Home Theater System Recommendations

[FLynes]

Hi all,

     When we bought our coach, there were no A/V components in it whatsoever. Thanks to some great folks on this site, I was able to piece together original components and make everything work.....for a while. The RCA RT-DVD1 is starting to work erratically, so I've decided that it's time for something new.

     Here's the tricky part. I want a system that is like the old RCA but new, i.e., has the same speaker wire receptacles, has a dvd player, has an AM/FM receiver.

     Does anything like this exist today? Crutchfield is just about worthless, and the minimum wage chuckleheads at Best Buy are really only good at selling gift cards. Gone are the days of walking into Radio Shack and being able to discuss electronics with someone who was actually knowledgeable. Hell, Radio Shack doesn't even exist anymore, but that's a conversation for another post on another forum.

     Your input is greatly appreciated.

[cbr046]

Our "home theater" Sony DVD / CD / AM/FM player with CD changer was also erratic.  I had to take it apart and replace the drive belts.  I bought an assortment of belts off Amazon (or was it eBay?) and just started matching up as close as possible.  Disassembly is a little tricky but not impossible. 

The home theater speakers were good last time I turned the unit on . . . . a long time ago. 

For the in-dash player the cloth suspension in all the ceiling speakers is all rotted out.  No bass, and would distort with any real volume.  @Scotty Hutto bought some nice speakers for his coach . . . .

TV speakers get the most play.  If I run them through the coach sound system I'll be bothering the neighbors, so I don't. 

Going down the road I usually plug in ear buds . . . . typically only when I'm getting tired.  I'm usually driving solo. 

- bob

 

[Adam_C]

For mine I ultimately decided I couldn't find anything that would work and also fit in the cabinet.  The surround speakers being 4 ohm really complicated it.  I ended up just going with a sound bar with a wireless sub.

[nvrtoofast]

On a side note here is a nice overview of RV "happy" dash units. https://www.thervgeeks.com/rv-radio/.

[cbr046]

I ordered a nice all-around unit by Boss, installed it, then discovered how small the numbers and nomenclature were.  I can't read the screen unless I sit on the edge of the seat, use my left foot for the gas (or worse: cruise control) and lean down, with my cheaters on, even with the display.  I'm risk oriented but that's over the limit. 

It has a flip up display but I don't use it enough to go directly to the screens / menus / controls I want.  Actually, I don't use it at all.  Dial up what I want with the phone. 

So make sure you can read the screen at an angle while sitting up high. 

A good Philco AM/FM pushbutton would be nice . . . . 

- bob

[FLynes]

Guys, I’m not talking about the dash radio, I’m talking about the home entertainment system that sits above, in the cabinet.

[cbr046]

Controlling thread content is like herding cats! 

I was responding to the previous post, which obviously deviated (my excuse)

- b

[DavidL]

Upgrade to modern HDMI TV / AV Receiver is the heart of it.  DVD player's are getting old.  The sources to get round discs are getting thin.

Rip, put on a hard drive and store hundreds of movies.  As long as they are movies of your kids, legal 🙂

Use a firetv stick or roku to play movies back and access streamed content (the current way to get to media).

Better to get an external player like a Roku Ultra than to rely on Roku on some low line TVs as the hardware is snappier performance.

 

[waterskier_1]

I don't think you are going to find a similar "home theater" system today - at least not one worth installing.  I did a fair amount of research when my system failed.  I have very limited height available.  I settled on a Marantz 1607 "Ultra Slim" 7.2 Channel A/V Receiver.  It is only a Audio and Video unit, but it is state of the art, with HDMI switching for more devices than you'll likely need.  It will also connect to the internet for Pandora if that's your thing.  All my devices (Dish Network Receiver, Roku, Fire TV, Blu-Ray (also will play the old DVDs) Player and of course the TV.  I use HDMI for all the connections, and the Marantz switches between them and all drives all the speakers.  I'm very happy with the Marantz, but it would require you to purchase a Blu-Ray Player (I don't think you can get a new DVD player, and even if you could, there wouldn't likely be much cost savings).  If you have a newer TV, check if it has ARC which will send the sound track from the TV back to the Marantz for decoding and distribution to the speakers.

  -Rick N 

[Dwight Lindsey]

What I did was measure the cabinet and look for a home theater amp that would fit in the cabinet.  I ended up with a Sony.

The ostensibly "powered" subwoofer that came installed and was somehow related to the RCA amp/DVD changer, was not in fact powered.

I looked around and found a subwoofer that would fit in that cabinet near the kitchen table.  At the time, about 8 or 10 years ago, what I found was a Velodyne Micro V, which happens to be a 1000 watt subwoofer.  If i crank the subwoofer, I can rock an entire row of coaches in the RV park!  I actually have it turned way down and leave it there.  It sounds great.  A friend who makes HIGH END (if you have to ask . . .) home theater speakers gave me the trick to wiring those . . . you don't put the wires in the "subwoofer" connections on the amp.  When I did that, I had a 60 cycle hum.  You put the wires in the regular speaker connections and it works great.

The wires in the cabinet above the driver's head, where the RCA was, are not really long enough to be comfortable.  I built a "house of cards" platform with cardboard boxes on the drivers seat and on the steering wheel with a board across those two stacks of cardboard.  The amp went on the board, about 6 inches in front of the cabinet and I barely had room to get all the wires in place.  Not fun, but it worked.

At the time, I put a DVD player on top of the amp, with Velcro to keep it in place.  I've since removed it and thrown it away, since we don't watch DVDs any more.  We're streaming now, no more satellite or DVD.  Streaming with Starlink, which works great.

My system has been working great, I'm quite content with it.

You'll need to sort out your own needs and do some shopping for current components, which may well be smaller and less power hungry than mine.  I suggest starting by measuring the cabinet that your RCA was in and that your subwoofer is in.  I would then suggest that you shop online looking at the dimensions of the components.

I think any amp from SONY, LG, Yamaha, PIONEER, ONKYO etc. would be fine if it fits in the cabinet. Unfortunately most amps and receivers are 17 inches or more wide and as I recall, that wouldn't fit in my cabinet.

Here's a Marantz that's 11 1/16 inch wide, it'll for sure fit:

Marantz - M-CR612 Network CD Receiver

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-KasvMpN4Xxm/p_642MCR612/Marantz-M-CR612.html?XVINQ=GM0&XVVer=1B7G&awcr=626216979797&awdv=c&awnw=g&awug=1013931&awkw=kwd-692020529173&awmt=p&awat=&gclid=CjwKCAjw3oqoBhAjEiwA_UaLtuiQt1-63IFGWOYcrI-2RwAqhDGpUjp0KugFbtCwGRYwqHwT1Al13xoC_1gQAvD_BwE

Best Buy has that one as well, and I'm sure Amazon does.

If you really want a DVD player, just get a small one and put it on top of the amp.

Dwight

[Bill R]

I have just recently installed the Sony STR-DH590 Multi Channel 5.2 Receiver.  Works great with the old 4-ohm surround speakers.  Connected my TV through the HDMI-ARC and DVD Blu-ray.   No AM, but my dash AM/FM has a switcher to the surround sound.  Also able to stream from the iPhone which the DW loves.

I had to do quite a bit of rearranging of all cables and wires but eventually got it done.   And it really needed to be done anyway.  Eliminating old tech wiring and cabling.  After rearranging everything the unit fits nicely in the drivers seat overhead with plenty of breathing space.  Moved the antenna switcher to the side cabinet along with DVD player.  Bundled and cleaned up remaining wires and cables.

I seriously doubt you can find what you are looking for but can get to a work around.  If you have a subwoofer it was probably powered from the RCA.  To keep a subwoofer you will most likely have to purchase a powered subwoofer.   That is what I had to do.  But a much better subwoofer now if you like the Boom effect.

All the best.  

[1nolaguy]

Electronics and in general A/V equipment has changed so much in recent years that depending on the age of your system repair or replacement options may be limited or even impossible to find. This is especially true for analogue based systems. Today even "old" digital systems can be an issue. Try to find a new compter with CD/DVD drives, especially if it is a laptop.

I initially tried to salvage the OEM system and found Good Will and other "thrift" shops the most promising sources and also the prices were better. Eventually I gave up and chose another path, installing a Mofi 4500 cellular router along with a plex server on a Pi4 platform and a high resolution projector and screen. In the Bedroom we replaced with OEM cathode ray tube TV with a smart TV and the batwing antenna with a King Omni directional. We now get all the media we need and should we be in an area where no signal (OTA or Cellular) We have movies on the plex server as well as DVD originals. The DVD collection were bought during occational visits to thrift stores where they can be found for $1-2 and players can be found for $5-15. We used the original speakers or internal speaker except in the living room where we use a Roku soundbar to provide stereo sound and streaming. It is mounted to the bottom of the cabinet directly below the A/V system and above the sofa. The screen is retractable and mounted on the room slide header across from where we sit.

[Georgia Mike]

I have the Sony system in the front that still works good but the system in the bedroom was taken out so I had to find something. I went to the local thrift store that had a lot of electronics and found this Sony system that is very similar to the one up front. It was like brand new. You just have to fine a unit that has speaker connections on the back. It has worked great and now we have a home theater in the bedroom. 
 

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Georgia Mike

[Guest Ray Davis]

I was in this same quandary a few years ago and Bill G (RIP) mentioned a simple RCA surround system that he liked.  So I put the model # in Ebay and bingo, there it was.  Now it was already obsolete so I bought it, still using it, it's simple and I like that.   In my younger days, I was all into electronic stuff.  Building HiFi equip, & cabinets for tweeters & woofers LOL  hot vacuum tubes.  It was fun but now I can put all of that stuff in my pocket, it's crazy.

Anyway, as I started out to say you can find a lot of that old stuff on eBay.

[FLynes]

4 hours ago, Ray Davis said:

I was in this same quandary a few years ago and Bill G (RIP) mentioned a simple RCA surround system that he liked.  So I put the model # in Ebay and bingo, there it was.  Now it was already obsolete so I bought it, still using it, it's simple and I like that.   In my younger days, I was all into electronic stuff.  Building HiFi equip, & cabinets for tweeters & woofers LOL  hot vacuum tubes.  It was fun but now I can put all of that stuff in my pocket, it's crazy.

Anyway, as I started out to say you can find a lot of that old stuff on eBay.

Yeah, solid state can never compare to 6L6 and 12AX7 tubes, when it comes to great, rich audio, one of the same reasons why CDs can’t even come close to the sound of vinyl. I’m looking at Sony systems on eBay, but I like Dwight’s suggestion of going with Marantz, they were a real powerhouse of sound in the 70’s.

[Dwight Lindsey]

My suggestion of the Marantz was just because it's less than 17 inches wide.  As I recall, in my cabinet where the speaker wires are . . . 17 inch wide receivers don't fit.  At that time, many years ago, I found a Sony that fit.  

[FLynes]

16 minutes ago, Dwight Lindsey said:

My suggestion of the Marantz was just because it's less than 17 inches wide.  As I recall, in my cabinet where the speaker wires are . . . 17 inch wide receivers don't fit.  At that time, many years ago, I found a Sony that fit.  

I just went out to the coach and measured the inside of the cabinet....22" wide by 17.5" deep, so I have some options.

[Martinvz]

If you want a BlueRay player, look at Walmart. I just bought a unit at Walmart for $68 as we had some movies we wanted to watch. These are now old school but still usable. 

[FLynes]

I'm going to hit the thrift stores today and see what they have.

[FLynes]

The thrift shops were a total bust. The first one had some speakers and an 8-track player. The others had dvd players, but nothing I needed. I went home and did more research. My goal in all of this was to try and keep the spirit of what Monaco had installed, but with some modernity added, so I present you the RCA RT2781HB. I bought ours new in the box from Mercari, $185 shipped. Since I won't be using the speakers that are in the box, I'll just resell them on eBay.

The great part about this unit is that it has Bluetooth, so we can stream from our iPhones (or Android, if that's what you have), and it has 3 HDMI inputs, so I can now connect our Dish satellite box and a BluRay player, and it has an HDMI output to go to the TV. The best part is that the original speaker wires will plug right in and work, as if Monaco had installed it themselves, so it won't look out of place, goal accomplished.

I hope the mods can add this somewhere for those owners who want to upgrade their systems and keep the existing speakers and subwoofer. Keep in mind this is for the Monaco coaches that were built with RCA. I know there were coaches built with Sony.

I'll update, after I receive and install the unit.

[waterskier_1]

This looks like an A/V Receiver, without a DVD of Blu-ray player, much like many have recommended, but also was packaged with speakers you don't need, 

  - Rick N 

[Georgia Mike]

I Always look at marketplace on Facebook before I buy anything it’s amazing what you can find. This is near me and I think it’s the same one you bought.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Georgia Mike

[FLynes]

7 hours ago, waterskier_1 said:

This looks like an A/V Receiver, without a DVD of Blu-ray player, much like many have recommended, but also was packaged with speakers you don't need, 

  - Rick N 

That's exactly what it is. No, I don't need the speakers, but the reason I bought it is because it's new. Like I wrote above, I can sell the speakers. Again, what I was looking for was something that would be plug and play with what Monaco installed but also have new features like Bluetooth and HDMI inputs/output. I already have a BluRay player that I'll connect to it, once it arrives.

4 hours ago, Georgia Mike said:

I Always look at marketplace on Facebook before I buy anything it’s amazing what you can find. This is near me and I think it’s the same one you bought.

I don't have Facebook or any other Meta-owned social media. In fact, this forum and the Jeep forum are the only ones I really peruse, the Jeep forum not so much anymore! The price I paid doesn't bother me, because the unit is new in the box. I've been burned enough on eBay with used electronics. Besides, that one you posted doesn't have Bluetooth, the one I bought does, and to me that's a game-changer, as are the HDMI outlets. I'm pretty excited to hook everything up.

Edited September 17, 2023 by FLynes

[Georgia Mike]

Having the Bluetooth is a very nice feature for sure. We never used are original dash radio but after changing it out to a unit with Bluetooth we stream Sirius all the time while traveling now. With all the technology now it seems we are always upgrading something in the Motorhome but it is fun to do.

[FLynes]

2 hours ago, Georgia Mike said:

Having the Bluetooth is a very nice feature for sure. We never used are original dash radio but after changing it out to a unit with Bluetooth we stream Sirius all the time while traveling now. With all the technology now it seems we are always upgrading something in the Motorhome but it is fun to do.

Mike, is your dash radio 1.5din? Ours still has the original Magnadyne and I'd like to switch that out eventually with something newer too. What dash radio did you end up getting?