'16 G23 Polk System Issues

[blueroom]

'16 G23 with the Polk head unit. I have learned to live with some of these, and have workarounds for others. But it is starting to get frustrating. I don't think upgrading to a JL head unit is an option. Has anyone had any luck with a warranty claim actually fixing any of these issues?

1) Loud audible background noise or hiss when in Bluetooth mode. Present the majority of the time.

2) Ghost switching from Bluetooth to AM and back and forth. LINC constantly switching back and forth between Bluetooth and AM, and sometimes displays the frequency - while always really on Bluetooth. Switching occurs at a fast enough cycle that we sometimes cannot add a Bluetooth device or control the stereo from LINC.
Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/28lejhjezj..._1816.MOV?dl=0

3) Issues with the stereo randomly losing the ability to play music via bluetooth after pausing - workaround by disconnecting bluetooth in LINC and reconnecting.

4) If battery switch is set to off at any time during the day, the stereo will not come back on once the boat is powered back on. LINC says it is turning on the stereo, but the Polk unit stays blank. We have not found anything we can do to make the unit turn back on - you can try turning the battery switch off, but that does not seem to do anything. It seems to be some combination of battery switch and time that does something. Sometimes it is overnight, sometimes it takes a few days before it starts working again - not kidding. We have found that we do not have issues if we turn the boat off at the end of the day and leave it off. It seems to be something related to a shorter timeframe between booting the boat down and back up, but only at the lake/after some use. Not sure if there is a heat variable involved here or what. We have tried pulling fuses, resetting Linc to factory defaults and all kinds of other things.

5) Audio track display “sticking”. The audio track display will randomly get stuck on a song. Mostly an annoyance.

6) General confusion or lag. Occasional lag or discrepancy between user input, LINC display and head unit activity.

7) Sudden max volume. Have had the unit go full redline volume at random times. Not an audio ramp up from low to high volume or the volume up/down feature, but a separate uninitiated blast of volume – it occurs randomly with both hands on the wheel and no elbow on the joystick. We have no remote unit on this boat, so no inadvertent pushing of the remote buttons could be the cause.

[charlesml3]

Ah yes. The infamous Polk PA4A headunit. It is most definitely not a very good headunit. Had I kept my 2017, I'd have swapped it out by now. I'll go through your issues as best as I know:

1) Yes, the hiss. The Bluetooth interface in this Headunit is pretty poor. Best solution to this is to plug in directly over USB and avoid Bluetooth.

2) I only had this happen occasionally. Again, USB input seemed to work. If you plug something into the USB input, it takes priority over everything else and seems to "lock" the input there.

3) Bluetooth disconnects. This is another problem. The best solution I found was to put the phone in Do Not Disturb. Not the switch on the side, the swipe up from the bottom and select the "crescent moon" icon. This will keep incoming calls/texts from interrupting the Bluetooth connection. This works quite well, actually. Once I started using DND, I never had another Bluetooth disconnect.

4) I haven't experienced that issue.

5) Yea. Mine would mostly stick on the first song of the day and never change. I just ignored it.

6) I haven't experienced that issue.

7) I haven't experienced that, but I have seen issues with the "Auto Volume" getting out of whack. That might be part of your problem.

So what to do? Honestly, if it was me I'd just bite the bullet and replace it with a JL-Audio MM100s-BE. That's what's in the 2018 and onward boats. I have one in my 230 and never have any trouble with it.

-Charles

[blueroom]

Ya, we have workarounds for a lot of these, as well as things we know we wan't do or they will mess up the system.

I would love to put the JL head end in, but there is not a supported configuration for 2016 - only 2017. They had originally told me they were going to support putting the JL MM100s-BE in the '16's, but they haven't developed the firmware yet. I know someone on here made one work, but I don't want to trade one set of issues for another by running an unsupported hardware set up - as this could be grounds for denying other related warranty coverage.

[GMLIII]

Blueroom have you heard of any 2017 G23 owners sucessful in getting Nautique to replace the Polk head unit with the JL Audio head unit as a warranty claim? I'm just wondering if it is something I should pursue at the end of this season.

[scottb7]

in my 2014g21 i have the polk pa450um and don't have any of those problems...is it the same exact radio to what you have...kind of confusing when i researched

while downgrading to a older head unit is not preferable...is it an option to solve some of those issues? probably it is same size, plug and play etc...

[Draykor]

I have a 2015 230 and I can get the polk stereo to work from glove box but not on linc 2.0 dashboard. on stereo setting it will not let me power the stereo on. I can control everything else on the linc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[wakerider107]

I have all issues on my 2016 besides #7. I guess the remedy is to trade in?

[blueroom]

Still holding out some kind of hope there is a fix for at least some of this. I contacted Nautique support and sent them this list, asking about the possibility of talking it over with someone. I explained that I am hesitant to open a warranty claim without some kind of plan, as I don't want to start replacing parts if it isn't going to fix anything - which seems to be the case for those that have tried.

I received a response the next day asking if I have the latest firmware, which I responded to as affirmative. It's been a week and nothing back, so that route did not seem to work.

[charlesml3]

It most certainly isn't a firmware issue. If it was, Nautique wouldn't have been replacing headunits.

[blueroom]

Ya, I've had the latest firmware for almost 2 years.

[wakerider107]

Still holding out some kind of hope there is a fix for at least some of this. I contacted Nautique support and sent them this list, asking about the possibility of talking it over with someone. I explained that I am hesitant to open a warranty claim without some kind of plan, as I don't want to start replacing parts if it isn't going to fix anything - which seems to be the case for those that have tried.

I received a response the next day asking if I have the latest firmware, which I responded to as affirmative. It's been a week and nothing back, so that route did not seem to work.

Who did you contact? I will send in my issues as well. Maybe if a few people keep poking at them they will at least come up with something - this is obviously a known issue by Nautique.

[JRW160]

Only had my 2016 a couple of weeks and have had most of these problems already. Pretty unhappy with the stereo. Probably going to replace the head unit and lose the touchscreen integration over the winter if Nautique refuses to repair it on warranty. Not ideal, but it's better than the current state of affairs.

[bignicolet]

'16 G23 with the Polk head unit. I have learned to live with some of these, and have workarounds for others. But it is starting to get frustrating. I don't think upgrading to a JL head unit is an option. Has anyone had any luck with a warranty claim actually fixing any of these issues?

1) Loud audible background noise or hiss when in Bluetooth mode. Present the majority of the time.

2) Ghost switching from Bluetooth to AM and back and forth. LINC constantly switching back and forth between Bluetooth and AM, and sometimes displays the frequency - while always really on Bluetooth. Switching occurs at a fast enough cycle that we sometimes cannot add a Bluetooth device or control the stereo from LINC.
Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/28lejhjezj..._1816.MOV?dl=0

3) Issues with the stereo randomly losing the ability to play music via bluetooth after pausing - workaround by disconnecting bluetooth in LINC and reconnecting.

4) If battery switch is set to off at any time during the day, the stereo will not come back on once the boat is powered back on. LINC says it is turning on the stereo, but the Polk unit stays blank. We have not found anything we can do to make the unit turn back on - you can try turning the battery switch off, but that does not seem to do anything. It seems to be some combination of battery switch and time that does something. Sometimes it is overnight, sometimes it takes a few days before it starts working again - not kidding. We have found that we do not have issues if we turn the boat off at the end of the day and leave it off. It seems to be something related to a shorter timeframe between booting the boat down and back up, but only at the lake/after some use. Not sure if there is a heat variable involved here or what. We have tried pulling fuses, resetting Linc to factory defaults and all kinds of other things.

5) Audio track display sticking. The audio track display will randomly get stuck on a song. Mostly an annoyance.

6) General confusion or lag. Occasional lag or discrepancy between user input, LINC display and head unit activity.

7) Sudden max volume. Have had the unit go full redline volume at random times. Not an audio ramp up from low to high volume or the volume up/down feature, but a separate uninitiated blast of volume it occurs randomly with both hands on the wheel and no elbow on the joystick. We have no remote unit on this boat, so no inadvertent pushing of the remote buttons could be the cause.

I experienced number 4 from the list above last evening, I was wondering if anybody ever got resolution for this, multiple power cycles and breaker resets and no dice…. ? Any help appreciated.