It was pretty clear after our first trip that the factory stereo/radio was not going to work for us. After looking at several different units, and failing to find anything that was remotely the same size as the original, I was resolved to create a bezel. Creating this bezel also afforded me the opportunity to combine this with the other project I had been planning; Adding a 12V receptacle to the trailer.
We settled on the MPQuart RVM2.0 unit, as it had the features we wanted, and the price was right. I'm not looking to host concerts in the park, rather I just want to listen to a little music while cooking, reading, or what have you. Plus the fact that I have some frequency hearing impairment means I can't really tell the difference between a "good" stereo and a "great" stereo.
I decided to use 3/16 hardwood for my bezel, found a nice piece of project lumber at the local Lowe's. I measured the original cutout, what the new cutout would need to be, and the placement of the 1 1/8" holes for my 12V accesory panel, and drew it all up in Visio:
I cut the new bezel 8" x 10", to give myself plenty of overlap to cover the screw holes of the original installation, and still use the backing blocks to secure the new bezel to the cabinet wall. I sanded the edges down by hand with 600 grit to give them a 'bullnose' rounded apprearance:
I cut the square opening for the new unit using a utility knife. I went this route because I had concerns that using a saw would cause excessive splintering or spalling on such a thin piece of materiel. I did cut the holes with a 1 1/8 " hole saw though.
Once the openings were cut, I sprayed the front side with three coats of high gloss enamel, lightly sanding with 1500 grit after each coat.
The accessory panel included the following;
1. A master switch which would turn the whole shabang on and off.
2. A simple voltmeter, which would allow me to monitor my batteries in real time.
3. A Qualcomm 3.0 Quick Charge Dual USB Port
4. A standard 12V "cigar lighter" type receptacle.
This was wired behind a 20A inline fuse, and connected directly to constant 12V power. A bypass wire was required for the stereo head, for the clock and whatever NVRAM it might have:
I used a couple of scrap pieces of wood to give the mounting screws a little more to bite into.
The next step was identifying which speaker wire went to which speaker. I quickly determined that the old unit was wired up by learning-disabled lemurs under the influence of LSD. The two interior speakers, one under each bunk, were
both wired to
left side of Zone A, and the single exterior speaker was wired to the right side of Zone B.
When you walk in the door, the front of the trailer is on your right, so I wired that speaker to Zone 1 right channel, and the rear one to Zone 1 left channel. For Zone 2, the exterior speaker was wired to the left channel. Now here I had the option of cutting in a new exterior speaker for the right channel. Doing so would neccesitate also replacing the existing external speaker, since it would be impossible to duplicate the specifications and age effects short of salvaging a speaker from another, similar trailer. There is also the hassle of fishing wires through indeterminate spaces, not to mention
weatherproofing.
In lieu of all that, I cut in this little beauty
(Amphenol ACJB 'D' Flange Panel Mount RCA Jack) on the lower left side of the cabinet wall, and hooked it up to the Zone 2 right channel. Now I can just plug in a passive speaker and have proper left and right audio on that zone.
Below is the old head next to the new head. The reason for the 'E' tape, is that the previous owner walked into it while the CD door was open, and broke it off. I was assured that the CD player still worked, although I never tried it. I didn't see the point of carrying around a bunch of bulky discs when I have about 250 MP3s on my phone and an AUX In jack.
Slapped on a cradle for my phone, and this is the finished project. Hooray! It works!
I looked out this morning and the sun was gone.
Turned on some music to start my day.
I lost myself in a familiar song.
I closed my eyes and I slipped away.
It's more than a feeling,
when I hear that old song they used to play.
And I begin dreaming,
'Til I see my Marianne walking away...
Linear Mode
