Possible Setup for an RV?

[Yesfan70]

I really didn't know which section to put this in as it pertains to a complete system.


A friend of mine at work is looking to get an RV. He wants to have a system set in place to where he can listen to music while his wife is watching TV and/or be able to listen to headphones at the same time she's listening to the TV/system speakers so the audio volume isn't so over bearing to her.


To help you guys out, the guy is deaf in one ear due to a tumor having to be removed a couple of years ago. This has also messed with his balance somewhat so anything wireless/Bluetooth is out. He's pretty much a straight forward meticulous, minimalist type of guy, so nothing outrageous as far as price goes (even though Bose came up in the discussion....go figure) or anything fancy and complex. Just something that's simple and works. If anything, the setup could contain a USB port for a thumb drive full of MP3s.

An approach I had was maybe find a cheapish receiver that had a Zone 2 option. Zone 2 would be for a set of cheap on walls or a sound bar located near the TV. Then for him, maybe run a headphone extension cord from the receiver's headphone out to his chair to where he could just plug in a set of headphones. This way, the wife can turn down the TV volume without affecting the headphone volume if she's talking to the kids/grandkids on the phone. I even mentioned forgoing speakers/sound bar and just use the TV's speakers. This way she could mute the TV's volume and not affect the headphone volume from the receiver in any way, but I think he wants to have something decent sounding to when they both want to listen to music.

For now, I've told him to maybe hold off until he gets the RV to where we could look at it and see what would be the best options. Obviously, something like a pair of $7000 Dynaudio towers would be a given 'no go' (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I figured once we see what we're looking at, we can make a better informed decision. I have no idea what he's willing to spend, but I'm thinking at most, the components we're looking at are.....

TV
Receiver (w/ USB)
Speakers (stereo? surround?)
Headphones

I've been out of the loop as far as HT goes, so I feel like I'm starting over to be honest.

 

[scubabob]

Space is at a premium in RVs. I wouldn't bother with a big receiver. We replaced our RV's crappy stereo with something kick-ass and replaced the factory speakers. It remains a 12V system and doesn't require a big inverter or generator running constantly. I wouldn't push a factory inverter -> receiver running off the engine unless you know its power capabilities. We can idle the motor overnight with the A/C and the radio on with no power issues. It wouldn't be a stretch to run wires to the back to mini-din or similar quick-connects to either headphones or portable speakers. Then use the remote that comes with decent car stereos to control it. If headphones are used, there is zero space loss. RVs generally have an alcove or dedicated TV space initially. That shouldn't be a problem. All of the power concerns go out the window if the usage is only while plugged in. That doesn't seem reasonable in my experience.

 

[Yesfan70]

Space is at a premium in RVs. I wouldn't bother with a big receiver. We replaced our RV's crappy stereo with something kick-ass and replaced the factory speakers. It remains a 12V system and doesn't require a big inverter or generator running constantly. I wouldn't push a factory inverter -> receiver running off the engine unless you know its power capabilities. We can idle the motor overnight with the A/C and the radio on with no power issues. It wouldn't be a stretch to run wires to the back to mini-din or similar quick-connects to either headphones or portable speakers. Then use the remote that comes with decent car stereos to control it. If headphones are used, there is zero space loss. RVs generally have an alcove or dedicated TV space initially. That shouldn't be a problem. All of the power concerns go out the window if the usage is only while plugged in. That doesn't seem reasonable in my experience.

Thanks. I wasn't even considering a big receiver for the same reasons you mentioned. I was leaning toward a Micro/mini system that had a USB port and a pair of speakers for the audio. When he buys the RV, I may try to post some pics of what he's looking at to give you or anyone else an idea of what he needs to do.


Just throwing this out there (I know nothing about RVs, so bear with me), but he seems intent to having a flat screen in the living quarters of the RV. Would it be feasible to add a second car audio receiver as the "HT receiver"? I've seen some that had a zone two option, so that would come in handy if he was wanting to listen to music on headphones and his wife was wanting to watch TV.

 

[scubabob]

As he does his investigations, IMO, try to keep him off of 120V. A localized inverter at the HT location will work, with noise and extra loss/drain on the RV 12V supply. There are 12V TVs and very decent 12V car DVD player/stereos that will do fine and not require inverters/generators while not plugged in (moving, rugged camping). If he wants to go full five channel audio, the 12V world won't cut it.

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/tv-a ... 2-volt.htm
http://the12volt.com

 

[Lone Stranger]

I would try to go the 12 volt route as Scubabob mentions. If it were my situation, I would not bother with surround sound. Simplicity and the least amount of space being used would be good since watching movies shouldn't be the dominant activity when camping.

 

[Yesfan70]

Thanks for the links Scuba. I'll pass those on to my friend at work tomorrow.