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Running surround speakers

ashnic
Explorer
Explorer
My wife and I just purchased a 2011 Outback 295RE which I am sure we are going to enjoy. However we did sort of get spoiled on those rainy days watching a good movie in our old Aruba camper. It had ceiling surround sound and really was nice. I would like to setup the same setup in our Outback. It currently has a Jensen (being replaced) dvd/tuner head unit, 2 speakers in the ceiling in the living room, 2 speakers in the front bedroom ceiling and 2 speakers outside. All driven on their own channel at the head unit. What I would like to do is get a low power home theater 5.1 surround receiver and drive all 3 sets of speakers which I don't see any problem with, however I would like to take the wire that runs to the bedroom speakers and mount new rear surround speakers to the ceiling in the living area and and use those wires. I assume the wires to the bedroom run right thru the ceiling where I want the new rear surround speakers to hang. How do I know where the wires are in the ceiling? I found them in the rear entertainment cabinet and have identified which ones are which. If I did have to pull new wire how in the heck do you do it in a camper or can you? Thanks in advance for any guidance
2012 2500HD GMC Sierra
2011 Outback 295RE
1 REPLY 1

westend
Explorer
Explorer
I would leave the wires to the bedroom speakers in place. For resale or addition of a screen in the bedroom, you'll still have functionality of those speakers. Pulling wire in an RV is sometimes difficult through wall and ceiling spaces. It may be necessary to pull through the floor and up through wall to place the locations. Alternatives to the placing of wire inside walls and ceilings are to surface mount or use wireless speakers. Additionally, boxed speakers can be used and hung from cabinets or walls.

What I did was use boxed speakers in two locations, front and back. I use a stereo receiver that has two speaker section outputs so can turn each off if I desire. I could have installed a 5.1 or 7.1 system but my reasoning was this: The space that I need to fill when using a screen or just sound is small and highly reverberant. At best, tuning the sound to just one seating location was the best that could be hoped for and if using 5.1 results would not be spectacular unless using sound absorption and traps. As it is, the four speakers offer up the necessary coverage for my listening needs. In fact, just using two fronts is usually good enough. YMMV, and a lot of this depends on how you perceive sound, It can be done but is a lot of work for, IMO, less than stellar results.
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
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