Poppy's 5th Wheel
05-02-2014, 02:24 PM
I've never been satisfied with the entertainment system in our Cougar HC. The TV was small and lacked definition, the Jensen head unit is probably lower quality than one in a 15 year old car and the speakers were mediocre at best.
I was always unhappy that it wasn't true surround sound. When just watching TV the sound did not come through the speaker system and I couldn't bring my Blu-ray disks with me on the road. Watching movies we would try turning the volume up on the TV to hear conversation (trying to mimic a center channel in a surround sound system) but it only made matters worse as we would get a loud hum. The louder we tried to play it to hear, the louder the hum would get.
Anyway, I decided that we I would add some residential electronics and all I can say is that I can't wait to go on our next trip.
I swapped the 32" low grade Vizio with a nice 38" JVC. I had to modify the mounting plate for the RV's OEM wall mount to fit the bolt pattern on the back of the new TV but that was fairly easy just making a template of the hole pattern and drilling new, matching holes in the wall mount plate.
Next I cut a hole in the cabinet below the Jensen and slipped in a new Samsung Blu-ray DVD player. That cabinet is just hollow and, other than fear when I cut the first hole, it went fairly easy and gave easy wire access behind the cabinet and the Jensen and up through the pre-existing hole in the cabinet counter top.
Then I purchased a new Samsung Sound Bar with wireless sub-woofer. I mounted the bracket on the face of the counter top to hold it when in use. During travel it merely slips off the bracket and goes in a cabinet above the TV.
Finally I had a left over Logitech Harmony remote that I programmed to control the TV, Blu-ray player and sound Bar.
Badda bing, badda boom! This thing really rocks now and we have excellent quality and don't have to blare it. The wireless sub was what sold me on the sound bar system.
Hear are some poor quality pictures. I do want to find some way to trim the DVD player surround but it doesn't look to bad to be honest.
Starting at the end. Here's the new TV viewing from the antenna:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_0_ae392f5eb0143ff677e795fc3912414b.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150850_315.jpg.html)
Another benefit of the residential Blu-ray player is the ability to stream if we have decent cell coverage and use our hot spot:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_1_ca3d95d30cc58c4409ca52a363728f8a.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150720_013.jpg.html)
Here's the Sound Bar bracket:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_2_f245ce47fd6968c8d87d2bf5245df964.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150454_860.jpg.html)
And the Sound Bar as mounted:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_3_348443bc4caf32fde97eac74fa561852.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150636_226.jpg.html)
I was always unhappy that it wasn't true surround sound. When just watching TV the sound did not come through the speaker system and I couldn't bring my Blu-ray disks with me on the road. Watching movies we would try turning the volume up on the TV to hear conversation (trying to mimic a center channel in a surround sound system) but it only made matters worse as we would get a loud hum. The louder we tried to play it to hear, the louder the hum would get.
Anyway, I decided that we I would add some residential electronics and all I can say is that I can't wait to go on our next trip.
I swapped the 32" low grade Vizio with a nice 38" JVC. I had to modify the mounting plate for the RV's OEM wall mount to fit the bolt pattern on the back of the new TV but that was fairly easy just making a template of the hole pattern and drilling new, matching holes in the wall mount plate.
Next I cut a hole in the cabinet below the Jensen and slipped in a new Samsung Blu-ray DVD player. That cabinet is just hollow and, other than fear when I cut the first hole, it went fairly easy and gave easy wire access behind the cabinet and the Jensen and up through the pre-existing hole in the cabinet counter top.
Then I purchased a new Samsung Sound Bar with wireless sub-woofer. I mounted the bracket on the face of the counter top to hold it when in use. During travel it merely slips off the bracket and goes in a cabinet above the TV.
Finally I had a left over Logitech Harmony remote that I programmed to control the TV, Blu-ray player and sound Bar.
Badda bing, badda boom! This thing really rocks now and we have excellent quality and don't have to blare it. The wireless sub was what sold me on the sound bar system.
Hear are some poor quality pictures. I do want to find some way to trim the DVD player surround but it doesn't look to bad to be honest.
Starting at the end. Here's the new TV viewing from the antenna:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_0_ae392f5eb0143ff677e795fc3912414b.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150850_315.jpg.html)
Another benefit of the residential Blu-ray player is the ability to stream if we have decent cell coverage and use our hot spot:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_1_ca3d95d30cc58c4409ca52a363728f8a.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150720_013.jpg.html)
Here's the Sound Bar bracket:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_2_f245ce47fd6968c8d87d2bf5245df964.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150454_860.jpg.html)
And the Sound Bar as mounted:
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_125369_3_348443bc4caf32fde97eac74fa561852.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/blown96ws6/media/IMG_20140502_150636_226.jpg.html)