JL Audio is showing its first head unit—a marine audio deck– during CES this week.
The company, a successful player in marine audio speakers and amplifiers, said the new deck allows it to offer complete marine audio systems.
The new MediaMaster MM100S does not include chip amplifiers, as used in most marine source units, said the company. Instead it uses “audiophile quality” preamp-level audio circuits in an 8-channel architecture with 4V RMS outputs. The design allows system building flexibility for four zones including a subwoofer zone.
The mechless (CDless) player includes an AM/FM/weather band tuner with Bluetooth audio streaming with AptX CODEC and full control of play/pause and track up/down functions.
It is SiriusXM ready and NMEA 2K compliant so it can network with other marine electronics.
JL Audio’s Jeff Scoon said, “The audio engineering team focused on making a better sounding head unit, the hardware team on making a classy looking product that could withstand real marine conditions, and the software team created a beautiful interface that works great on the water.”
The MediaMaster is iPX66 rated for marine-grade weatherproof construction. It has a full color 3.5 inch CD display with day/night modes and it works with optional MMR-20 remote controls.
It will ship in March at $549.99 suggested retail price, and it will be on view in Las Vegas this week at The Palms Casino and Resort.
Here are the system configurations supported by the unit:
- Main Audio Zone features bass, midrange, treble and balance controls.
- Audio Zone 2 is a full-range zone with independent bass, midrange, treble and balance controls, plus absolute or relative volume control.
- Audio Zone 3 can be assigned as a Subwoofer Zone or as a 3rd Full-Range Zone with independent bass, midrange, treble, balance controls, plus absolute or relative volume control.
- Audio Zone 4 is a fixed level zone
- Zones 1-3 feature a zero-clipping audio circuit design, with self-limiting tone controls to prevent speaker system damage.
