Has anyone put a home theater in their R/V?

[JRShaul]

To introduce myself, I'm a college student at a certain southern Wisconsin school.  I used to do tech support to make a bit of money, but in a world where you can replace your PC for less than what it costs to repair it, it's simply not worth the hassle.

I'm hoping to combine my experience as a techie-for-hire with my hi-fi hobby to  move into a more lucrative market: Home entertainment.I have a significant familiarity with TV technology and projection equipment, and have spent a great deal of time repairing and building speakers. And while the numerous frat houses offer an excellent potential market for big speakers and bigger screens (I even figured out how to make 'em beer-proof!), I'm wondering if I might also be able to provide services to R/V owners.

While conventional A/V contractors and car audio specialists could perhaps serve your  needs, the former is generally prohibitively expensive, while the latter is generally oriented towards young people who think it's a fantastic idea to display their underpants to the world at large. In short, nobody - at least, that I know of - does this kind of thing.

However, what I know of RVs is pretty much nil. As far as I know, they have a steel skeleton on which a very large number of exterior and interior panels are mounted - and, really, that's about it. If anyone can help me figure out the way in which RVs are assembled or whether I'm just barking up the wrong tree, that would be great.

 

[waroland]

In my opinion, you are barking up the wrong tree. Most RV's built in the last 5 years or so come with a built-in surround system.
That said, it is very difficult to add wires in a RV becaude of their construction. I have built several Television facilities in my
day and I would not tackle putting in a high end theatre sustem in a RV, beside most RVers don't spend that much time inside.
My 2c.

 

[JRShaul]

While quite a few RVs do include surround sound and HD televisions, the quality is generally very low - from what I've seen, it's mostly generic-brand junk and quite prone to failure. By combining bits and pieces from various home- and car-audio vendors, it might be possible to significantly improve on most setups using preexisting wiring or short runs of paintable flat cable "tape". Furthermore, while rewiring an R/V for surround sound is very difficult, miniaturization means that it's possible to fit an audiophile-grade stereo into some cabinets with a single tap into a 12V line. There's also a lot of extremely clever bracketry to allow for placing a television in unused space and pulling it out when needed, which might be  very beneficial for folks who own less older or less expensive trailers with no place to put a proper screen.

Another possibility is preparing ready-to-use projection kits. As long as you're at a campsite, why not set up a ten-foot screen so that everyone can enjoy the movie? Other possibilities include high-efficiency PA systems configured to run straight off of 12V - with the right setup, you can have quite a party while only pulling about six or seven amps.

 

[seilerbird]

You are barking up the wrong tree. The big problem is that an RV is a horrible space to try and set up a home theater system. You really need a long rectangular room with the front wall blank and then be able to set up a nice couch to watch and listen six to eight feet away from the screen and front speakers. Go walk through just about any RV made and you will find no space like that in any of them.

PS  I am a life long audiophile and have built many media rooms.

 

[Orick]

I wouldn't dismiss your idea at all.  I think there's a large market for upgrading CRT TVs to digital LCD units... adding HD... DVRs... etc.  It's true that many/most newer model coaches come with surround systems... at least speaking for my own coach.... it's pretty Mickey Mouse.  If you became good at fishing long HDMI/coax runs, hooked up with a cabinet maker to put a nice finish on a CRT to LCD conversion... you might just have something going.

It's true that many RVers don't spend a lot of time in their units but I believe your target market would be higher end coaches and full timers.

Good luck to you.

Rick

 

[Marsha/CA]

I know you are excited about all the possibilities you think RVers want/need; but you might want to go look at some new big RVs at an RV sales place.  You did say you know very little about RVs.  You may not know that there is a wide variety of RVs with varying equipment, insulation and quality.  Many of them come with HD TV, multiple TVs and good quality surround sound systems.  Plus what you are thinking of providing maybe too loud and intense for campground situations.  Often people are parked close together.  I for one would not like to hear my neighbors "Bose" system reverberating through his walls. 

Your idea of a 10' outside theater production could most likely cause some problems as well, not only with neighboring campers who do NOT want to watch the show, but for the campground owners. 

I wonder if you might find a niche with RV remodel companies such as Davis Cabinets in Oregon.  He does a lot of upgrading of system/units and electronics and may not have a audio/video tech.

Good luck with your idea; but I just don't think the RV market would work.

Marsha~

 

[Just Lou]

JRShaul, you offer some fine potential solutions to what I see as a total non-problem.

As was stated earlier, most high-end (read expensive and luxurious) rigs already have adequate surround sound systems factory installed.  The return on investment, either in personal enjoyment or monetary value, is questionable for supporting the custom installation of a high quality, high cost, theater system in the average rig.

Even with multiple room extender slides, living in a trailer or motorhome is like living in a hallway.  It is nearly impossible to arrange the HT/Sound system components for optimum listening and viewing.  It is equally difficult to re-arrange the interior seating in a motorhome to accommodate more than one marginally acceptable such seat.  Those are but two reasons most folks will not be interested in investing in a custom surround home theater system.

JMHO

 

[donn]

If you really want to do this, then figure out how to install a system in a car first.  Then using the same components install them in an RV.  I know Alpine made a complete package a couple of years ago.  The head unit could play CD/DVD/MP3/WAV, could push the signal to a TV, had a TV tuner interface and adding a 100+ amp could rival most home systems.  Sadly they quit making the system.  So find something equal and I would be interested for sure.

 

[Marsha/CA]

donn, I'm wondering if what you are talking about is somewhat like what we have in our coach.  I'm not all that versed in video/audio electronics; but we have a Panasonic Surround Sound system which allows the TV, CD/DVD, Radio and even an auxiliary component to go through the system providing sound to each of our 5 speakers plus a woofer.  On the auxiliary mode we've added our portable XM radio or we can use our nano ipod.  The Panasonic system also allows you to chose which  playback you enjoy "soft" "clear" "talk", "hall", "live", etc.  If we want to we can crank that thing up to make the walls vibrate....

Marsha~

 

[Just Lou]

Marsha, I installed a unit made by Philips Electronics that has pretty much the same options as you described.  It has five speakers plus the sub-woofer.  It was reasonably inexpensive, yet more than adequate in sound quality and speaker volume.  However I can't imagine a market for the volume of installs that would be required for a person to make a living installing sound systems in existing RVs, which is what I think the OP was trying to determine.
 
There are any number of technologies (i.e. wireless speakers) that make installing a sound system in the RV environment less daunting.

 

[JRShaul]

If you really want to do this, then figure out how to install a system in a car first.  Then using the same components install them in an RV.  I know Alpine made a complete package a couple of years ago.  The head unit could play CD/DVD/MP3/WAV, could push the signal to a TV, had a TV tuner interface and adding a 100+ amp could rival most home systems.  Sadly they quit making the system.  So find something equal and I would be interested for sure.

The head units are still in production, but the 5.1 analog-to-digital converter is no longer in production. There's a few ways around this, though; the easiest being to use the S/PDIF output to connect to a conventional home theater receiver.

I guess I've gone and found some solutions to a problem no one has. Other potential options for stuff I could produce include RV-friendly HD projection setups, and, if there's enough of a market, I might be able to start producing adapters to allow the use of LCDs in place of CRTs.

 

[Just Lou]

I guess I've gone and found some solutions to a problem no one has. Other potential options for stuff I could produce include RV-friendly HD projection setups, and, if there's enough of a market, I might be able to start producing adapters to allow the use of LCDs in place of CRTs.

You'll have to explain this.  I don't see where you are producing anything that isn't readily available today.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I'm sure there are some audiophiles who would purchase specialty equipment, no matter what came factory installed (and a lot of the RV factory install audio is pretty cheap crap).  But most of this stuff is pretty straight forward to install and hook-up, with the major problem being access to wiring.

I don't know what kind of adapter you would provide for an LCD TV.  I've installed three of them and never had to adapt anything except the wood cabinetry to hold them.

Satellite tv is a mystery to most people. Lots of options and choices, depending on their needs. Doing RV satellite installs and upgrades might be a viable sideline, especially if folks want HDTV, which most existing RV tv systems are not equipped to handle.  Regular residential satellite installers know nothing about RV systems and generally don't want to mess with them.

 

[Rancher Will]

JRShaul; If I understand your question, you might want to actually look at some of the RV units available today and get an idea how and what the factories do. Our Montana 5th Wheel, for example, came from the factory with a complete surround sound, two Digital/HD TV's, DVR, cable, satelite and air hookup, etc. In fact the home entertainment complex in our RV is, if anything, better than the one in our home.

 

[RollingRock]

To the OP.  I am in the business, I own a Home Theater Company here in the Southlake TX Area.

As many have posted, "most" newer rigs have something in them already or prepped for it.  From a quality perspective yes it is pretty low BUT they do get the job done.  A few things we did to improve our system is replaced the one LCD to a higher spec'ed one, replace the "all in one stereo" to separate amp, BlueRay/DVD etc.  Also put a 800 watt sub. 

Here is the problems we ran in to.  You cannot use a sub like that in a camper/RV.  They will rattle like mad. (ours is in the on position, no gain)  The second problem is space.  Most in ceiling speakers have to be very, very shallow and you cannot enclose them properly.  The last problem you will find, is that when camping, you don't want to be the camper who is cranking up Star Wars in a quiet campground.  Now that all said, there are ways to make stock speakers better.  Just put a little more power to them and then you can upgrade the TV's.  The other problem we have is HiDev.  Its VERY difficult to point a 5LB DTV dish, so much so we decided to just aim at one and not get HD.  We do have the BlueRay and over the air HD and when in parks that provide cable it is not in HD either so its kind of well...not worth it for us. 

One posted mentioned ROI, I agree wholehearted with that.  For me, was able to make my way better for a lot less money....what I have done can be pulled out in 15 min and the stock system installed back again.

I think you could find a few customers for the simple upgrades, TV's amps, etc   

 

[Orick]

Good post RollingRock.  Thanks for the insights.

One thing I would add though is that, while manually pointing a 5LNB dish is really tough... I love my Winegard Slimline automatic rooftop dish and HDDVR.  As they say, it ain't cheap, but it sure gives a pretty picture! 

Rick

 

[RollingRock]

Good post RollingRock.  Thanks for the insights.

One thing I would add though is that, while manually pointing a 5LNB dish is really tough... I love my Winegard Slimline automatic rooftop dish and HDDVR.  As they say, it ain't cheap, but it sure gives a pretty picture! 

Rick

Thanks Rick, if I was full timing (i am jealous btw) I would pick up a slimline auto too!