"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
Clarion seems to be the best for fairly priced stereos. Any
dissagree, or can add to this.


Based on experience in the audio biz from 15 years ago, Clarion was sort of
in the middle of the spectrum of quality, with Alpine & Kenwood at the top,
and Sanyo WAY at the bottom. But, buying a really good stereo is pointless
unless you're going to use enough amplification to drive the speakers
correctly. In a quiet living room, that means at LEAST 30-50 clean watts per
channel. In a car, it's 50-100 because you have to overcome road noise. In a
boat, it depends on whether you expect to do most of your listening in the
cabin, or outside. If outside, you're in the 50-100 watt range.

But then, you have to think about the amount of power drawn by a separate
amplifier, and whether your battery setup can deal with it.

If all you want the radio for is low volume music and news/weather, then a
radio with built in amp is all you need.