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  1. #1
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    Radio C/d player and speaker replacement

    We have a 2018 GD 310GK and the radio and speakers leave MUCH to be desired. The AM radio will NOT pickup the signal of a local 50,000 watt AM radio station when we are a mere 26 miles from their transmission tower. CD Customer Service says that is normal??? And the speakers sound terrible, and I am not sure one even works. Radio replacement looks easy - especially since we are only interested in an AM/FM radio with CD player. But the existing wiring to the speakers is so fine and light that I want to replace it. Has anyone rewired their speakers without dropping the ceiling panels? Can I attach the new heavier speaker wire to the existing speaker wires and just pull it through the ceiling to the existing speaker locations or radio? I am concerned I will break the existing wiring and be out of luck. Can anyone make a suggestion or report on how they accomplished this task? Many thanks!

  2. #2
    Site Team traveldawg's Avatar
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    I don't listen to the radio much, actually hardly ever. But I agree - both the radio and speakers leave a lot to be desired.

    My solution is to either bluetooth my phone into my sound bar or an external, portable bluetooth speaker. It seems that just about any broadcast station can be received via the internet these days. Tomorrow I'll be listening to Atlanta's WSB while here in New Mexico.

    As far as wires, if you want to change out the radio and speakers I'd suggest just doing that to begin with. Then, if you think it will help, consider how you might change the wires. Not sure what would be involved, but I doubt you could use the existing ones as a "pull string".
    Larry KE4DMG
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  3. #3
    Rolling Along OurNewEra's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joel H View Post
    We have a 2018 GD 310GK and the radio and speakers leave MUCH to be desired. The AM radio will NOT pickup the signal of a local 50,000 watt AM radio station when we are a mere 26 miles from their transmission tower. CD Customer Service says that is normal??? And the speakers sound terrible, and I am not sure one even works. Radio replacement looks easy - especially since we are only interested in an AM/FM radio with CD player. But the existing wiring to the speakers is so fine and light that I want to replace it. Has anyone rewired their speakers without dropping the ceiling panels? Can I attach the new heavier speaker wire to the existing speaker wires and just pull it through the ceiling to the existing speaker locations or radio? I am concerned I will break the existing wiring and be out of luck. Can anyone make a suggestion or report on how they accomplished this task? Many thanks!
    I agree with you on the audio system. I'm not unhappy with the Jensen head unit. It works fine but I don't listen to am/fm so I can't speak to that. I did try changing my speakers to some better Kenwood coaxial (2-way) speakers. The results were not good. I actually took the new ones out and put the old ones back. My conclusion on the speakers is that I don't care what brand or quality of 5-1/4 inch speaker you put in it will not sound good. Two reasons - The 'room' is too big and the speaker 'cabinet' is the entire attic of the trailer.

    As @traveldawg mentioned, if you want to change the speakers I would try the new ones before you go to all the trouble of running new wiring. The existing wiring will be sufficient to run a sound test. If you do end up changing the wiring I would attach a string to the end of the existing and pull the string (or two) in. Use the string to pull in the new wiring. The existing wiring should come right through I doubt they staple it down which would be the only thing that would keep it from pulling through.

    As for your radio reception, I would recommend checking ALL your antenna connections. I did with my TV coax and there were several points where the cables were not tight.

    I think your best sound option is going to be a sound bar if you want 'home audio' quality. If you don't need the 12 volt then you may want to consider a Bose (or other) table top radio/cd player. I just know the Bose table top unit sounds great.

    My next move on my trailer audio is probably going to be a Sonos blue tooth speaker.
    Mike & Lisa
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  4. #4
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    The OEM wiring is sufficient for the power output of the OEM head unit - replacing the wiring will not improve anything. The basic issue is that the OEM head units are not audiophile quality. An infinite baffle system (the speakers in the ceiling) is actually not a bad setup since the purpose of a speaker box is to isolate the back wave of the speaker from the front wave. In a small speaker box (unless a sealed unit), the porting must be tuned to maximize the low frequency output, but the mounting/box has little to do with high frequencies. So, replacing the OEM speakers with good ones in the ceiling would be fine... if the head unit were any good. But, as @OurNewEra said, a 5-1/4" speaker is what it is (which is why sound bar and automobile installations include a sub-woofer).

    I replaced everything with a Polk Audio sound bar (with sub-woofer) and run everything through that - don't use the OEM system at all. A search of the forum (upper right on the page) will result in a number of threads discussing this.

    Rob
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  5. #5
    Site Sponsor Petrovsky's Avatar
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    Here is my take on this. Firstly the wires to the speakers should be adequate as long as your not piping 100A RMS through there! And you wouldn't anyways. Do replace the speakers as the stock ones are not that great. The Jensen radio is certainly not the greatest so you could replace this. The poor radio reception is from the antenna. If you really want great reception then unplug the antenna wire, purchase a car antenna and install on the rig. I was listening to a local FM radio station in my driveway (I live in Montreal so close to the station) and went to turn on the fan in the galley...guess what....the signal attenuated. I played with my hand position and I could partially block the signal going to the antenna from inside the RV. How this could happen...don't ask as I have no idea and it defies logic when you consider that the pickup is on top of the trailer.

    In my previous trailer, it had a car antenna (on spring), I replace the dead Jensen with a Kenwood unit (not top of line) and replaced the speakers. Enjoyed blue tooth connectivity and much better sound. In Ontario, I could pick up quite a few US stations. With the new trailer....cannot. And this from the same site at the same campground.
    Pierre & Tara

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  6. #6
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    I'm almost to the point that I wish they'd just cut these systems out of the RV entirely. The speakers are very poor quality, they really don't sound any better than my TV's speakers. We ended up buying a cheap Blu-Ray player for about $50 for rainy days because it's so hard to find straight DVDs anymore. As for the radio, I've used it to listen to a ball game or two and that's about it. If I want to listen to something while outside the camper I just use a bluetooth speaker and connect it to my phone.

    Going to a higher gauge wire shouldn't be needed. You're not making a huge run. Head unit upgrades are out there, but there aren't a ton. Most of the offerings from Crutchfield look to be Furrion or Jensen and I don't know if they're of any better quality than what is already there. Plus, they won't fix the antenna issue. If you want better speakers outside, the good thing is there are tons of available marine speakers that will fit the bill, but they'll likely require some cutting to make them fit.
    Last edited by pilotpip; 01-09-2022 at 07:26 PM.

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