wa8yxm wrote:
1500 watts of stereo in a car.. Wow, that makes you a bullfrog.
(Story: In Detroit, on Belle Isle (now a state park) Young men gather with super high power Stereos in their cars, and of course the girls flock to the loudest stereo.
Same with bullfrogs,, The females flock to the male with the loudest croak.
Okay, so I'm a bullfrog. I'll take it as a compliment.
I purpose-built the limo for shock value, so the a/v system fit the bill. I used it mostly for tailgating and hanging out with friends. Kind of like why I bought the RV.
I guess my point is that stashing a modern A/V system where you wouldn't expect it is a fun project. The middle storage compartments of the limo had roll-top doors that concealed the bottle storage and ice chest. I modified one of them to house the head unit. I had to remove the maple cabinet, build a housing and reinstall it in a way that looked like it belonged. I covered the excess space in black leather.
With some creativity you can install an A/V system anywhere you want in an RV since it's a 12V system. The new ones come with pretty comprehensive a/v systems, so why not do it to an old one. I found that the space above my systems monitor (the tank monitor panel) is empty. I'm thinking of putting the head unit there and routing the cabling under the RV where it needs to go. Like in my limo, so long as it's protected from chafing you can run cables outside and then back in fairly easily.
Ahhh - my dream project. All of my friends are shocked that I haven't gone there yet with my Allegro.
With 12V power in the coach, you can go as crazy as you'd like. I'd forget about the dash mount (if that's where it is) and place the head unit somewhere central in the living space. I plan to do this in my '84 Allegro - there are lots of spots where I could hack a hole and install a modern, touch screen head unit. I have a cabinet/table combo that would be perfect as a sub cabinet. Mids and highs are easy to place so long as you can get wire to them.
But you're going to want to add amps and subs, at which point the amperage draw grows well beyond what your converter is designed to supply. I installed a 1,500 watt system (125 amps) in my limo. To do it right, you need to run some pretty fat cables directly from the batteries (I used 0-gauge with 2- or 4-gauge for short runs after the distribution blocks), circuit protection and a converter that will handle the load. Maybe a dedicated converter and dedicated 12V cabling?
I had 3 screens in the limo - a big screen mounted on the partition, one in the passenger side of the dash for my GF to watch and a 3rd smaller one mounted near an ice chest. Video distribution is not difficult. In an RV you can hide lots of A/V stuff in cabinets. In the limo I was constrained to the partition wall to mount amps, distribution blocks and wiring. The RV should be a lot easier....once I get to it.
With 12V power in the coach, you can go as crazy as you'd like. I'd forget about the dash mount (if that's where it is) and place the head unit somewhere central in the living space. I plan to do this in my '84 Allegro - there are lots of spots where I could hack a hole and install a modern, touch screen head unit. I have a cabinet/table combo that would be perfect as a sub cabinet. Mids and highs are easy to place so long as you can get wire to them.
But you're going to want to add amps and subs, at which point the amperage draw grows well beyond what your converter is designed to supply. I installed a 1,500 watt system (125 amps) in my limo. To do it right, you need to run some pretty fat cables directly from the batteries (I used 0-gauge with 2- or 4-gauge for short runs after the distribution blocks), circuit protection and a converter that will handle the load. Maybe a dedicated converter and dedicated 12V cabling?
I had 3 screens in the limo - a big screen mounted on the partition, one in the passenger side of the dash for my GF to watch and a 3rd smaller one mounted near an ice chest. Video distribution is not difficult. In an RV you can hide lots of A/V stuff in cabinets. In the limo I was constrained to the partition wall to mount amps, distribution blocks and wiring. The RV should be a lot easier....once I get to it.
