Audio system to go with Garmin HDS 10

[swof63]

Yes.
When my little sig was being setup, they used the included fusion nmea cable ( bus powering ). The boat has garmin 1020xs, ra205, 2x gmi20 gauges, fuel flow sensor, suzuki engine and warning panel hookup, gps aerial ( for the gauges) all hooked up to nmea. I think the gcv10 connects to the 1020 via Ethernet.

With the "powering" cable, turning on the ra205 powered up the whole nmea backbone including the gmi20's and the suzuki interface ( much like turning the key to "on" but not starting). This meant having the radio on at anchor with the engine off would still result in the whole thing being powered up so not ideal for a number of reasons. The non-powered cable was quickly sourced from Garmin and all is good.
I guess the included powered cable is for people who are just going to have basically a "private" network to a mfd only and no other connections thus making it slightly simpler in the short term.
As far as the 205 stereo is concerned, I've found the Bluetooth more stable than the usb connection for iPhone/iPod which is odd. The Bluetooth has never missed a beat and sounds perfect, the usb sometimes shuts down. Just make sure your Bluetooth connection is to the ra205 and not the 1020xs.
If you want to also use garmin helm on your iPhone/iPod/iPad connect to the 1020 via wifi.

Have fun

[chocolatemoose]