A/V system questions from a U24MB wannabe

Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
We've been travelling in a PleasureWay Lexor for short/medium trips. We both do computer work, and often bring remote work with us. I modified the Lexor - installed a 22" HD monitor and a Blu-Ray player - I can get Netflix off the Blu-Ray, I can plug in a laptop and use the monitor for work, and I added an audio aux in jack so I can plug in the iPhone and listen to music.

We're planning some longer trips that would include a dog and cat and some musical instruments - I'm afraid that the Lexor just is too small for several months on the road, and we're looking at MB's. We just went up to a Canadian dealer yesterday and looked at a new 2014 (he's our closest dealer to Vermont, 1.5 hours away - the closest US dealer is in PA, 8 hours away). We're also starting to watch the ads for a used 2012 or 2013.

The 2014 seemed to have a Sony head unit with some extra rear speakers that handled all the audio in the RV - I was surprised that it was a DVD player and not a Blu-Ray. Not sure whether it's internet connected or not. Can anybody tell me the model of the head unit, and whether the 2012/2013 vans had the same unit or a different one? I'd like to hear how well the factory system works and how flexible it is for adding computer inputs - I assume I can bluetooth my iPhone into the head unit for listening to music. Anything you can tell me about brands/models of the A/V equipment, speaker locations, etc. would be interesting - I really want to understand the system before we consider buying, because since it's an integrated system it'd be much harder to modify it if I find that it isn't flexible enough to do what we need. Thanks - Peter
 

Eastbayview

2012 Unity MB
I would suggest calling the factory to get the info you want. Mine has the older tomtom system (which we don't like much) so I can't help you.
 

Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
Is there a customer support phone number for LTV that connects directly? The 2 numbers on the website are both only mailbox numbers for leaving callback requests.
 

Eastbayview

2012 Unity MB
Is there a customer support phone number for LTV that connects directly? The 2 numbers on the website are both only mailbox numbers for leaving callback requests.
I don't know of direct numbers at LTV but the receptionist will be able to direct your call to the right person.
 

MarkCooperstein

2014 Unity TB
I was told that all newly ordered 2014 LTV models will have the Kenwood Model # DNX690HD unit in lieu of the Sony model. I've looked it up and it's quite nice! For Internet connectivity I use my ipad, which has an unlimited 4G data plan. I can connect it to most radios using Bluetooth if I need to.

Mark
 

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Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
Thanks Mark - that is an interesting unit, and not what was in the MB we saw at the Quebec dealer's - it had the Sony, and we didn't have enough time to see how that unit worked. You also brought up something I never considered before - we've never streamed movies when we're on a trip, but I have a group AT&T Wireless plan, and we both have unlimited data for our iPhones. I assume we can stream Netflix movies from the iPhone via an adapter to the house TV. I've only tried Netflix once on the iPhone - it seemed like a gimmick at the time. But I just turned wireless off on the iPhone and started a movie streaming - it's working just fine, and I'm getting my cell signal via a Microcell, so I'm going internet->cell signal conversion. That'll be fun to try at some point, though I guess the resolution is going to be pretty unexciting...
 
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MarkCooperstein

2014 Unity TB
You need to get an Apple TV! They cost about $100 and is a smart device. It has both wired and wireless Internet as well as Bluetooth. It has the Netflix App. on it, as well as Hulu and a mess of others. If you are at a campground with wireless or wired high speed Internet your good! If not, you can always use your iPhone to stream Netflix to the Apple TV providing you have a decent enough cell signal. Now, if you want to get a BluRay payer, you'll have to hook it into the Unity's TV distribution box which provides an HDMI input. The one gotcha is how to pipe the audio output of the BluRay player through the RV's ceiling stereo speakers. To that end, another device you can get is the Motorola DC800 which is a Bluetooth Home Stereo Adapter. It would connect to the output of the BluRay and then transmit via Bluetooth to the Kenwood head in the cab for audio distribution. Another way would be to use an FM wireless transmitter to go between BluRay player and Kenwood head but the quality of the Bluetooth audio is better IMHO. Of course, you could always go buy a surround sound soundbar and subwoofer, but then you have to figure out where to store it!

As you can see I have given the above a lot of thought, as I am a techie at heart. I don't even have my RV, I just put a deposit down on a new U24TB at the Hershey PA show and won't get it until next year!

Here's pictures of the Motorola DC800

Mark
 

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Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
Mark - Now we've been in the MB for 10 days and 2500 miles, and we've done a bit of dry camping and some with hookups - so I've had some time to play with the entertainment system. It's been very interesting, to say the least! First, the unit came with a Sirius receiver. I've used Sirius when I used to have to spend weeks on-site with customers and driving around with rent-a-cars - but the implementation with that Sony head unit is so cryptic I can't figure out how it works! Even after I went online and got a listing of all the stations by number, I still couldn't make sense of how the Sony/Sirius implementation works. And no user manual of course, not even online.

Second, the unit came with a satellite dish and a DISH receiver. We're not big TV people - I got rid of my Comcast subscription at home - I get news online and watch movies via Netflix. But I have to admit it was fun to play with the dish for an evening and see how well it works - I suspect we're still tied into the PO's DISH account, as I didn't expect we'd be able to connect to anything at all. I played around with a giant satellite dish years ago, just before they first started to encrypt the broadcasts, and this is light-years more advanced than those early systems.

But most important - playing DVD's on the TV through the Sony is TOTALLY BIZARRE - we sit halfway back in the RV, right under the rear speakers, looking across the RV at the screen - and we hear all the sound effects that come out of the rear [ambience and effects] speakers, which are right over our heads. Meanwhile the voices come from the front speakers, which are effectively far left on the sound stage. So we can't understand the dialogue unless we turn it up loud enough so the whole campground can hear it (the front speakers are mounted in the front doors and they play pretty well to the audience way up in the bleachers <lol>...)

To add to this - when we watch via satellite dish, the sound comes through the TV speakers, not through the Sony. Not a totally integrated system, you could say...

So - I'm sure I'll be adding some speakers. I'm not looking for any fancy and pricy theater sound installation, but I'll want something compact that sounds reasonably good and can be powered from the inverter. I suspect this will be a trick, as there aren't many spaces where I can install even small speakers, much less a good space to stash a subwoof - but all in good time... My inclination is to get a Blu-Ray player and stash it on the shelves by the TV, where the dish controller and DISH receiver are - then all TV watching would play via the speaker system.
 

alichty

2014 LTV Unity TB
The Unity MB has a little more space for a sound bar but it's still a tight fit in the confines of the coach. Like Mark I have been researching this while waiting on a TB I ordered and found another solution - a small speaker unit I could attach to the immediate area of the TV. In my case I bought a speaker system from SoundMatters that consists of a small speaker bar (FoxL) and a subwoofer (foxLO) that fit quite nicely in small spaces. I plan on using the headphone jack off of the TV and streaming to the TV from an Apple TV using the HDMI port. I found a clip mount for the speaker that can use a suction cup mount like a GPS which I can attach to the bottom of the TV. You could easily use the countertop in front of the TV in the MB for the speaker so the sound is properly coming from the TV. Nicer sound than the TV by a long shot and can be tucked away when not in use.
 

jackfish

Active member
I'm going to add some speakers under the TV countertop and try to move the right rear speaker over the left theater seat, re-wire. Then use a switch to feed the cab speakers or the AV speakers separately. Subwoofers to be added to the cab and AV as well.
 

Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
You're both thinking along the same lines as I am. I can see several possibilities. One is to mount a sound bar underneath the countertop - it'd have to be <2" deep so as not to stick out. Another interesting possibility: slim speakers mounted under the countertop. They'd have to clear the TV when it goes down, but they could be shimmed forward if necessary. Rear speakers are harder - ceiling flush-mounts seems to be the way to go, but I don't know how hard it is to snake the wires across and down to the TV area. It looks like there's room for a subwoofer and a small amplifier behind the access door below the TV (I'm speaking of the 24MB now). Are there theater 5.1 car amps? - I'll bet there are. Mount a Blu-Ray player on the shelves...

I haven't thought this out at all in detail. First, I haven't checked power consumption for the various electronic units - I'd want it all to run off the inverter, so there's a 600W limit. This RV also has a satellite unit (not something I'd have spent a lot for, but it's fun to have it), so there are some pretty heavy entertainment demands on the inverter. Second, there are the unexpected potential Gotchas <g>... I just did a TV/Blu-Ray upgrade in the Pleasure-Way, and installed an LG monitor, and then found that it had no remote with volume control. I built a little box with a volume control, an aux in jack and power switches, and that box took longer than installing the TV and Blu-Ray and doing all the rest of the wiring.

One thing I learned in the course of project was how to power the TV and Blu-Ray. I first planned to install an inverter, but I realized that the Blu-Ray could run directly off 12vdc (it came with a car adapter that turned out to have only a fuse inside it); the TV was 19vdc, and I found a tiny 12vdc -> 19vdc converter.
 

alichty

2014 LTV Unity TB
My intent is to forsake surround sound in the back and focus on good stereo instead. Much easier to accomplish too :D:

The little speaker system I got can run off of batteries or can be powered from a USB port so inverter needs are quite small. The sub does require 1A @ 110 so the overall load is pretty minimal but the sound quality is pretty remarkable for the size of the pieces:

foxL v2

While I was logging break-in hours on the speakers I did discover that they benefit a lot from getting the feed through a Music Fidelity V-Can headphone amplifier (0.2A) so I may drag that along once I take delivery on my TB. This still fits within my power budgets and can be used for nice music as well as helping with the TV audio.

I am going to leave the front system alone and just use it for driving music which should work nicely from the Kenwood HU LTV is currently installing. Not at all clear to me why this is being marketed as a useful solution for the rear of the coach :thinking:

Between my laptop, tablet and phone I can carry several hundred GB of music/video as well as play DVDs so I usually won't be trying to stream from online sources while on the road. At least out here near the left coast there are quite often voids in internet access and/or low speeds when it is available once you get away from urban environments.
 

jackfish

Active member
I am completely satisfied with DVDs on a 26" TV and want to use the existing head unit for playing them. The Sony head unit has plenty of power to handle amplifying the speakers I'm considering and has line level subwoofer output. I'm looking at a Kicker 11HS8 for a subwoofer. I also have a Soundmatters foxL and even a pair would be inadequate for my application.
 
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Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
I don't actually know why I got into the 5.1 comments, except that I know there are 5-channel car amps - our Pleasure-Way came with one, though it's being used for stereo only. I might do it if it doesn't seem like too much trouble, but I'm also primarily interested in good sound quality stereo. We're both classical musicians so I'd build for classical/jazz/folk audio listening. We usually carry DVD's of favorite movies with us, and are happy to watch a "goodie" multiple times. So we don't stream either - I've never been at a campsite with good enough internet to allow it.

How does your headphone amp improve things? Your comment got me thinking - our TV has both a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a TOSLINK optical out. That got me looking, and I see that there are soundbars on the market that have digital inputs, wireless rear speakers (if one decides to go for 5.1) and subwoofers - that would be another very easy install, assuming that there's a small enough soundbar - most that I saw are bigger home systems. Some of them also have bluetooth inputs, so we could stream audio from an iPhone etc. Lotsa choices...
 

alichty

2014 LTV Unity TB
The headphone amp does a very clean job of increasing the gain on the input. This lets me reduce the amount of power needed from the little amplifier in the speaker system and still achieve reasonable overall sound levels with minimal distortion. This system will not generate wall shaking home theater sound effects for movies but does a pretty nice job of accurately reproducing musical instruments. My test for critical listening on this speaker system was based on streaming 96Khz/24 bit FLAC recordings that included orchestral music and piano. At least for my ears it's pretty easy to judge the accuracy of a system with non electronic musical instruments and a good source. I was able to stream to the speaker system using Bluetooth from an app called FLAC Player on an iPhone but got slightly better sound out of using a headphone jack feed. Not sure how noticeable that difference will be in the coach yet.

You are correct - there are a ton of choices here and as always with sound systems your ears, music preferences, and audio applications (eg. video) are what really counts at the end of the day for which way to go. Half the fun is figuring out what best fits your needs and that may have nothing in common with mine. :cheers:
 
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Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
While we're on the topic of audio quality...
We're driving a 2012 MB with a Sony XNV-660BT head unit, and we are finding that the sound from the front speakers (the door speakers) is truly bad - not just that it's less than high-end stereo, but that music at normal volumes is almost unintelligible. We've listened to various Sirius channels, and today we're listening to albums on our iPhones via the Bluetooth connection. I can do a custom EQ that improves it somewhat, but the truth is: IT'S PRETTY NASTY!! The rear ceiling speakers seem letter, but when you're in the driver/passenger seats listening to music, it's really almost all the front speakers.

Are there already threads on this? I'm sure we'll be looking for an improvement.
 

aljimenez

'13 LTV Serenity on '12 3
While we're on the topic of audio quality...
We're driving a 2012 MB with a Sony XNV-660BT head unit, and we are finding that the sound from the front speakers (the door speakers) is truly bad - not just that it's less than high-end stereo, but that music at normal volumes is almost unintelligible. We've listened to various Sirius channels, and today we're listening to albums on our iPhones via the Bluetooth connection. I can do a custom EQ that improves it somewhat, but the truth is: IT'S PRETTY NASTY!! The rear ceiling speakers seem letter, but when you're in the driver/passenger seats listening to music, it's really almost all the front speakers.

Are there already threads on this? I'm sure we'll be looking for an improvement.
Our LTV is a 2013 Serenity on a 2012 Sprinter and we are pretty happy with the sound. It's possible they made an upgrade from your year, but I doubt it. I am surprised to read you find the sound not good. I like the TomTom navigation, the bluetooth, and the USB port in the front. I have used Sony's Sense-me and Content transfer to a 128GB USB stick to store our collection of thousands of songs; playing music from this USB stick using Sense-me is a very nice feature of the Sony unit.

The only complaint I have on the Sony is the long delay from turn signal on to video display changing to the side camera: it is 3 seconds; same delay when shifting to reverse. I have looked into this problem but find little to change that works as I expected. One thing I have done is changed the momentary switch to turn rear view camera on to an on/off switch. Turning the rear view camera on via this switch, makes the turn signal instantly show the side camera view. However, I don't want to drive with this rear camera view on all the time... Al
 

alichty

2014 LTV Unity TB
While we're on the topic of audio quality...
Are there already threads on this? I'm sure we'll be looking for an improvement.
Might be interesting to start one......

I honestly haven't run into any threads that addressed the sound quality of the speakers while driving but would love to hear some comments from LTV owners. If this is the stock MB front speaker then it is a prime candidate for replacement. A youtube demo of removing the front door panel and the high kwality :thumbdown: speaker that's behind it:

Front door panel removal

It wouldn't be hard or expensive to improve on that but it might be worth doing some searches for how much clearance is behind that speaker.
 

Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
Definitely not the high priced spread, is it?...

It'd be great if someone knows the available depth so I don't have to take the door apart twice - Crutchfield recommends several door speakers if you look up Mercedes passenger Sprinter with 5 speakers and choose "Door" - so I'm assuming any of those are a safe depth (famous last words <gr>...)
 
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