Roo 23WS Audio Upgrade

[HydroGeo]

After making many mods to my '17 23WS Roo, I am now directing my attention toward the audio system. I've searched and read all the posts that praise FR for the fantastic head unit, quality speakers, and the superb wiring work that was employed in their coaches... ....so I'm sure it comes as a great surprise that someone would want to make some upgrades....

Anyway... I finally yanked the IRV head unit to get access to some other stuff and in the process, remembered the discussions on here about the terrible speaker wiring. Consistent with the others, my coach has jacked-up wiring too.. no surprise there. I think the polarities are ok (I still need to confirm at the speakers), but Zone 1 and 2 are both wired as "right" speakers. I plan to rewire them correctly, putting the 2 indoor ceiling speakers as right/left on Zone 2 and freeing up Zone 1 for a new set of speakers.

I know a lot of you guys have done this, so I'm looking for some feed back as I plan this out. I'd like to install a pair of new speakers inside, near the front of the coach on Zone 1. For symmetry, I'm thinking that I would mount them in the "night stand"-type cabinets on either side of the front bunk. I'm considering using Rockford Prime speakers, either the 5.25" 2-way or 6.5" 3-way. Since size and mounting depth are not a concern in these areas, I'm leaning toward the 6.5" speakers. I've typically used Polk Audios for speaker upgrades in my vehicles, but these Rockfords are affordable and have good reviews. They are rated for 2-45 watt RMS with a peak of 90 watts. I know the junk IRV head unit puts out a max of 60 watts, so these speakers should be fine.

For now, I'm keeping the IRV 34 head unit. It works fine so I'm not ready to trash it.. but if it should give me any trouble, it'll get ripped out and replaced with no hesitation. Same goes for the ceiling speakers. Due the the mounting depth restrictions, I'm not ready to mess with them yet. At some point after this mod, the outdoor speakers will get swapped. I've read that is a pretty simple swap.. any recommendations for replacements for those?

In pulling the head unit, I found the outputs for the sub woofer. So I dug out an old home theater sub I had in the attic and figured I'd put it to use in the Roo. Its on the small side, but I'm not looking to make the campground shake, just want some more depth to my tunes in the coach. I found a mini amp online that plugs into AC power and it should give enough juice to run the sub. I considered wiring up a proper sub amp and even getting a better sub, but it didn't seem worth it at this point.

Any feedback or recommendations from those of you who have ventured down this path in the past would be much appreciated. Just want to make sure I'm not over looking something before I start this mod.

[njfishing]

Haven't tackled this in the RV but recently upgraded the boat and used 2 pairs of the 6.5 Rockford Fosgate 3 ways. I'm very impressed with the full range of sound and we aren't using a sub either.

BTW my brother is in the AV business so we could have used practically anything we wanted and the Fosgates were a great choice.

Not sure how your RV is equipped and if you're into TV but while your back there you might want to run an HDMI cable... Great for plugging in other devices like a smart Blueray player or a laptop. We don't have a smart TV or satellite and haven't had much luck with the over the air antenna in most places... However, 90% of the time we can get wifi either through the campground or using the phone as a hotspot and use our streaming services. Either that or we download some movies ahead of time.

Good luck with your project.

[HydroGeo]

Thanks for the feedback Gerry! Your impressions of the Prime speakers are consistent with the reviews I read. Good to know. For a $40 pair of speakers, they seem to be good quality. Certainly better than the stock junk that is currently in the coach.

Good suggestion on the HDMI. So far, we haven't used the TV a whole lot. Having recently moved up from a simple popup, I'm still getting used to having these fancy gadgets.... but I like them. We use the radio all the time, so thats why I'm looking to upgrade the audio. I have occasionally put on the TV for the Air channels, which have been hit or miss like you said, but I have yet to try plugging into cable when available. Once, I tried to watch a movie (large video video file) stored on a USB through the unit and had no luck. I've played music files from a USB, but I guess it can't handle video (or maybe it only reads music or photo files) or just doesn't larger files in general.

I have considered running an HDMI cable from the rear HDMI-out on the head unit to the rear bunk, where the 23WS has a basic set up for a TV already. Although we are not used to having a TV, let alone 2 TVs, I just think its a cool concept to add an additional gadget to the back bunk area. I have a small Samsung flat screen hanging around that would be perfect for that spot... but since we don't watch the main TV much, the wife isn't a fan of putting another TV back there and I'm not sure we'll get much use out of it. So, it just an idea for now.

Anyway, thanks for the input, I'm in Jersey too.. down south. Hope you are having a good camping season so far this year!

[2 in a Roo]

Curious, why not go Bluetooth? If I was going to replace mine I’d skip the wires all together and play off my phone. It’s what I do now through the IRV. Speaking of the IRV, what a nice piece of 1980s Technology that is. If I replace anything that unit will be the first to go.

[njfishing]

Bluetooth is fine for audio only stuff like Pandora, Itunes etc. If you want to do Audio and Video for movies or streaming services like Netflix or Amazon you'll need HDMI.

[HydroGeo]

I considered bluetooth, looked into it a bit, but in the end.. it was simpler to go with conventional wired speakers. We have a Bose mini link speaker that we use sometimes... but more often we use the IRV for music. As far as the IRV goes, it stays for now, for the same reason Gerry mentioned. If it wasn't for the video aspect to it, I'd swap it in a heart beat, But i'm not ready to dig into things that deep at this point... and it works.. not great, but it works... for now.

I did check the wiring at the stock indoor speaks. Pulled both from the ceiling/under cabinet.. one was fine.. but the other... go figure.. polarity was reversed. I fixed it and rewired them both to be on zone 2. I ran the wires for the new speakers on zone 1, just need to get the speakers.

I also tested the little Chinese amplifier board I got from amazon to boost the output from the IRV going into my old home theater subwoofer. Worked great, I was impressed. It was around $10 and did exactly what I was hoping it would do... bring the woofer to life but not shake the wheel off the coach.

[HydroGeo]

I did enjoy the "1980s technology" comment in reference to the IRV. I'll admit, after tinkering around some more in the roo last night, I did get curious and searched briefly to see what sort of possible replacements exist for a head unit with similar functionality to the IRV... multiple zone, BT, audio, and theater capabilities.... something like a double DIN touchscreen would look pretty awesome. There seem to be options, but no silver bullet, so will likely need to sacrifice somewhere... if I go down that road. I'm sure there are other threads about it on here.

I ordered the speakers and hope to install them in the next few days. I'll post some photos of the progress.

[njfishing]

Yeah although the IRV isn’t the best it is functional and if you’re looking for better sound you can always throw and AMP into the mix.

[cmysstailights]

We are just now rapping up our week trip. I built a home theater pc and installed it in 1 of the cabinets by the tv. Ran a outlet to inside the cabinet and a hdmi to the tv. Next step is to run a audio cable to the stereo and change out the speakers

[cmysstailights]

Originally Posted by HydroGeo

I did enjoy the "1980s technology" comment in reference to the IRV. I'll admit, after tinkering around some more in the roo last night, I did get curious and searched briefly to see what sort of possible replacements exist for a head unit with similar functionality to the IRV... multiple zone, BT, audio, and theater capabilities.... something like a double DIN touchscreen would look pretty awesome. There seem to be options, but no silver bullet, so will likely need to sacrifice somewhere... if I go down that road. I'm sure there are other threads about it on here.

I ordered the speakers and hope to install them in the next few days. I'll post some photos of the progress.

Depends on how handy you are. Im in the midst of building a custom system

[HydroGeo]

The upgrades are complete:

Part 1 - subwoofer amplifer

I installed the amplifier board for the subwoofer. Its pretty well made and puts out up to 100W. Its powered by an AC adaptor for a laptop.



I mounted it inside the entertainment center cabinet/shelving above the IRV unit. The knob for turning on/off and adjusting the bass is located in the sidewall of one of the cubbies.



Underneath the shelving unit, just under the IRV, I installed a banana plug receptacle for ease of plugging/ unplugging the sub.



The sub sits below the shelving n the floor. Fits just right in that spot when the slide is out. Its an older RCA sub - 3 ohm/250W max - nothing fancy but it does alright. Although the banana plug receptacle is in an easy access location, I'm not a fan of the wires hanging between the shelf and counter top, so I may reroute them to be less obvious.



I mentioned that the amp board is powered by AC via a laptop power pack. I wanted an AC powered unit for ease of install (somewhat) and for the reason that I only expect to use the sub when on shore power. I didn't want it drawing on the battery when boon'n... nor did I want to have to have to deal with wire an amp back to the battery.

I wanted keep everything concealed, so I wired a new outlet in the wall into which to plug the amp power pack, pulled power from the gfci in the bathroom.

It sounds great and total cost for the amp board and associated supplies (not including the sub) was around $50.

[HydroGeo]

Part 2 of the audio upgrade - New speakers at the front of the coach wired to Zone 1.

I received the 6.5" Rockford Fosgate Prime speakers from Amazon. I ran the speaker wiring to the front "night stand" cabinets. That was easy for a change, just followed the path for the bundle f stock coach wiring and then snaked through the front storage compartment. Before cutting the holes, I tested them out, they sounded pretty good.



Then I made a template, traced the outline, and started cutting.. carefully. I used a box cutter since the luan is so thin. I was afraid of losing control with the jig saw.





Once the hole was cut, I framed the area around the cutout to support the speaker and provide some structure for mounting it.



Mounted the speaker and completed one side.



Did the same for the other side. .. this side was trickier because of the sofa and hot water heater, which restricted access.



Installed the speaker on that side and was done... the finished product...



As for the result, they look good.... they sound good too, but they are lower in volume compared to the furrion stock speakers in the ceiling. I sort of expected this might happen. Its not a huge difference, but I can tell. I suppose a amp would fix it and allow for more control to balance the power to each speaker type. I may look into another amp board for this.. but for now, it is fine and I have good sound where I didn't have it before.

Total cost.. including speakers, wire, and framing materials was around $60

[HydroGeo]

Originally Posted by cmysstailights

Depends on how handy you are. Im in the midst of building a custom system

As you go, post some photos. I'd be interested to see what you are up to... sounds interesting.