Replacing Clarion XDMx Headunit

[SilentSeven]

bturner - I enjoyed that rant. That next cup of coffee is on me.

Good luck with the vehicle search. My buddy has a 2025 GMC Denali Ultimate pickup with the 3.0 Duramax. It's too nice to call a truck. Crazy amount of features and gizmos...a few are useful...most just seem like eye candy. Ha...I guess I'm old too. Welcome to the attention economy.

[srock]

I upgraded my 2009 230 and found some odd configurations with the Clarion system. If I remember correctly, the amp was driven by the rear speakers, and the front speakers were driven by the head unit amp. The sub, who knows what was going on there. The point is that if you plug and play to upgraded components, you may find yourself scratching your head. Using and identifying existing wiring was also a puzzle. Next time, I will start from scratch.

[SilentSeven]

OK - making slow progress. Have all the bits in hand and now working on getting them put in the boat. Somewhat annoyingly, clarion recently discontinued the 608 unit so I guess I'll continue the tradition of all the sound bits being NLA.

I'm now starting think about how to improve the bass response from the speakers mounted in the side combing pads. They are decent Infinity marine speakers designed for open air and factory sized. However, I am suspicious that the placement near the edge of the combing pads means that there is no real isolation between the front and back of the speaker leading to some level of bass cancelation.

Not sure what if any options I have to address this...curious if anyone has any suggestions,

[distinguishedmotorsports]

OK - making slow progress. Have all the bits in hand and now working on getting them put in the boat. Somewhat annoyingly, clarion recently discontinued the 608 unit so I guess I'll continue the tradition of all the sound bits being NLA.

I'm now starting think about how to improve the bass response from the speakers mounted in the side combing pads. They are decent Infinity marine speakers designed for open air and factory sized. However, I am suspicious that the placement near the edge of the combing pads means that there is no real isolation between the front and back of the speaker leading to some level of bass cancelation.

Not sure what if any options I have to address this...curious if anyone has any suggestions,

like i said, grab the 608 while you could. and you did! so good job.

Re: speaker response, big cone area, bigger throw/ more X max or better sealing.

[SilentSeven]

distinguishedmotorsports Good to see you stop by...your advice is always spot on.

Is there a long throw / big X max 6.5" speaker you like?

[SilentSeven]

Short progress update on my stereo upgrade.....

The M608 and the MW1 remote are now installed. Pre-amp outs feed the existing Kenwood amp and Infinity speakers so no changes there. I have jerry rigged the new 8 pin remote cable to the MW1 remote but have not pulled it around the front of the bow. So...everything plays. Here are the hot takes:

Clarion M608: For the most part, it's a nice unit to replace the OE Clarion unit. The unit looks nice and for the most part is easy to use. Unfortunately, it's a bit smaller than the OE unit so you have to redrill the mounting holes. Since mine's in the glovebox this isn't really a big deal but I'll have to plug the OE holes at some point in the future. The factory OE wiring harness is 1:1 plug and play into the 608 so there's no need to cut into your existing harness. Amazing...same harness nearly 20 years later!

There really aren't any net new killer features on the unit when compared to the OE unit. Here's a few quick hot takes:

• The multizone feature is overkill for my boat as I'm just running 4 speakers and no tower speakers. I think if you had tower speakers, you'd really want the multizone feature. Multizone is a clear upgrade over the OE unit.
• The integrated blue tooth is really clear and notably better than the OE unit with a bluetooth dongle. We source most of our music via BT so this is a nice and expected win.
• I wish the unit had the integrated Spotify vs the included Pandora option. Granted, you can connect via Spotify via BT but an app level connection would have been nice. Is anyone still using Pandora?
• I was surprised to learn that the M608 doesn't have an HD FM tuner. That seems like a big omission and something that I really wish Clarion had included.

MW1 Remote: To install this, you have to replace the dash bezel with one from nautique parts. The replacement bezel is pretty spendy at $135 but it is a nice polished metal part vs the OE oval bezel which is plastic. Expect that the new bezel won't fit quite as well into the existing hole and you'll need to futz with the nut tensions and hole a bit to get the fit right. I found the new bezel was just a bit larger than the OE one. I still have to add the factory supplied stickers to my new bezel to make the unit look finished.

The actual MW1 remote looks nice enough and I think it has more display lines so you get a bit more information on what's playing. Outside of this, there is no new functionality that I'm aware of. And to make it work, you need to run a new 8 pin cable. My beef with the unit is with the button actuation. Whereas the buttons on the OE unit were large and easy to push, the ones on the MW1 are small by comparison and much harder to work. Maybe they'll loosen up a bit with use? Or maybe it's just my particular unit. Or maybe I'll just adapt but it's just harder for me to use than the OE remote.






So...where does this leave everything? Well...it's a lot of $$ for a marginal amount of new functionality. The BT is clearly an upgrade. The M608 has some nice features...especially the multizone...but for the most part it's a refresh of the existing OE unit. The MW1 feels like a bit of step back to me with the wonky buttons. But you really don't think you have an other options if you want to keep the factory configuration. Additionally all the bits are NLA with the M608 pretty recently out of production and the MW1 out of production for a longer period. You can find MW1's on ebay and I'm sure the M608 is available there as well. Or, you can still purchase the smaller clarion M508 unit which IIR doesn't not support multizone but does work with the MW1 Or, maybe you just junk the Clarion approach and source a headless type system with the right size round dash remote to fill the dash hole and go that way.

My next step on my journey is to look at ways to 'box up' my combing panel speakers so I can get some better bass output. The poor free air isolation has to be limiting their output. And now that I have some modern digital processing within the front end, getting more out of my speakers should have some great audio return. As much as I should, I'm still still not putting in a sub but I may come back to that decision at a later time.

Happy to answer any questions!