Speaker wiring

[Half Fast Rusty]

Took delivery of our 2016 352HC on New Years Eve and have been methodically going through systems to make sure everything is working before we make our trek down to Arizona for Spring Training. Today we found something that is a bit discouraging with the sound system. My son was looking at our sound bar to see if it could be upgraded. He took out the fireplace to access the screws that hold the sound bar in place and found that only the left channel wires were hooked up to zones B & C. Kind of weird since both speakers in the bedroom and outside work. After a few checks, we discovered that both speakers are playing only the left channel and not stereo. There are no right channel wires to hook to the sound bar.

So, I thought maybe some of you folks out there that have played with these things a bit more than I might have some knowledge on the wiring of the speaker systems. Where are the speaker wires routed through the coach and how is it possible to have both speakers hooked up to only one channel.

I don't have time to have the rig looked at by the dealer before we leave for Arizona. And if I have to I can wait until we get back to have them look at it. I am really not excited about having the trailer torn up to place a couple of speaker wires, but on the other hand we spent a lot of money and everything should be working.

Any ideas?

[Half Fast Rusty]

Ah, stumped you all? I think what I'm going to do in the interim, maybe permanently, is find some way to make zones B & C monaural so both channels make it to the speakers. I can't tell if it is stereo anyway in those zones. I would like all the sound to hit the speakers, however. I think somebody at the factory took a shortcut on the original wiring. I can't imagine them only hooking up one channel on purpose or by design. Fortunately for me it isn't a critical system. Oh, and apparently the HC doesn't come with a subwoofer behind the fireplace like in some models.

If anybody has any better ideas, let me know. I will probably at some time upgrade the sound system in the living room anyway.

[BB_TX]

Is this s 5.1 sound system? And does the sound system have speaker terminals for left front, right front, middle, left rear, right rear, and sub woofer?

Or is it just a basic stereo system? And only the left channel connected?

[bigskyjimmy]

I got a bad feeling on the High Country's they use the cheap Furrion or Jensen Systems ,if that is the case good luck to ya I have a friend with a Grand Designs 5er that has that Junk and they are Notorious for screwing up one way or another his has been replaced 3 times on warranty for one problem or another,now he just gave up because he could not get the sound right out of the speakers and it sounded Horrible or just no sound at all so he gutted it and put in a Bose sound bar and that helped but he is still trying to find a way to replace the Jensen receiver for a Sony etc..

[Half Fast Rusty]

Unfortunately, the system is just a basic Jensen sound bar. The TV hooks into it which is only marginally better than the tv speakers to begin with. The system is not what has me talking to myself. It looks like that only one channel (left) has been attached to the stereo speakers in zones B and C (bedroom and outside). Both speakers play the left channel. My son was looking at the system to see what it would take to upgrade it to something with some decent sound when we made the discovery. We will probably upgrade eventually, but without two sets of wires to the speakers, it looks like I may have to settle for monaural sound in the zones outside the living room. A wiring diagram would be helpful to see what it is supposed to look like. Either way, not much is likely to happen before we get back from Spring Training so I have some time to study the problem and think about what I should do. Also how hard I should push the warranty issue.

[jcurtis934]

I would look at the sonos systems. They have the best wireless speaker fidelity, according to a report I read. John

[BB_TX]

Never used one, but there are stereo to mono converters available that provide both left and right sound to the mono output(s).

[bncinwv]

If it was my new rig, I would definitely be having the fix done by the dealer under warranty.
Bingo

[Half Fast Rusty]

Thanks everybody. Yes, Bingo, I agree, I will at least put them on notice for warranty. What I do from there may depend on how much they have to tear into the trailer to run two wires. I'd like to find a wiring diagram so I know where the speaker wires go and where whoever did the wiring, may have brought the two speakers together for the one channel. If that is down below and not up in the wall someplace, it may be easy to run the right channel wire to that point and hook it up. Does this kind of wiring run in some kind of conduit or is it part of the whole house wire loom? Then hooking up a sub-woofer to the current sound bar should improve its sound so this current system will last me at least one season.

After reading some of the horror stories about stuff that isn't right in new rigs, I'm thankful this is not a critical system where everything is going to get wet or worse.