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Old 12-19-2014, 10:07 PM   #1
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audio upgrades

Hi. Am I the only person that thinks that the Berkshire front stereo is horrible? (two 3 1/2 inch speakers) If not, anyone else upgrade?
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Old 12-20-2014, 12:21 AM   #2
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Couldn't agree more!
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Old 12-20-2014, 05:51 AM   #3
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You are not alone.
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Old 12-20-2014, 07:33 AM   #4
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Pretty rinkydink . Looking to upgrade next year!!


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Old 12-20-2014, 07:55 AM   #5
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I've done some upgrading and was wondering if anyone else has.


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Old 12-20-2014, 09:49 AM   #6
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Gasman,

I found the small ceiling speakers were pretty useless once we were driving down the road. I had to have the radio so loud to hear it, I was driving my wife crazy. When our Jensen radio with the slide out screen died, I took the opportunity to upgrade the radio to a regular car stereo and I added a separate monitor for the rear/side cameras. I also added some powerful satellite speakers to the bottom of the cabinets, just above our heads. The sound is great, don't have to have it too loud and I added a speaker switch for when we're parked, I can go back to the original speakers.


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Old 12-20-2014, 12:48 PM   #7
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Of the features of my 2013 390RB, the wiring, component cables instead of HDMI and the lack of forethought on wiring the single living room TV sound system were about the only major disappoints for me.

I've pulled HDMI cable to the bedroom and basement but I have yet to try and improve the sound system to give it more of a home theather type system. I thought about using the existing front speakers and the Jensen radio and connecting to the output of the satellite receiver.

Any thoughts.
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Old 12-20-2014, 03:13 PM   #8
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Edgewant,

I recently put in a matrix hdmi switch so I can play the same source or different sources on all three TVs. Ran hdmi to the basement TV, but how did you run hdmi to the bedroom? Looks like it would come out of the bottom of the entertainment center in the living room, run underneath coach and then back up through slide. Just can't figure out how to run through the back slide and up to TV in bedroom. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

-David
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Old 12-20-2014, 03:59 PM   #9
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David,

I too installed a matrix switch
The HDMI cable routing to the bedroom wasn't easy. I basically followed the same route as the component cables.

It does come out of the bottom of the entertainment center and can be accessed from the bottom of the half bath vanity. It then runs along the side of motorhome through a chase behind the toilet in the half bath. From there it enters another carpet chase under the bedroom end tables and under the bed. It then penetrates the rear bath floor under the bedroom end table that is rear most. It then takes a tortuous path under the elevated rear bath floor and crosses the motorhome to the wardrobe side. It comes out of the bath room wall into a special cable guide that can flex. It can be seen if the wardrobe slide is retracted. It enters the front edge of the wardrobe slide. You have to remove the staples from the carpet that covers the leading edge of the wardrobe slide. Roll the carpet back and there are 3 or 4 long screws that hold a 2 x 2 to the front of the slide. This 2 x 2 forms part of a chase for the coax cable, component cables and power wire I believe. There are a couple of holes on the front edge of the slide where the wires penetrate and are routed into the floor of the wardrobe slide. They exit the floor under the bottom drawer of the wardrobe and are routed into the wall. They exit the wall in the bottom of the overhead cabinets and traverse over to the TV.

Good Luck. Hope this helps.
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Old 12-20-2014, 04:52 PM   #10
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I've added 6 1/2 inch speakers in old speaker locations above driver/passenger seats. A bazooka sub behind driver seat. Two 4 1/2 inch speakers in pods on the dash and separate amplifiers for all speakers. Now I enjoy listening to music going down the road.


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Old 12-21-2014, 08:12 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gasman94 View Post
I've added 6 1/2 inch speakers in old speaker locations above driver/passenger seats. A bazooka sub behind driver seat. Two 4 1/2 inch speakers in pods on the dash and separate amplifiers for all speakers. Now I enjoy listening to music going down the road.


Rich
That's what I'm talking about. Trying to get my components figured out. I want to mount an 8 inch sub just below the cup holders.
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Old 12-21-2014, 11:05 PM   #12
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Damn Rich, I wanna party with you dude.....lol
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Old 12-22-2014, 05:40 AM   #13
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I took some pics yesterday. I'll try and post them some time later.

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Old 12-22-2014, 05:10 PM   #14
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Here are some pics..
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Old 12-22-2014, 06:03 PM   #15
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Thanks for the pictures. I was wondering how you got the big speakers on the ceiling.
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Old 12-22-2014, 11:17 PM   #16
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Where did you get those standoffs for the ceiling? I was thinking of doubling up on a couple of standard 1" trim rings..but you seem to have found something better.
Is the Bazooka powered...and are you just running off the radio for the others?
Nice clean work...It has to sound 1000% better than the Oem crap! Thanks for the pix.
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Old 12-23-2014, 04:56 PM   #17
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How much depth is there with the cubes?

Glad to see this thread. I figured if I stalled long enough Dan-Nickie would have found a good Dallas solution and I could coattail them

We're all agreed the 2 cubes are inadequate. One thing I'm considering is grabbing a set of the Bose dual cube sets, usually can find 4 or 5 plus a sub used for around $250. Considering mounting 4 of those up under the storage cabs above the windshield with a fader that would let me turn down the pr on the copilot side.

Another nontraditional approach I've been considering is putting a big sound bar up there. I got intrigued with the newer ones that send the bass signal to the sub wirelessly...also you can send Bluetooth audio to those so you could run music off your phone to the sound bar.

Probably won't get to this before mid-January but it'd be nice to figure out a nice upgrade. Gasman94, thanks for posting!
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Old 12-23-2014, 11:11 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camaraderie View Post
Where did you get those standoffs for the ceiling? I was thinking of doubling up on a couple of standard 1" trim rings..but you seem to have found something better.
Is the Bazooka powered...and are you just running off the radio for the others?
Nice clean work...It has to sound 1000% better than the Oem crap! Thanks for the pix.

The Bazooka is powered....but little enough power that I was able to use a radio power lead. The other speakers are powered by two separate amplifiers, mounted in the radio/switch compartment. Trim rings for ceiling speakers are pods that can be found at Speaker Pods Speaker Adapters 6 5" 6 1 2" Speaker Mounts We Have Over 15 Styles | eBay
The front speaker pods were from crutchfield, and I added boom mat speaker baffles to tone down the pod vibration.

Gottawonder, I tried some boston acoustic speakers first, but I think that 8 ohm speakers just don't translate well in automotive audio systems. You may have the same problem with Bose unless you use their proprietary system for amplification. Soundbar idea is interesting.

Rich
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Old 12-24-2014, 12:17 AM   #19
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Thanks for the link...got it bookmarked...they have lots of interesting stuff! I'm thinking your 6.5's are the new Infinitys... I had a pair of 6.5 inch "reference" series on my boat that I loved but they are now discontinued....how do you like the new ones which I have not heard? My other choice might be the Polk db 651's which have been around a while and have the pivoting tweet...a benefit in the bus...which I know sound good.
I like your choice of the small Bazooka...they do what a sub should without going boom boom boom!
Probably gonna wait a bit myself to do anything ...but it is always good to plan and you know good sound and how to get it!
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Old 12-24-2014, 06:32 AM   #20
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Cam, I like the infinity's. But you definitely need to put the boom mats behind them to get the sound out front and not buried in the pods. I also had them cut the holes.....much easier than cutting them myself. I've also used Polk's in the past. I have them for my home system and in my last class c. They were not amplified in RV, so I don't think that I was getting the best potential out of them. And about the bazooka...just the right amount of added lows for my music.

Rich
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