Adding and upgrading speakers

Buck1032 · 08-21-2014, 09:57 PM

Has anyone added speakers in the ceiling in their master bedroom on their Surveyor? My wife and I like to lounge on our bed and watch TV. Well the two speakers out in the living are not place well for our listening pleasure. We cant crank up the volume to where we can here it in fear of waking up our son. So today I pulled out one of the existing speakers just to see what was up there. After looking and poking around I have decided to install two speakers in the master bedroom on the "C" zone on the Jensen head unit. Any worries or things I should know before starting this upgrade? The stock speakers depth of an inch and a half. There was a total clearance of over 4 inches. So there seems to be some play. I do want to keep the weight to a minimum though. Thoughts? Ideas?

Howie77 · 08-21-2014, 10:34 PM

Isn't c zone the outside? You would want to connect to the b zone at least that is the way mine is.

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frcamp · 08-22-2014, 06:12 AM

Same issue here. Could mount a single center speaker in the cabinet over the TV, maybe.
There should be an open channel (b or c) on the back of the DVD/Radio to plug into????

We could toss a coin to see who cuts a hole in their TT first, then report back to the forum on the results.

Buck1032 · 08-22-2014, 08:37 AM

On mine zone A is the living area, zone B is out side. I pulled the radio last night and there are zone C wires on the head unit. It seems I will be the test dummy for this project. We are not looking for top shelf audio, just better that what we have. Along with speakers in the master bedroom. Its looking like I will be putting two into the ceiling, one on each side just aft of the vent. It will be a few days before this happens as we still need to get speakers. I am going to shop around this afternoon to see what I can come up with. I will report the good and the bad when it happens. LOL

Buck1032 · 08-24-2014, 05:38 PM

No forward progress on this modification. I did measure the location of the existing speakers and mirrored their location in the master bedroom. One "opportunity" may present itself. On the left side in the baster bedroom in between where I plan on putting speakers is the A/C register and associated ducting. After playing around it seems the ducting is approx. 2 1/2 inches or so tall. It appears I will have enough space above the duct to run the wires. I wont know for sure till I cut the hole. LOL

Buck1032 · 08-25-2014, 03:14 PM

I ran around today looking for speakers. The small local places wanted to up-sale me some speakers. No thanks. So it seems I am off to Wally-World to look at speakers that in the morning. Once I start I will take and post pictures for those interested.

Buck1032 · 09-28-2014, 08:57 PM

Well after way too much thinking and over thinking the project is finished. We ended up getting Kenwood speakers on Amazon, Amazon.com : Kenwood KFC-1665S 6 1/2" Sport Series 2-Way Flush Mount Coaxial Car Speakers : Car Electronics. I replaced the existing speakers in the living room first. That proved to be troublesome. The not so great factory speakers are larger than these even though they are both 6.5 inch speakers. The Kenwood's were too small for the hole already there. So I ended up gluing furring strips ( approx. 2 in wide by 6 in long of 1/4 finish plywood) into the top of the ceiling. I had wait over night for the glue to set. Once that set of speakers were installed the DW and I gave them a listen and decided that they were a good improvement over the stock speakers. Another set was ordered and they arrived Friday. That evening I cut the holes in the ceiling with a small drywall hand saw, being very careful not to push the saw more than two inches into the ceiling. I measured a 4 inch gap and felt safe with 2 inch strokes. Took a few extra minutes to get it done but it worked out for a rough cut. I then used a dremel with a sanding drum to clean up and widen the hole. I also removed the trim around the skylight in the master bedroom to give me a much better view of the area I had to work in. The DW and I fished the wires last nigh and on my TT the zone c was unused and I wired the new speakers to it. I did take pictures, but haven't gotten off the phone yet. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow and get them posted.

In summery, the removing and replacing of the factory speakers gave me a bit of a hassle due to their size. The speakers in the master bedroom were easy and straight forward install. The A/C ducting proved to be a non issue. The aluminum rafters have nice sized cutouts to work with. It was a two person job to fish the new wires. As a side note, cover EVERY thing with sheets prior to cutting and using the dremel.

Buck1032 · 09-30-2014, 03:25 PM

Ok here is my first attempt at adding pictures.
This is the hole where the stock speakers were, as you can see I glued furring strips in to mount the smaller diameter speakers.

Buck1032 · 09-30-2014, 03:35 PM

Here is the speaker install in the bedroom.
The hole has been cut and the fish taping has begun.

The hole above the stereo head unit. I thought the fishing would be tough trying to hit the small hole so I removed the trim ring around the sky light. That really made the process much easier. I had the DW hold a flashlight up in the hole so I could see it from the skylight while fishing to the light.

A terrible picture but this is what it looks like from the skylight looking aft. The wires and screws seen here are for the light in the master bed room.

The finished project. I still need to take a good photo of the finished work but for now this will do.

Buck1032 · 09-30-2014, 03:47 PM

During this install I have also change 10 bulbs to LED. I didn't get a warm and fuzzy ordering from some of the obscure web site and the local Batteries Plus wanted $20 per bulb. No thanks. So in the Amazon order we got these, GRV T10 Wedge 921 194 25-3528 SMD LED Bulb lamp Super Bright Warm White DC 12V Pack of 10. They seem to be not as bright but they are a whiter light so that seems to make up for it. The old bulbs were very hot, around 200 degrees and these seems to be in the 80's, most like just room temp.

camaraderie · 10-01-2014, 10:58 AM

Nice work! I particularly like the creativity with the furring strips. Enjoy!

tanddc · 10-01-2014, 11:03 AM

Buck,

Thanks for the tutorial and the pictures. I am thinking of doing this myself and its nice to have some "turn by turn" instructions

Buck1032 · 10-02-2014, 08:16 AM

Thanks for the kind words and I hope my posts help some one else do theirs. I also noted on the Jensen head unit that zone A has another set of wires. I wonder if the DW is ready for more holes and more speakers in the living room area. I was thinking that another set of speakers further aft would be good for our son to lay in bed and hear the TV better.

It would make for a much longer fishing endeavor, but the new has worn off our 1 year old camper and the mods are really starting to kick in. LOL

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