A lot of car stereo systems have some really awesome features today, but so do some home systems. I'm not talking about 6000w amps and bass thumpers, I'm talking features and dependability.
What do you use?
P.S. My first car had 8-track and a record player. Don't see that very often. I added a cassette.
TIKVAH
(Dave Rush)
MCI 102A3 6V92
Full Time On The Road - I couldn't fix my brakes, so I made my horn louder
Dave,I see the newer hi end conversions are going with a car system and a sound bar on the tv fwiw I installed a sound bar on the tv in the rv it has awesome sound now
What's a sound bar?
TIKVAH
(Dave Rush)
MCI 102A3 6V92
Full Time On The Road - I couldn't fix my brakes, so I made my horn louder
Quote from: Tikvah on December 07, 2014, 04:06:24 AM
What's a sound bar?
TIKVAH
(Dave Rush)
I think we have a first!!
Clifford teaching on technology!!!!!!!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
TOM
I don't know about that Tom,....he might be pretty good about that. Don't i remember from a while back that he had gone thru a lot of cell phones?
I have a Visio 40" sound bar under a 46" Samsung TV and an Acoustic Audio 8" subwoofer on floor behind a chair. Both are relatively small and take up little room compared to a home system and sound great. Also have dash mounted HD Radio/CD car stereo installed and hooked into sound bar and woofer. More than enough volume to get kicked out of a campground! Thinking about adding something to the bay for outside use. Have wife that's a kitchen dancer and she likes her Pandora loud!
Old way of doing things was mounting separate components in cabinets, closets and overheads, but as Clifford says, new conversions = car type space saver systems. Good luck with your decision. Gerry H
In the driver's area, just an AM/FM radio with Sirius/XM satellite and a hookup for I-pod or your phone with blue tooth. In the bedroom, full home style stereo with AM/FM receiver, VCR, twin cassette, DVR, with 5.1 Bose surround sound. Another 5.1 system in front for the T.V. in the living area-plus the TPZ (Tilt, Pan Zoom) external camera by Rugged for front viewing as a virtual window through a 48" flat screen T.V. http://www.rugged-cctv.com/mobile-ptz.shtml (http://www.rugged-cctv.com/mobile-ptz.shtml) Good Luck, TomC
We have an old Motorola radio that we added a Pioneer cd player to after we bought the bus. Never use it going down the road, we talk and i listen to the bus. Also bought a Bose Wave radio/cd player for when we are parked.
hi Dave, a sound bar is a black set of speakers, usually very compact tube, 2 to 3 inches square or round, about 2 to 3 ft long, modified and coordinated to project the sound, full spectrum, 8 to 10 ft forward, usually with a seperate base woofer, no speaker towers or loads of wires to hide. It was originally designed for tv viewing in a living room setting facing the sofa. it came out of the home theatre craze. simple to install and great frequency response, I think it came out of the little Bose home setting speakers, some are not very expensive, hard to believe what good sound comes out of those little speakers, lvmci...
I'll just be using an automotive sound system in mine. But I don't hear all that good and probably couldn't tell the difference between that and a high quality home system.
We use a Pioneer Mixtracs car , has Bluetooth, cell phone through speakers, cell phone hands free mic with 8 feet of wire, also has wire with USB socket to play from a stick, AM FM, and CD. it was only 139.00. I hook it into 10 speakers we had in coach from before Also have 32 inch TV up front with 34 inch bar and sub woofer separate from sound bar but in that system. sound bar and sub woofer was only 99.00. Could also hook the radio into it if want too. You do have to watch how many speakers you hook in or the sound will keep shutting off and then you have to turn it back on if to much power is being used. I just dropped a few and it seemed work well then.
We also use our cell phones through a Bluetooth Samsung Jamb Box. we can take that outside if we want too or in the toad.
Dave5Cs
I just use a cheap Pioneer car radio, it has an input for the I-pod. I bought a Bose docking station for the I-pod but never use it. My biggest issue is finding a good antenna these days, all I can find is cheap junk. If I have wifi available I'll stream radio stations through the computer with docking speakers, that sounds great for what we listen to. (Talk radio addicts, CBC Radio One and sometimes NPR)
Brian
After years of having an ear piece day in and day out sorting transmissions meant for me or others, I didn't even make provisions for an in dash stereo in my bus :o. We do have a small DVD for an occasional movie and a hand cranked Grundig AM/FM/SW just in case. Jack
PS Sorry for the fuzzy pic. I laid the Grundig on the scanner and told it to take its best shot Ha Ha.
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1075.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw435%2Foltrunt%2F31cc9ff1-a089-48b4-a915-67a10e8f4787_zps6f918760.jpg&hash=0b0ddeeb7517cb65116ff968b72e501347d94493) (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/oltrunt/media/31cc9ff1-a089-48b4-a915-67a10e8f4787_zps6f918760.jpg.html)
The very finest music comes from a finely tuned 12V-71, radios produce news & noise.
Dave M
I still have my 1970s-ish home stereo system, less the speakers that are much too large for a bus - I intend to use it, even though a car stereo is much more compact. Besides, a Quad 33/303 amp combo and a Pioneer TX-9100 tuner are just so much nicer to use compared to some flimsy plastic car unit. A good pair of miniature studio monitor speakers will work well in the bus, and I'll also use the existing PA speakers along each side for a Hafler rear-difference setup - I still have a combiner/selector box I made in the 70s for Hafler speakers, along with some cheapo amps to drive them (to prevent back-feeding the Quad 303's output transistors). A good TSW inverter will easily power everything. It should be good!
John
Sound bars are great. Get the Bluetooth enabled ones and wireless sub.
For in dash I am putting in the apple CarPlay since my son has converted me to Apple everything else. 7 inch screen big enough that even I can see it..
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I am in the process of mounting a double DIN DVD car stereo in the 4104. I had it in a car that I traded in, so I pulled it to put on the bus. It has wiring for a backup camera so I will be using it for that as well. I also have an amplified computer type speaker setup from the PO that runs of of 120v. When all of that isn't good enough I will just use my Bose Compact PA system. In fact I am planning to use my Bose PA and projector/screen to do movies at camp sites and for DVD purposes, I can run the projector off of the car audio DVD player.
Tape? CD? DVD? What are those things? ??? My generation is moving away from tangible forms of storage. Head units and home theater systems were made to play physical media. There is no need for a head unit when there is no physical media.
Radio -> Pandora, Grooveshark, or iHeartRadio
CD -> MP3 or FLAC files stored on the cloud or on a media server.
DVD -> Netflix, or MKVs stored on the cloud or on a media server.
I have a cell phone and a signal booster. The smart phone streams music over Bluetooth to a Bluetooth receiver that is connected to an amplifier. The phone IS the head unit. Easy.
This is the setup I used when I was driving truck coast to coat. It worked 100% of the time on the interstates and US highways and 99% of the time on state/county highways and secondary roads. Add a local media server running Plex with a couple solid state drives and you will have more music than you know what to do with no matter how far you get away from the cell phone towers.
So, Home or car stereo? Neither.
Edit: If you want to listen to a local radio station and they still aren't on iHeartRadio- there are phones with built in offline FM tuners.
Oh, yeah, the DVD car stereo I am mounting does have an SD card with all of my music on it. We are full Roku in the house and on the bus, but I am going to be setting up a wireless network on the bus including a wireless client with a big antenna for when there is WIFI at camp sites. I am also going to have a media server running Plex and will mirror everything on the home Plex server to the bus so we have all of the content on the road.
Vern- ;D It is so nice to see someone else using technology to its fullest! ;D
You may want to consider setting up two routers for your bus wifi. Run one router in client bridge mode to receive wireless internet from an external network, like a campground or tethered to a phone. Hardwire the first router to a second router. Run the second router as an access point to rebroadcast the wireless signal with your own network name and DHCP server.
Trust me, you want your own onboard DHCP server so that devices within the bus can communicate with each other even when you are not connected to an external network.
When the time comes to set up the router(s), PM or call me. I can give you a lot of tips to make your life a lot easier.
Quote from: mung on December 07, 2014, 05:53:52 PMI am in the process of mounting a double DIN DVD car stereo in the 4104. I had it in a car that I traded in, so I pulled it to put on the bus. It has wiring for a backup camera so I will be using it for that as well. ...
Same here (except for the trade in part). It's a Pioneer 2400 ... something. Double DIN, backup camera, iPod round input, SD slot, USB port (I use the "thumb drive" thingies -- that's the technical term that those of us who are graduates of the Clifford LuvRBus School of Technology use for those little things), Sirius ready, BlueTooth capable (not that I even know what those things are much less how to use them - see note on my technical education above).
I think that Pioneer has a line of these double-Din's, 2400, 3400, 4400. A friend of mine has just put one of the top-of-the-line models in his pickup and it's pretty awesome. (But since I'm no longer a useful, productive, appreciated citizen and I'm fodder fuh dem Gummint Death Panels and I live with my snout in the Gummint trough, I go with the cheap one ...)
I really like the sound from my unit (and the 4400 or whatever it's called is even better). The one in my car is hooked to the VW "Monsoon" booster/amp audio system and that's totally great but I've seen them installed in "party buses" with and without extra amps and they're really good in those, too.
(PS if you install a switch to ground on the parking brake circuit, you can manually switch on the DVD/video while the vehicle is in motion -- that that I'd do that, of course, or that you'd want to, but you could ...)
Sparkplug that's exactly what I did with the wifi, I used Apple routers wired together, front back, and one wired to cradlepoint with data card when under way. When at home I unplug cradlepoint and wireless link first Apple router to home network. Works extremely well.
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Quote from: Oonrahnjay on December 08, 2014, 04:53:55 AM
Same here (except for the trade in part). It's a Pioneer 2400 ... something. Double DIN, backup camera, iPod round input, SD slot, USB port (I use the "thumb drive" thingies -- that's the technical term that those of us who are graduates of the Clifford LuvRBus School of Technology use for those little things), Sirius ready, BlueTooth capable (not that I even know what those things are much less how to use them - see note on my technical education above).
I WANNA GO!!!! I WANNA GO!!!
How much is the tuition???
ROFL!!!!!
TOM
I went with 2 Sonny in dash AM. Fm. with CD player also has a USB port for ipod or digital music I have one in the dash that just plays in the driver area and the other in the coach that plays throuhout the bus, works great also has a remote, >>>> John
Remember when a Radio had 2 knobs and 5 buttons. You had to push one of the 5 if some idiot had changed your channel. Other than that you just drove and listened. If you had hooked up the light wire you could see it at night too. In high school I saved my money until I had 20.00 and bought a "reverberation" unit that hooked to the radio and when you flipped it on it kind of echoed when music played like AL Green and your girl was sitting next to you.
If you hit a bump it would also echo sometimes and sooner than later the dam thing drove you nuts so out it came. Then we had to have the 8 track and played every tape we had (read both) until they got caught in the player and you would pull all the tape out trying to fix it and then into the garbage it would go.
Now we have Tapes cassettes, CD, I pods, sticks with USB, (and we all say USB but do any of us really know what it stands for? seriously, United States Bureau of ?)LOL.
Now it's the light thing that we have never figured out. It's like those flippin light shows we had in the 60's. Why do we need that in our radio? Text on a screen so small you would be wrapped around a tree before you could read it anyway. And scan button, does it really find you stations. Mine seems to keep going around and around and when it finally hits some music I like and I start singing or taping the steering wheel to the beat the dam thing takes off again. Whats up with that.
Ok I have said my peace hope yours are better than mine....... ::)
Dave5Cs
The dual wireless is exactly what I plan to do. Will probably use something above normal consumer grade for the client radio. I used to build wireless networks and data-centers so I have a lot of experience in that area. I will probably use a Mikrotik router/radio setup as they are small and get the job done quite well. Something like this would be my preferred way to go. http://routerboard.com/RBSXT5nDr2 (http://routerboard.com/RBSXT5nDr2)
Vern- How would that compare to a Netgear R7000 with Kongs DDWRT firmware connected to a set of outdoor antennas? It looks like the SXT Lite5 only has one 5ghz radio-- Wouldn't it be beneficial to have two wireless radios and the ability to connect to both 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks?
My R7000 with original antennas can reliably connect to a 2.4ghz G external network 1400ft away. 5ghz AC connectivity on the R7000 drops off around 200ft. I have very limited experience with enterprise networking hardware. Just curious how the two pieces of hardware compare in terms of performance.
Vern & Sparkplug -
If you guys haven't already, you need to become friends with Chris & Cherie of Technomadia! Talk about talking the same language!
;D
That was just an example of a possible radio to use, yes would either want a dual band or 2 separate radios. The big difference is that the MikroTik devices are true external radios with high gain antennas on them, that is going to give you a lot more range. The MikroTik routers are real routers unlike the consumer brand routers, you can do a lot more with them and they are much more secure. I am running a MikroTick router board for my main router in the house and it handles all of my servers as well as my local computers.
@ Spark and Vern....
Although I understand very little of what your saying...I do understand $$'s....how much cash are you guys spending to make this happen ?
Retail $$'s ? ;D ??? ;D
The "I know what I'm doing and know where to look" $$'s. costs ? ???
Quote from: oldmansax on December 08, 2014, 06:26:54 AM
I WANNA GO!!!! I WANNA GO!!!
How much is the tuition???
ROFL!!!!!
TOM
Tom, I think that you have to have approval of The Dean, and pay it off in crab cakes.
Wireless routers range from about $50 to $100 depending on the setup.
Now for the TV stuff. A Roku runs about $99 for the new version, Hulu is $7.99 for an account, Netflix $8.99. You can use any windows 7 computer for a media server and a Plex license is about $25 a year. With that you can be totally free of cable and with the Plex server you can stream anything on your windows 7 computer to the Roku or smartphone/tablet. Add a TV card to the computer and you can use Windows media center to record over the air broadcasts (like a DVR) and play them back through Plex even if you don't have an internet connection.
how do you get the "signal" into the tv .... ??? is the roku the "receiver" ?
if you had a iphone 5s...with unlimited data...could you use it to fill in for the plex server.... could it serve as the internet source...
ps. .... why windows 7 ?
Quote from: mung on December 08, 2014, 11:53:59 AM
Wireless routers range from about $50 to $100 depending on the setup.
Now for the TV stuff. A Roku runs about $99 for the new version, Hulu is $7.99 for an account, Netflix $8.99. You can use any windows 7 computer for a media server and a Plex license is about $25 a year. With that you can be totally free of cable and with the Plex server you can stream anything on your windows 7 computer to the Roku or smartphone/tablet. Add a TV card to the computer and you can use Windows media center to record over the air broadcasts (like a DVR) and play them back through Plex even if you don't have an internet connection.
The Roku is like having a smart TV. It takes content from the Internet and allows you to play it on your TV. The Hulu service is one of the channels on Roku and they play most shows the day after they are aired on regular TV, plus they have a ton of original content.
Plex is a server that you run on your computer and it allows you to watch videos, listen to music, view pictures, etc from that computer on various devices. There is a Plex channel for Roku. Plex isn't 100% needed but for very little money it is a way to store content (recorded, downloaded, ripped from a DVD or CD) on a computer and play it back on the bus even if you aren't in range of internet at the time.
Hope that clears it up a little, but if not, I will be happy to go into more detail and provide links to the products as well.
All I know is that I was paying around $180 a month for DirecTV before and now I pay around $50 a month for all of the services I use and I have a lot more content. You can get by with as little as $7.99 a month for one Hulu account if you have good internet.
is unlimited Verizon 4g lte "good internet" ?
again..why WIN 7 ?
Mung- If you had unlimited $$$ to build a setup for very long range (2000ft+) 2.4ghz G and N, what exactly would you buy? If it isn't over $500, I will do some comparison testing. Omnidirectional is my preference, but I understand why directional antennas are better for long range. I am hoping you know of something that will blow the R7000 out of the water, like double the range or more.
Mung that is all great stuff when you are at home with a fast cable internet, but what you have described would eat the hell out of a 20 gig data plan in no time, and being mobile how else are you going to get internet other than a cellular data plan?
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OK, so many questions!!
First, LTE is good internet for sure, why Win 7 is because it includes the media center package for free and it was an add on for all other versions. Even a basic machine will do for running it.
OK now on to the radios, http://routerboard.com/RB411AR (http://routerboard.com/RB411AR) has a built in 2.4 ghz wireless card and a slot for another card which can be http://routerboard.com/R11e-5HacD (http://routerboard.com/R11e-5HacD) to get your 5 ghz radio. add a couple of high gain omni antennas and you should be good to go. Gives you the radios and the MikroTik router which as I said before blows the lame routing software in home routers out of the water. Takes a little to get it configured right, but once you do, you have a lot more control. You can even black list IPs so that you can knock down some of the "activity" from China. With this setup the router/radio would be inside with the antennas outside, but that isn't a huge deal on a bus.
And lastly on to the question about being mobile and how to make this work. Well, first there are a lot of hot spots and a lot of campgrounds have free wifi. But that is the purpose of the media/Plex server, see if you load it up with content when you are in wifi range, you can view the content you have saved when you are out of range. That coupled with an over the air antenna will get you a lot of content to watch. You also don't need an internet connection to use the windows media server to record from the over the air antenna and save that for later viewing.
From my experience campground wifi sucks, I like my private network.
Not into downloading a bunch of stuff that normally I don't watch later on.
With DTV and three receivers that are recorders also we can watch whatever is on any of them with the whole house feature, but we don't watch a lot of TV when traveling anyway.
What most people want is fast internet on the go, and yea it's out there but spendy if your using a lot of gigs.
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Everyone has their own priorities, I just know that I am getting much more content for much less money since I dropped DirecTV. Oh and I was quite upset when I realized that DirecTV's HD that they charged me $10 extra a month for for all of those years was not really HD and how much better real HD is.
Quote from: Oonrahnjay on December 08, 2014, 11:30:59 AM
Tom, I think that you have to have approval of The Dean, and pay it off in crab cakes.
Bruce, I think I already blew that! You are supposed the bribe the powers that be BEFORE you need a favor! LOL! Anywho, no crab cakes around this time of year.... at least, none around I would feed to my friends!
Maybe I can get in on next year's class! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Still ROFL!!
TOM
Mung- Thanks for the taking the time to work with me on this. One more question- Would the QRT 2 perform better than the 411AR at very long ranges? There are a few posts on the MikroTic forum about the QRT 2 connecting to networks 1-2km away without any modifications. To me, that is very impressive.
411AR
802.11g:
Rx Sensitivity –87 dBm @ 6Mbps to -69 dBm @ 54 Mbps
Tx Power Up to 20 dBm
Antenna: Customer supplied 15dbi omni
QRT 2
802.11g:
Rx Sensitivity -96dBm @ 6Mbps to -80dBm @ 54 Mbps
Tx Power 31dBm
Antenna: 17dbi 22° directional
http://routerboard.com/RBQRTG-2SHPnD (http://routerboard.com/RBQRTG-2SHPnD)
I know, the 22° directional antenna goes against my want for a quick and dirty omni antenna... but I am thinking the extra setup time may be worth it for those times when an omni just won't reach out far enough.
Yes you will get more range with that radio and with a directional (even a 180 degree panel) you will get a lot more distance. We were getting 2 miles out of the pico stations here in Florida. Keep in mind though that 2 radios with directional antennas tuned to each other are going to get the best distance. But you can't go wrong with having a directional antenna on your side. In fact if you want to have a fun cheap project to mess around with, take a USB wireless adapter and mount it in the center of a rice skimmer (used in Chinese food cooking) and see how much that increases the signal and distance. Before they had all of the fancy antennas, we used to use them to get signal where we normally couldn't.
Vern- Good ;D The QRT 2 will be on my doorstep in a couple days. ;D
I built a "can-tennna" out of a Pringles chip can a few years ago. It actually worked really well, but only if you could get it aimed dead nuts straight at the access point. It was probably 1-2 degree directional. If it was off even the slightest bit, the signal dropped off to next to nothing. I also found out Pringles cans don't like rain. :( ;D
http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html (http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/has.html)
Yeah the wok-fi antenna was much better than the Pringles can.
Boy, talk about thread hijacking!
Anyway, back to the OP's question: Over Thanksgiving, my son helped me install a Kenwood eXcelon KDC-X798 CD Receiver with built-in Bluetooth, HD Radio, two USB ports (front & back) plus SiriusXM capability. Very nice unit, including a remote. Was quite entertaining to listen to "The Fifties on Five" or "The Sixties on Six" while on the drive back to Fresno from Colorado Springs. Even the "Blue Collar Comedy" channel helped keep me alert - Larry the Cable Guy can be really funny, almost like this BBS sometimes!
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Quote from: RJ on December 09, 2014, 08:41:34 AM
Boy, talk about thread hijacking!
Anyway, back to the OP's question:
But RJ, somebody just said something a about a wok -- finally after 1 1/2 pages, something I can understand!
Haha you guys are funny! :D
Sorry about hijacking your thread, Dave. Who knows, you might choose a smart phone over a head unit. If you do, you will know exactly how to get a good wifi signal. :)
I will start another thread when it comes time to compare hardware. I am like a kid on Christmas waiting for the new toys to get here! ;D
RJ- Thank you for mentioning Chris & Cherie of Technomadia. http://www.technomadia.com/ (http://www.technomadia.com/) There is a lot of good information on their site.