MADP stereo project!

[Zak]

Game on fellow owners. Tomorrow I have the local stereo experts out to my place to scope out replacing two of the onboard systems. The first will be the outdoor stereo. The factory deck is a $40 Sony...the speakers those 4" square POS newmar puts in that are about $2 each and 4 watts a side. Second will be somehow trying to put a decent set of 6.5" two way speakers somewhere in the front driving area, hooked up to an amp and sub. I'm scratching my head as to where there is room under the dash or overhead cabinets...

I must say, I love my coach and almost every aspect of it. It's home on the road. But that overhead AV cabinet is a gong show. Everything runs super hot and wires are everywhere. My RV OCD is off three charts every time I look at it.

If any members can share advice about upgrades to the sound system, speaker locations etc, I can promise full photos of what will be am awesome upgrade project when I'm done. I love to turn up the music rolling down the road, and outside when parked and grilling with some cold ones. The factory stuff must go!!!

[Dutch Star Don]

Look how PDR John added larger speakers to his and made them look better than factory. I wanted to copy what he did, but my coach is shorter and I didn;t have the room.

Eventually, I will add a Pioneer AVIC unit to mine, but have been spending too much money on add-ons lately.

[slabman]

I also agree they didn't put much money into my sound system. Looking at the speaker cabinets in the upper front corners, it appears I could add 6.5 in units. Tweets could simply mount in the soffits of the upper cabinetry. I'll bet your stereo guys will surprise you in what they can do.

[Zak]

Thanks Gents...i did a search and nothing comes up for stereo upgrades...I'll try searching for PDR John's project specifically.

I'll let you know what the experts think later. They are willing to send their installers with all the tools to my house to do all the work. I really didn't want my coach sitting in a bay at their shop with people going in and out of it on their own tours

[Zak]

Found PDR's project...very professional and impressive.

I should have been more clear in my OP. I am only looking at upgrading the car stereos...up front and outside (i have the outdoor TV and stereo option on my coach).

Has anyone figured out where to hide "car" stereo speakers and an amp/sub up front...i.e. in the dash? up overhead? i've never taken the dash apart before and i'm guessing some of you have. is there any room in there for anything?

i have two of those junky 4" square speakers for stereo sound out of my Clarion head unit. it's terrible. awful sound, no feeling to it at all. As I said, i like to rock and roll down the highways, so an upgrade is a must!

Tx

[PDR John]

I have separate threads on the dash and the house stuff.

Here's the link to the dash stuff: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/upgr...rs-229244.html

The outside stereo will be tough for a sub, but you should be able to hide the amp behind the couch. Or against the basement roof, which would make wiring easy.

[Zak]

took me a while to coordinate the work, but i managed to upgrade the cab area stereo system significantly.

Removed the crappy Clarion unit (which was discontinued long before Newmar stopped installing them BTW).

Had my local stereo sales and install shop (Power Center) install a high end Alpine head unit, a 400watt amp, a 8" sub-woofer and two - two way Kenwood speakers in the cabinets where those terrible little factory one way jobbies were.

I sacrificed the two storage drawers under the dash area for the amp and sub-woofer install (my idea); but i think the install looks clean and almost like a factory option. They built a black vinyl cover for it.

For the speakers, I borrowed PDR John's idea for making a riser (dough nut) and had them fab up ones with same black vinyl.

See attached photos. Also had them make new boxes for outdoor stereo/tv area. removed factory speakers and put 6.5" two way kenwoods in.

Sound for cab area system is WORLDS better. As loud as you like, clear with a real range of treble and bass. you can feel the music now. If you love to drink coffee and drive for days (like i do) with the music going non-stop...this was by far the best money i've spent on a mod thus far.

So what did i learn? Next newmar coach i buy (For i am FAR from finished with this lifestyle!) i will NOT order most of the A/V equipment options, but will get the wiring factory done throughout. The factory equipment is junk (older TVs, stereos, junk speakers etc). You can do far better for your value for dollar buying the right stuff yourself after delivery. For example, I paid $1,400 for the Clarion (POS) Nav/Sirius option. They are discontinued but MSRP last year was $700 at most. I'm sure Newmar bought in bulk for less than $500.

Crank it up my brothers!

[PDR John]

Looks good.

[slabman]

I hear ya, man! Great job. Great improvement!

[jondrew55]

Audio upgrade is definitely on my list

[RV4Me4Life]

Looks great!
I need to find somebody in Albuquerque NM to do the same for me. Does anyone have any referrals?

[Old Car Nut]

I'm sure it sounds a heck of a lot better.

Did they build an enclosure for that sub?

A great sound system is a must, no doubt about it. Glad I have lots of exp doing high end a/v systems for nearly 2 decades so I can do it myself rather than relying on a shop. From stealth to show, Datsun 510 to custom Prevost, done 'em all. (hmm, kinda miss it too).

If you are going to factory delete the stock equipment on a new build order I would suggest you spec up the wiring. They use 18-22g wire for speakers and the cheapest audio/video cables they can buy.

You dont need to buy into the MonsterCable hype, but good shielded av cables go a long way to keeping noise out and speaker wires if amped should be a min of 16g for the satellites and 12g or better for subs.

Power wire for the amps should be min 10g @ 200w, 8g 200-500w per amp. I usually run 0g from battery to amp location then distribute from there. When running on deep cycle type battery sources add a power capacitor near the amps for better bass response esp at higher volumes. Keeps the bass tight instead of floppy and the tweeters from crackling on the bass notes.

[Zak]

Yes, they installed the amp under the dash first, then formed a sub box using the calculated airspace required etc. it thumps as loud as a guy wants at 200watts of dedicated rms power. You are bang on about the upgraded wire, but I can guess that Newmar wouldn't be able to facilitate all that on a build sheet....way too far out of their fold. They are masters at cabinetry and the body work etc., not so much on electronics etc.

[Old Car Nut]

I would insist on supplying the cables and them using them. PERIOD. Otherwise step aside and let me run them.