Customer Reviews

PYLE PLMRCW3 White Water Resistant Stereo Housing with Full Chassis Wired Casing

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Price is about the strongest selling point for this item. It has about zero instructions, funny color codes, and not all the mounting hardware.

The little "instruction" sheet that comes with this is just that, little. There's three tiny images on it and not much else. There's no mention of where the gasket goes, no mention of where the little white pads go, and no mention of how to connect all the wires to the radio. And I never did find the "Support Shelf for Radio in Rear of Housing." There's also some kind of black plastic plate that looks like a place to mount a radio but, of course, there was nothing on the instructions about it.

Most everywhere, including the radio that you'll stuff into this, probably has a black wire as ground. Not this unit. Mine came with a light blue wire marked as ground and the black wire marked for the speakers.

The only mounting hardware included is the knobs that hold the housing into the bracket, screws for the faceplate onto the housing, and some little screws for mounting brackets that don't come with the unit. Yes, it's pretty standard not to include mounting hardware, the stuff that actually holds it to the boat, but ads usually say "mounting hardware sold separately." Not "stainless steel mounting hardware." Just an oh-by-the-way, the built in nuts that hold the enclosure to the bracket are actually brass, with what appears to be stainless steal screws in the knurled knobs. Can you say, "dissimilar metal corrosion?" Granted, it won't be much but it will be there.

After all that, this is what I did:

I mounted a Kenwood KMR330, with only the front speakers planned for hook up at this time, into this unit. The Kenwood uses a wiring harness with plug that makes it fairly easy to connect all the wires. I soldered all connections and used liquid tape over all connections and on the bare wires ends left exposed on the wires I'm not using at this time. That includes the built in wires on this enclosure. They're stripped back about a quarter inch and the wires are left exposed. I didn't want a bare wire connection, that runs inside and out, left floating around my radio.

Then I used several zip-ties (not included) to bundle the wires together and just neaten things up a bit, and also to hold the unused wires together so I could store them in the very back of the enclosure. There's plenty of room for the extra wires though the antenna wire is a bit stiff and didn't want to cooperate when I slid the radio in. The pre-amp out RCA plugs do not have any kind of covers or storage places so plan on doing something with them if you don't use them right away.

I then took all the extra wires on the back of the enclosure, cut off the bare wires, insulated and waterproofed them, and bundled them together with another zip tie and was able to get them to curl together enough that they'll hide in the little cutout area on the back of the enclosure. I didn't want to cut them off because I might end up using them after all. And, there's no way to temporarily remove the wires you're not using right away.

Yes, I'd buy this unit again, just on the price point and it looks pretty cool, but I was really disappointed in the door and gasket seal. Once the stick-on gasket is stuck on the inside of the door, I guess that's where it goes- no instructions, the door wouldn't close and latch without using a bit of force, or striking it with the heal of my hand. Now, I understand that the seal is new and it might take a bit to "settle" in but I'd think just a bit more lip on the latch would make a huge difference. And, two of the faceplate mounting screws had a very hard time going back in. And yes, I know how to replace screws in plastic without stripping them out, been working electronics over 30 years.

Overall, for the price, this in not a bad unit but three things would make this a huge winner: Actual instructions, a door that closes and latches easily with the gasket in place, and let's make the ground wire black like the rest of the world.

The first reviewer got it right, but he was too kind. I can not recommend this product, and I am trying to get a refund.

The flip up door hinge is nothing but plastic and it can, and did break, on me right off the bat.

The shell of the unit is ok, just the flip up door lacks approval, and needs improvement.

good housing with full chassis wired casing. exelent for my boats good termination and door.
beatiful box marine . I recommend it

The housing made a great way to install my stereo. The door does not close tight after you add the provided water resistant weather strip; however, I already knew of that issue from other reviews I read before I ordered it. Overall, I am happy with the product.

nice product.priced right..all installed will work great..recommend this product.not a high priced item.if you don't want to spend allot this is it.

Weather proof yes, long lasting absolutely not.
The cover broke off the hinge housing after 1 weekend of opening and closing 4 times.

I ordered this stereo enclosure to put in my boat. The first thing that I noted was that the wires that it has in it are very thin...I think I used the 18 slot on my strippers. Second problem was that when I got it all wired up and started to mount it to my boat, the female side of the housing, where the screw goes, caved in very easily. This not only make it no 'weather proof', but also impossible to mount. I ended up super gluing it back together and very carefully mounting it. Overall it was a huge headache.

As EVERYone has already mentioned; the flip-up cover's hinge pins break-off immediately. The wiring color-codes are nonsense! You MUST re-wire the speaker- and power-leads or you're asking for trouble. The brass inserts, on the sides, break loose as you tighten the cheezy Knob-Screws. Only a tiny dab of some brittle cement was applied at the factory. The M6 threads in these brass inserts were not tapped properly, so the Knob-Screw shafts bind/sieze almost immediately. These are "blind" holes that will require re-tapping and, preferably, use of a bottoming-tap before becoming useful.

OVERALL: It's a great concept and a handsome design. Despite all the shortcomings this worked well for my custom head-unit installation, where water-proofing is not a concern, but I would NEVER recommend this for any outdoor/marine application. PYLE AUDIO SHOULD BE ASHAMED for branding such JUNK with their well-respected name.