. Then another for presets and erasing presets. Another for setting brightness and contrast. 5 Stars here.

Reception..as of now my boat is sitting under a carport with a metal roof, I have not had the chance to try it on Toledo Bend Lake yet. The tuner is very sensitive and picks up stations great. So great in fact, I held off installing the traditional whip antenna and ordered one that can be hidden under neath the console or wherever.  For now 5 stars.

I paired the Fusion Radio MS-RA50 with a set of Kenwood Marine speakers KFC-1633MRW. The speakers I believe are rated at 20W and the radio is 40W. I'm not looking to party on the boat, it plays loud enough, but at higher volumes some distortion is heard. No fault of the radio. Over all it sounds great. I would rate the speakers about 4 stars due to lack of wattage. Had I paid attention, I might have bought some with a higher wattage.

The radio itself has additional connections in the back for amps, Ipods, bluetooth etc...All which is made by Fusion only, so you might pay a premium price for propitiatory additions. I don't care about those, I just want some tunes from local stations.

The radio cost was $100.00 at Amazon, speakers were $50.00 on Ebay, I got marine grade speaker wire from Crutchfield at .49 cents a foot, free shipping. The whip antenna was Ebay at $14.00 and the hidden antenna Amazon at $6.00. Most of these had free shipping and were the best prices I could find at the time of purchase.

To conclude, if the hidden antenna doesn't work well on the lake, I can install the whip type to improve reception. Overall 5 stars out of 5. I'll post pics later after I clean the inside of my boat from all the clutter.  8)

Offline basskat

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Re: Fusion Radio
« Reply #2 on: 10/06/13 19:34 UTC »
The only reason I've never installed a radio in my boat was the antenna. Let me know how the hidden one works.


Offline kipbass

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Re: Fusion Radio
« Reply #4 on: 10/08/13 19:01 UTC »




Hidden antenna works fine so far, at the house, under the carport.

Offline invertedn04

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Re: Fusion Radio
« Reply #5 on: 10/08/13 19:17 UTC »
I installed a amp with the rca plugs that goes to my ipod that way I don't have a antenna sticking up now where.i didn't have to use a head unit with this setup. I haven't had any issues with radio reception on any lake I fish.
« Last Edit: 10/08/13 19:28 UTC by invertedn04 »