Any Audiophiles

[Roadbenny]

Hey guys, this might be a bit bold but I wanna kit out my RV with a nice Home stereo system, thinking of maybe choosing one of these.

Any other suggestions or advice?

[van-gogh]

Originally Posted by Roadbenny

Hey guys, this might be a bit bold but I wanna kit out my RV with a nice Home stereo system, thinking of maybe choosing one of these.

Any other suggestions or advice?

I like BOSE myself with the Blue-tooth speakers. As for records not sure I would want to risk any kind of heat damage to them. Now CD's can take a bit more heat just not sure how much.

As for sounds and output you may find RV parks have a limit of sound output as well as state laws.

Funny story as I saw this young couple dancing and moving around there campsite just fixing and doing things and a little funny to me watching them move around with no sounds anyone around could hear. Talking over a campfire I learned they had these Blue-tooth ear phones, He informed me he kept them low so he could hear outside sounds if someone where to call them, honk a horn or fire truck they were good.

When you camp just do your thing your way, but be kind to other campers who may just be there for the sounds of nature, not nature calling sounds if you know what I'm referring too HA HA. P.S. I think all RV Parks have restrooms.

[frede]

Well now you've done it! You'll be getting a lot of Bose Bashers telling you you can spend less and get better sound, but the important thing to remember is get what sounds good to you!

I like Bose because I find they consistently sound good no matter what environment I put them in, including my RV. Currently our RV has five Bose systems each performing a separate task. First I have replaced the cheap car audio speakers with Bose 151s, perfect for driving down the road in the RV and the jeep. Next I put in a Bose CineMate 1SR Soundbar for the main TV, the wireless bass module is perfect for putting behind the La-Z-Boy and really fills out the sound. I also put a Bose Solo Soundbar under the TV in the bedroom. The bottom-end of the Solo was very lack-luster until I put it in the TV cabinet. On the side of the bed is a Bose SoundDock great for charging the phone. Also in our bedroom is the Bose Wave radio.

I had the original Wave Radio before we got the RV, amazing sound out of such a small (but not light) unit. Unfortunately one problem with Bose products is they can't handle their wine, At that time Bose no longer sold or repaired the original Wave, so for a minor fee they replaced it with a Wave II, which sounded even better. Unfortunately they removed all the buttons and give you a tiny remote, so I bought the big remote. The new ones can be controlled with you phone.

The fifth Bose is the S1 Pro system, perfect for karaoke and music outside.

[sailchessi]

Old school audiophile from the '70's and '80's when I sold the best HiFi gear. Still own a Linn-Naim LP system. I just bought a big old Newmar coach and will be upgrading everything. I've done some killer car stereo in my past lives and have pretty awesome stuff in my cars now.

The RV introduces the complexity of whether you try to do a 120v system or 12v and depends on your goals. I'll be doing both. So I'm planning to upgrade the head unit to one that will connect with a 10-disc CD player, new speakers (woofers, mids, tweeters with crossovers) for the driving area and a decent enclosed sub somewhere not far away. Will have another set of drivers (speakers/crossovers) for the main living area on the "rear" of the fader, same sub will work for both.

The other system is going to depend on a lot of customization and whether I really try to do a full Home Theater Dolby Digital (or perhaps Pro Logic using some older gear I own) for either the main cabin and/or bedroom. I'll be removing the old CRT TV's and fitting new LCD flat panels in their places. I'd like to install a pull down screen just before the "hall" and projector in the old TV housing over the front seats but might be impractical. Considering as big a LCD as possible on the face of the "dry bar" next to the dining, across from kitchen facing forward but probably too small for the captains chairs. Maybe build one into the cabinets across from the sofa in the slide.

The goal depending on the final TV position will be to set up a decent left, center, right and surround left and right speakers. They don't have to be perfectly placed and the subwoofer and frequencies under 120hz are NOT directional so it can be anywhere. Then there is the problem of where I can hide a receiver and BluRay player.

In the bedroom, where the CRT is, when I take it out of the corner cabinet I'm sure I can hide electronics behind a flat panel so that works but in all cases you could really compromise a lot of cabinets trying to put in speakers. Remember, you can use good car stereo speakers but you are going to be better served using small, two-way, quality speakers, especially the center and left and right. MOST of the movie/TV sound if you use a surround receiver will come out of that center speaker and it should be the same brand/type as the left and right.

Yes, the Bose type mini speakers make life easy but they are the worst sounding, most brain confusing multi-directional, cheap pieces of junk with hype and marketing and most of the impressive sound coming from a mid-base junk woofer. There, I said it. I would try to focus on what fits and see if you can find some Polk, Boston Acoustics, Infinity, JBL or other sound quality oriented speakers. You might ultimately have to build in a subwoofer so then an automotive one could work but a home self-powered one like a Infinity will serve you best.

It is ultimately going to come down to what space you have, what cabinets you'll give up, where you can run wiring. CD's and DVD's and BluRays are probably best for the RV environment. Tape or LP records aren't really going to work. iPods or phones or other hard drive based music storage is best too but sound quality will be terrible unless you adopt one of the more modern high bit-rate "lossless" type systems.

Good luck, I know I have a few years of customization coming up.

[Bobby F]

I've always designed and built my own speakers - I can sit over a scotch and discuss Thiele/Small parameters with the best of them - but when I set foot in my RV and realized how transparent the structure is to sound, I knew that a high-end system would not only be wasted, but would probably put me in some boondock jail.

So I scrounged up an old Bose 2.1 speaker set - 2 smalls and a sub - and paired it up with an older Yamaha AVR with about 160 watts RMS/ch.

It sounds great in the rig. Audiophiles will pooh-pooh it, but all of the shortcomings of Bose match up well with all of the shortcomings of the listening environment.

For this use, I'd recommend the Bose Wave systems you linked. You'll get decent sound, and your neighbors will still speak to you the morning after.

Just know that you're going to get much better sound from the CD player than you will from bluetooth transmissions or from mp3's.

[gatorb8]

Not quite “audiophile” but I like portability for my RV sound system. A couple of Bose Soundlink Revolve speakers does it for me paired with Spotify account. I can download or stream reasonably good quality music of my choice to my phone and play the phone/Revolve combo anywhere. There is a stereo mode when using two and a mono mode if I separate them, one for me and one for DW. They go anywhere. Bedroom, living room, bathroom, outdoor patio area, on a picnic.....
I found them on sale for $120 ea

But at the stick house: Decware Raechal with Klipsch speakers meet the audiophile in me!

[oldmattb]

We recently purchased a modest tube-based system for the house (Yaquin, Klipsch). I have really enjoyed going back and giving music a new listen.

Suffice to say that "Bose" and "audiophile" are rarely used together, though my thought is use what you enjoy.

I wonder if a tube system would work well in an RV bouncy house. Tubes are fragile when hot, but get shipped around the world when cold. We have a nice but pretty typical in-dash player in the RV.

Matt B

[jnslprd]

Not a huge Bose fan, but a camper we met had that exact waveradio in his camper and it sounded great. i thought he had an upgraded stereo in the trailer and it ended up being the Bose.

[arcaguy]

The biggest issue I see in this whole plan is the source material, digital sound. The sampling rate of CDs, 44.1 Khz, is only the second harmonic of the highest frequency the ear can hear. This severely limits the richness or fullness of the music. Given this limitation I am just wondering if spending a lot of money on audio gear is really worth it. The sound can't even begin to come close to the sound you hear from an LP even with the pops and clicks. Just my opinion, I'm sure others will disagree.

[Montminy]

I'm an old schooler I think... I have Adam's monitor speakers and vinyl players

[DaffyD]

Originally Posted by arcaguy

The biggest issue I see in this whole plan is the source material, digital sound. The sampling rate of CDs, 44.1 Khz, is only the second harmonic of the highest frequency the ear can hear. This severely limits the richness or fullness of the music. Given this limitation I am just wondering if spending a lot of money on audio gear is really worth it. The sound can't even begin to come close to the sound you hear from an LP even with the pops and clicks. Just my opinion, I'm sure others will disagree.

Totally agree!
Can't see loading up the rv with some Bob Carver equipment and playing mp3's.

[JFXG]

When I was quite young I spent money I shouldn’t have on names like AR, Shure, Advent, Revox, and discussed things like frequency response curves, DolbyB, and CrO2 tape. Of course, in those days sound equipment was like furniture. Then I had a room mate for a year or so who was simply obsessed. He bought a set of four Bose 901s and insisted on rearranging the living room according to the precise Bose dimensions with the listening chair in the center and carpets and drapes, and a certain amount of acoustic material on the walls, etc, yada, yada, yada. And I realized that I didn’t want to be that guy. I mean, we go to performances now and then (we both listen to both classical and country), but apart from that I listen to music while I’m doing other things. It’s an adjunct, nothing more. And frankly, spending money on supposedly high quality audio in a motor vehicle is a notion that eludes me completely. Sorry. De gustibus non est disputandum.
I used the equipment for several more years. With our first child (1981) I boxed it all up *til the kids get older*. In 2011 (still packed) I sold the whole lot for $500 to a guy who was really excited by it all. Good Luck!!
Now I listen to the standard radio/DVD installed in my car by Honda in 2004. In the coach, my wife turns on one of the playlists in her phone and feeds it to the little bluetooth Bose thing she sets on the dash while traveling. Know what?? It all sounds great to me.

[DesertRatz]

I considered adding a high end sound system to my 30' Class A, until i went on the first trip! The harsh ride, and not ideal seating and acoustics convinced me to just keep it simple....real simple. In my case: Spotify, iPad, Bose QC III headphones in my quiet corner is all i need. We also use the original Ford 2004 head unit which has CD, cassette, FM, AM, WB. Just right for some b/g music while cooking dinner.

I also considered this: I get really miffed when I'm next to someone in a campground that is blasting their music to the world. It's never music I want to hear.... ever.

RVing is troublesome enough without trying to find 6550 power tube in Last Chance, Nevada on a Sunday afternoon trip home! I don't bring my Sunday best clothes either.

[corn18]

I have a Sonos Beam in my 5er right now. Will add the wireless surrounds and sub as well. Might even switch to an Arc to get 7.1 Atmos. I have an Arc setup at home in my den and it is surreal when listening to an Atmos soundtrack.