Furrion vs Jensen is either better than the other?

[cschaerli]

Hello, Just purchased my first real camper, Imagine 2150. Love it so far. One thing I have been wanting to do is toss the Jensen head unit it came with. Playback on DVDs is pretty poor and sound is about the same. I have been looking at Furrion specifically the DV1220 or the Jensen JWM90a. Both have HDMI out which I have to feel is going to be a bit better on the DVD and I will switch the RCA connections over to output from the TV back to the stereo. I can also plug an apple tv or something like a gaming console into the HDMI in if I want to do that. So far all reviews I have found for both vendors/products are pretty abysmal. I would really like to keep the 12v and not have to go to an inverter. Anyone have any constructive recommendations?

[TheGuy]

You sound exactly like me about two months ago. First camper, and shocked at how bad a stereo/DVD player can be in 2019.

From my research neither is much better, I was looking at the furion 3100 (iirc) as a replacement and for the cost ($200+), I couldn't find any evidence that it would make much difference. I definitely want Blu-ray and there just isn't a head unit that has that. I decided that if I had to use an external player, that this head unit would just be for audio/BT. So, I set about trying to make that better.

The first weekend we had it I realized that stock speakers were 5.25", paper cone, 1-way little pieces of garbage. So after Mass, I got some inexpensive JBL 6.5" 2-way speakers at Best Buy. The 3-ways would have probably sounded better, but were over $100 (self-imposed limit to avoid marital chagrin) and I didn't want to spend that much. During that install, I found (among other things) one speaker that was wired out of phase. (See note below) That speaker change and wiring fix helped the sound a lot. Miraculous?...No. But it sounds adequate for "roughing it".

Last week, I fed the TV sound back into the jensen head unit via aux2 on the back. This let's me have sound from the TV and it's peripherals through the stereo. The big downside there is needing to use 2 remotes unless I get a harmony remote or something.

That's about all I could do for sound. A small amp wouldn't hurt and may happen later, but with only 2-6.5" speakers I cannot expect miracles.

As for picture quality... Yeah... Not much I can do about that without head unit swap. I have a buddy giving me an old Blu-ray player that I will use instead. I can hook it up via HDMI and the sound will feed from the TV to the head unit. I also have a retropie and plan to get another Roku to use in the camper. That will fill up my 3 HDMI ports, but is about the most optimal solution that doesn't involve swapping another mediocre head unit in.

Note: When replacing the speakers, don't trust the wire colors for how to wire it. Pull the head unit from the wall, and find out what wire they used for each leg. On the left-side speaker the wires were reversed at the head unit side but "correct" (meaning to standard) at the speaker. On the right-side speaker, the wiring was correct all the way through.



I know that's long but it's 0430h and I cannot sleep...



Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[cschaerli]

Thanks for the tip on the speakers. I did want to go after them as well, but I figured one project at a time.
There was something else I noticed on DVD playback on the Jensen. It seemed to pause momentarily from time to time on playback. I was thinking it might be at a chapter break. I have seen some mention of folks having playback issues in general. I was wondering if that was a universal thing or more specific to brand or unit. It is kind of crazy for technology that has been around for 10+ years to be glitchy like that. At end of the day I might be better off just doing Apple TV or Roku into tv and just feed audio into Jensen unit. I do like the idea of a soundbar as others have mentioned. It just becomes a space issue in the cabinet.

[TheGuy]

You're welcome. These are the ones I got if memory serves.

I have noticed that same pause/glitch in playback on occasion as well. It's not uncommon for players to do that once in the middle of a movie while it switches layers of the disc (a very neat technology, if you're bored), but like you I've seen it all throughout playback. One time it started playing the audio with just a black screen. It wouldn't respond to any controls except the power button, either. That was fun.

I considered the soundbar approach as well and in my 2600rb there might be enough room for a small one underneath the TV (>32"), but I doubt anyone makes one that size that sounds any better. Plus my "Can't Leave Well Enough Alone (CLWEAS) Syndrome" will lead to a subwoofer and surround speakers, and, and, and...

[Second Chance]

Full disclosure: former musician, sound reinforcement guy, and life-long audiophile - so my opinions on A/V related stuff start off with quite a bit of pre-prejudice.

I'll have to agree with TheGuy in that the electronics installed in any entry- to mid-level RV (regardless of manufacturer) are pretty much junk. Since we were going full-time and my transmission line speakers and high end (stereo only) amplifier were going into storage, I knew I wouldn't be happy living in the RV with the stock A/V system - and it sounded pretty bad, too. My solution was to install a Polk Audio sound bar with sub-woofer for the audio output end. The TV was replaced with a good Samsung unit (plenty of HDMI inputs) connected to the sound bar with a digital optical link. Connected to the TV via HDMI only are an aftermarket DVD player, the Dish receiver/DVR, and an Amazon Fire Stick for streaming. Everything except the Fire Stick is controlled with a single Logitech Harmony remote. We've never listened to music outside with previous RVs (not polite to other campers in most situations) and have an Echo in the bedroom if we want to stream anything up there. The sound in the main living area is extremely good - not what I was used to in the house - but good enough for even picky old me.

Rob