How is that possible for that price you say!!!!
It all depends on where you go shopping. First port of call is your local "Tackle World" shop followed by your local op shop.
Tackle World has a special on this lovely little unit, the GME GR200 at $109 including a pair of 3" 60 watt marine speakers.
The reason it is on special is because it is a discontinued model, but do not let that scare you off. Because of it's unique features I believe these will become collector's items.
The unique features are that this radio receiver has 5 frequency bands they being AM (1 and 2), FM (1 and 2), VHF (limited to about 20 marine channels, 16 included), SW and LW, PLUS a 3.5 mm input jack for MP3 players, mobile phones, Walkmans etc, etc.
The VHF band is handy for monitoring channel 16 and that is about it.
The SW band on 10 meg will pick up the time signals which is essential for setting your time piece and using it for celestial navigation. It will also pick up Radio Australia which is handy for picking up the latest news if you are out of range for AM and FM.
The LW band will enable you to pick up the weather scheds from Charleville if you know the frequency and transmit times. Depending where you are and weather conditions (skip) you might also pick up transmissions from the other side of the world.
The MP3 input means you do not need to carry CDs or tapes on board and of course CD and tape players do not last long in the marine environment.
So I have a 12 volt regulated power supply box and a spare car ariel in the shed and decided to crank it up before fitting to the yacht.
It comes with a fair pair of speakers which sounded very good. It puts out 40 watts (15 watts RMS) per channel as do most car stereos. Powered up I tuned it into various radio stations and was impressed. Plugged in my phone and played some music off that with a bit more volume and it put a smile on my face.
The volume range is from 1 to 30 and it has bass, treble and balance adjustment.
That experiment having been successful and very pleasing, it was time to try out the big guns, my Sony 3 way, time alignment box speakers purchased from the Lifeline Op Shop for the princely sum of $10 (Ramona would approve).
For this kind of testing one must choose the right kind of track with essential bass, treble and mid range sound. For that I chose the John Butler Trio's Zebra song and cranked it up to 25 (70%) on the volume scale.
That pulled my smile into a wide grin and pissed my arsehole, welfare bludging neighbours off so that they had to try and compete with their doof doof, nigga nigga techno crap that they listen to. They were not in the race the racist pricks.
I can't wait to install this sound system in the natural acoustic environment of my yacht and play the five Beethoven Piano Concerti. That will get the dolphins playing around us when we are sailing.
Yes, those big black buggers are going on the boat. The little white fellas will have to shelter under the dodger with a two way switch between them and the black fellas.
The replacement in the GME range for this unit is the GR 300 which has a more stylish look, only has AM and FM but does have Bluetooth. The look matches the latest GME VHF radio being the GX 700 one of which I picked up yesterday too. I was very tempted to get the GR 300 but I opted for the VHF, SW and LW capabilities of the GR 200 for $140 less.
GME (Standard Communications) is an Australian company and I believe they turn out top quality products. I did not need to buy a new VHF as the old one (GME about 20 years old) is working quite fine. The GX 700 has a remote mic/spkr feature that I like.
If you just want a simple and quick "music fix", this set up is ideal. The Sony Cube sells for $69, is Bluetooth or 3.5 mm jack, can be stereo with two, has fantastic reproduction of sound and more than enough volume to fill any 30 to 40 footer with sound.
I just love the technology coming out today.
