Cheap Crummy Stereos and speakers!

[BobsYourUncle]

Gee the stereos they put in the RV's are sure P poor!

And the speakers! Makes my music sound like 2 tin cans on a string.....

OK, I come from a background of loving music. I was a DJ in a radio station in Alberta at the tender age of 15. I love my music. Alway have, always will.

Over the years I have always loved music. I have my own tastes and favorite artists from years gone by.

Once in a while 😉 a song comes on the radio and I get this urge to wind it up a bit. I'm alone here, nobody within earshot anywhere. So when I hear a song and want to dial it, I do!!

But then the awful cheapo stereo sets in. The rattly speakers, the droning vibration - ugh! Sounds awful! Reminds me of the cheap 8 track I had in my first car!

Suppose I could buy something better and upgrade the speakers to something that doesn't sound like a kiddies tunebox.....

My home stereo could make your ears bleed, with no distortion! haha!

[ol_Bombero-JC]

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Yes it is time to upgrade those speakers. Most manufactures do not spend a lot on the radio in RV's as it is not a big selling point. Something more flashy, such as flat screen TV will sell more RV's.

Fred.

Fred.....Showin' your age when you call it a "RADIO"!..:B

Bob - think the bean counters were assembled, trying to pinch pennies long before your RV was built.
IMO the stereo speakers in my Jayco are pretty good - although not the same as the ones at home.


~

[NYCgrrl]

The RV I'm interested in doesn't have a stereo package yet. Fine by me as I'm researching Gig and Tivoli to add in after purchase.

[peajay]

I bought myself a Christmas present this year and it was the best investment ever. A Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II. Got a great deal on a Factory Re-furb. The sound is AWESOME. It's portable so I can use it in the house or in the camper without any fuss. I can play the music from my iTunes or my Amazon account or whatever style of music I feel like on Pandora.

Won't ever leave home without it!

[westend]

"No highs and no lows, you must have Bose"

Before someone grabs a pitchfork and a torch, I don't have much against Bose other than the ridiculous pricing but they are not the best of hifi sound. Their marketing can't be surpassed, it seems.

[ericsmith32]

Got to thinking I had these old Labtec Pulse 424 wasting away in the basement. Can't remember how much I paid for it back in 2002 but it wasn't cheap. Plugged it in the phono jack on the back of the TV and left enough slack to plug into the phones. Mounted the speakers upside down under the cabinet and the sub under the table. Almost perfect.. sound isn't Bose quality but with 2 boys I just want to be able to hear the TV!

[Jarlaxle]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Gee the stereos they put in the RV's are sure P poor!

And the speakers! Makes my music sound like 2 tin cans on a string.....

OK, I come from a background of loving music. I was a DJ in a radio station in Alberta at the tender age of 15. I love my music. Alway have, always will.

Over the years I have always loved music. I have my own tastes and favorite artists from years gone by.

Once in a while 😉 a song comes on the radio and I get this urge to wind it up a bit. I'm alone here, nobody within earshot anywhere. So when I hear a song and want to dial it, I do!!

But then the awful cheapo stereo sets in. The rattly speakers, the droning vibration - ugh! Sounds awful! Reminds me of the cheap 8 track I had in my first car!

Suppose I could buy something better and upgrade the speakers to something that doesn't sound like a kiddies tunebox.....

My home stereo could make your ears bleed, with no distortion! haha!

Any car stereo shop can probably set you up. Many RV's use ordinary automotive stereo components...though I expect the OE parts are lowest-bid!

[Dick_A]

When purchasing a stereo system keep in mind that unless you are a "rocker" who has blown their hearing, just a few watts of power from a decent amplifier to quality speakers will be plenty of "sound" for the normal RV. One of the reasons for having a power amplifier rated for more than the normal listening level is that when the amp is run at a lower power lever the THD (total harmonic distortion) will be less. However, most of us over the age of fifty rarely can tell the difference due to hearing range loss as we age.

Another thing to keep in mind is that most manufacturers list the total peak-to-peak power of both channels. That means that each channel is 50-watts (peak-to-peak). Peak-to-peak is 2.828 times RMS (average power) so the total average power of each channel is approximately 17-watts. Ah, but that 100-watt amp must be really great! 🙂

[westend]

Carb Cleaner wrote:
It's not about quantity, it's about quality.
From what I remember, a clean, higher-wattage amp will give you better sound at lower volumes, too. I'm not saying 1,800 watts to a 15" woofer. I'm thinking maybe 100 watts to an efficient 8" driver. I don't have to rattle the neighbors' windows, but when I'm watching The Wizard of Oz, a little bass during the Great and Powerful Oz scene would be cool.
That's a Pink Floyd reference, if you didn't catch it.

You probably already know but you can have a lot of watts and still be quiet about it. Maybe that is what you were intending?

Yeah, there are a lot of good 8" subwoofers out there. Use a couple in small boxes and you can make use of that LFE channel in the 5.1 and 7.1 tracks. If you can integrate it for music, it will be overall a better sound, too, IMO.

An RV is terrible space to get any good sound going, too many immediate hard surfaces to get any kind of a good sound image. Improving it by direction, like a vehicle system, helps if you listen in mostly the same locations. I use two pairs, oriented 90 degrees from each other. I can switch them from the receiver, depending on use and seating.

[Carb_Cleaner]

It's not about quantity, it's about quality.
From what I remember, a clean, higher-wattage amp will give you better sound at lower volumes, too. I'm not saying 1,800 watts to a 15" woofer. I'm thinking maybe 100 watts to an efficient 8" driver. I don't have to rattle the neighbors' windows, but when I'm watching The Wizard of Oz, a little bass during the Great and Powerful Oz scene would be cool.
That's a Pink Floyd reference, if you didn't catch it.

[RambleOnNW]

ericsmith32 wrote:
Along the same lines.. For those with Class A/C's what type of systems do you have? Was thinking about buying 2 Pioneer headunits one for the front and another for the back. Almost seems like a waste but it's the only way I can see it working. One would have 2 6x9's tied to it for the TV etc. Don't have a big enough inverter to run a regular stereo.

We had the stock Ford in-dash unit fail so replaced it with a Pioneer 2-din unit. For speakers in the door I looked at a number of manufacturers/models but back in the day I remember the top of the line home speakers being the Infinity Quantum Reference Standard, so I went for the Infinity speakers, Infinity Kappa 682.11cf. What a great sound now, with the clarity of those speakers I am hearing details in songs I have not heard before. They are 2-ohm speakers and are plenty loud without an amp.

With Pink Floyd - Time I am definitely in the clock shop 🙂

[westend]

ericsmith32 wrote:

westend wrote:

ericsmith32 wrote:
Along the same lines.. For those with Class A/C's what type of systems do you have? Was thinking about buying 2 Pioneer headunits one for the front and another for the back. Almost seems like a waste but it's the only way I can see it working. One would have 2 6x9's tied to it for the TV etc. Don't have a big enough inverter to run a regular stereo.

Your inverter is less than 100 W? Typical modern stereo receivers are approximately 40 W draw at 120V AC. My LCD TV draws 33 W at typical settings and volume.

I think it's 200w/400w max but it's a cheapy HF model. It probably would but the receivers I have are a bit big. A regular headunit would be smaller more efficient was my thought.

Yes, a 12V headunit will be more efficient electronically. Even the best 12V HU only pushes 20 W. A lot of it depends on how Pink you want your Floyd.:B

BTW, a cheap inverter is false savings. They fail quickly and may take a device with them. With a good sized RV, it makes some sense to get a good sine wave inverter that will power the electronics without worry.

[ericsmith32]

westend wrote:

ericsmith32 wrote:
Along the same lines.. For those with Class A/C's what type of systems do you have? Was thinking about buying 2 Pioneer headunits one for the front and another for the back. Almost seems like a waste but it's the only way I can see it working. One would have 2 6x9's tied to it for the TV etc. Don't have a big enough inverter to run a regular stereo.

Your inverter is less than 100 W? Typical modern stereo receivers are approximately 40 W draw at 120V AC. My LCD TV draws 33 W at typical settings and volume.

I think it's 200w/400w max but it's a cheapy HF model. It probably would but the receivers I have are a bit big. A regular headunit would be smaller more efficient was my thought.

[ericsmith32]

tpi wrote:
ericsmith.. sounds good to me. Personally I just use the head unit amp to keep power draw down. 6X9 are about as efficient as possible w/ typical car audio and are large enough to have pretty decent lower bass response. You could possible tie the two head units together into each other's aux input so once source could drive all the speakers.

Westend touched on it too.. be sure to check head unit or amp output impedance rating and match speaker to it. If it is 4 ohms, use 4 ohm speaker. If it is 2 ohms try to find 2 ohm speaker or run two fours in parallel. Bottom line is you want draw as much power out of the amp as possible, especially in marginal situations where loud sound is desirable.

That was my thought also. Wouldn't use a amp don't need it that loud. One thing with all auto wouldn't have to worry about incorrect impedance.

[Carb_Cleaner]

Using a factory head unit, if you put a cross-over in-line before your factory speakers and put a small amp driving an 8" sub (from either a line-level capable amp or the sub-out of the head unit), I bet the difference would be quite noticeable. I imagine replacing the factory speakers with quality units will do wonders, whether you do it with other changes or as a stand-alone mod. The factory, Jensen 5.25" so called "speakers" in my truck camper are atrocious. They're not fit to use in a dog house. They make sound, but they're a far, far cry from Pink Floyd worthy.
25 years ago, the factory stereo would've been the first thing to go. Now, I'm more concerned about LED bulbs, bike racks, and if I should be using my stick and brick septic clean-out as a dump station. The Weight Police are in my dreams, too, so there's that. There will be audio improvements, it's just a matter of when.