Surround Sound - Montana Owners Club

Montana_5701 · 06-11-2006, 02:13 PM

Anybody having issues with the surround sound ? I have put in a DVD that I knew was capable but not getting the full effects including the sub woofer.. I seem to be missing the owners manual for the DVD/Home Theater system.

indy roadrunner · 06-11-2006, 02:31 PM

I have the same question MPRay - I am going back to the day after Fathers day to have a TrailAir king pin installed and I am going to ask some very difficult questions on this same issue. I have not been able to get my two speakers over the dinette and couch to work.

richfaa · 06-11-2006, 02:58 PM

I don't know how Helen did it but the quest system works perfectly,,surround sound and all.However you have to sit on a chair in the exact center of the living room in the 3400 in order to get the effect..move 6 inches in any direction and it is gone,,We also got a full set of instruction manuals.The stack must be 8 inches high . They filled up a entire drawer in the island kitchen.. While you are there ask them what madman designed the FM/DVD/ TV/ cable/ Sat switching system.. I fooled with it nearly all day today..it is diabolical.

Montana_5701 · 06-11-2006, 03:09 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

I don't know how Helen did it but the quest system works perfectly,,surround sound and all.However you have to sit on a chair in the exact center of the living room in the 3400 in order to get the effect..move 6 inches in any direction and it is gone,,We also got a full set of instruction manuals.The stack must be 8 inches high . They filled up a entire drawer in the island kitchen.. While you are there ask them what madman designed the FM/DVD/ TV/ cable/ Sat switching system.. I fooled with it nearly all day today..it is diabolical.

.................................................. ...................

Well while this is true for the wiring for the satellite / cable they could have made it simpler. It was just by trial and error that we got the satellite working. Generally I will use my satellite over the cable (if any) available at the campgrounds provided I can get a good line of view for the satellite. It seems that a system could have been designed with s single switch to swap from satellite,cable or antenna. As far as the surround sound, we also do not het any sound from the speakers over the dinette area but do get sound in the speaker in the bedroom. A lot of good that does sitting in the living room area..

Montana_1240 · 06-11-2006, 03:42 PM

You never mentioned the brand of your system. If it's Quest, (because I've had a Quest 1000,) I know that there are a bazillion different ways the speakers could have been set up out of the box, and only a few will make all the speakers function properly.

You might want to contact your dealer for a brochure to cover that system. I don't believe Quest has a web presence, though. And heard they had trouble getting anyone to respond to the phone number in what manuals there were to be had.

If you dare, try going into the set-up screen for Audio, and push a few buttons.

Don't ever push the "PS button on the remote, if you have a Toshiba TV, though. The Toshibas we've had die if you feed them with a Progressive Scan DVD output! It's a no-no in the Toshiba manual.

Steve

Montana Sky · 06-11-2006, 03:56 PM

mp-ray,
I found the following changes to really improve the Quest system.

On your remote you will see a channel button by your volume buttons. Hit that button, it will bring up each zone one at a time. I increase the volume to the FL(front left) FR(front right) Cen(center) to volume 3. I increase the volume on the SL(surround left), SR (surround right) to volume 6. On the SUB(subwoofer) to volume 2. After you have set all the speakers to the volume(it is actually the output level from the receiver) to the number of your choice, continue to hit the channel button until the dvd player says "All" w/ a number - might say something like "All 3", this is the main volume for all 6 speakers. After I get those adjusted, on the remote below the volume button is the bass and treble buttons. I run the treble to "6" and the bass to "2". There are also options under the menu that will help as well. I am not at the coach this weekend, need it infront of me to go into them. Let me know if you would like that info and I would be happy to go through that for you. I am on my 3rd Quest unit, if this does not hold up, I will be upgrading...

Driftwoodgal · 06-11-2006, 06:05 PM

mp-ray,

I am not sure of the manufacturer of our system, but I can say that on our 3400RL some of the wires were on the short side so the speakers couldn't work. You might have a problem with the speakers because you don't have power to them. We are still finding out things on our purchase so I don't want to post a negative that shouldn't be. We aren't big electronic people so Keystone might get a pass when they shouldn't be.

JH Sechelt · 06-11-2006, 07:31 PM

I changed our Quest sound system to a Samsung. When I was taking the Quest unit out, I noticed that the rear Left speaker was wired together with the front left speaker. The right side was the same. I don't know why because there was a place for the rear speakers to hook up to the unit on their own. You have to pull the unit out to see how it is wired.

J&D

Lije Baley · 06-11-2006, 08:13 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Lije Baley

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by JH Sechelt

I noticed that the rear Left speaker was wired together with the front left speaker. The right side was the same. I don't know why because there was a place for the rear speakers to hook up to the unit on their own.

Our Quest 2000 was had the same wiring of the surround with the front speakers. My guess is that it was done so the surrounds always were active (making noise). Some people probably prefer to use the surrounds as main speakers allowing them to hear the signal where they are sitting.

After rewiring the surrounds properly, I was able to get the receiver to send a pro-logic (surround) signal properly for DVDs. [It won't do it for satellite programs, even though I'm sending the audio signal to the receiver.] The manual was no help. I had to go into the receiver's on-screen setup menu and poke around the audio options. It's not too difficult and did improve the sound some.

I'm still bidding on a refurbished receiver on e-bay and have already bought a set of five used smallish speakers to replace the Quest product. With the 2955 layout there is no good way to place the front speakers to obtain adequate separation between them. When I'm in the Montana I'm supposed to be getting away from it all. So why am I worrying about satellite reception and surround sound?

syplace · 06-12-2006, 12:17 AM

Go into the archives & search "surround sound" Quest. You will find step by step set up. It worked for us. I think it was posted July 04.

richfaa · 06-12-2006, 02:38 AM

Well they must of accidentally wired ours correctly or maybe the college student worker that was doing it that day was a electronics major The sat inputs work once you figure out which is which...Of course when on Sat nothing else works because the antenna booster is off. Would like to see the wireing behind the walls before I scrap the whole system and design one that suits us..mp-ray..the switch idea is a good one and would do it If I could only figure out how to hook it into the present system withour tearing the walls down.. Oh well..that's Rv life///

Parrothead · 06-12-2006, 05:28 AM

Maybe we got lucky. We changed to a Sony system - keeping the speakers that came with the Monty. They all work. When we are on Satellite we can still play the radio or FM or AM without turning the booster on. The booster seems to have no effect on the radio. But then we are not sending a satellite signal to the bedroom either - would that make a difference. My complaint right now on the 3400 is this is a big cupboard and they didn't even try to make the wires neat. I'm trying to figure out a way to utilize all that space.
Happy trails..........................

Montana Sky · 06-12-2006, 08:02 AM

Sue,
Just throw everything in there. That cupboard is huge plus you get the bonus if you fill it up, you hide all the cables. =)

richfaa · 06-12-2006, 08:51 AM

When we are on Sat and I turn the antenna booster ON we lose everything bedroom and Living area.. If We can get the booster out of the CKT when on Sat with a A/B switch I think we will be Ok..I have the print but We are leery as to its accuracy.

Montana_1240 · 06-12-2006, 10:42 AM

Rich,

If you have a fireplace under your TV, you should be able to see some more of the wiring that is behind the wall of the entertainment center by pulling the fireplace out.

Reason I know this is because I was tired of either being able to use the single satellite feed from the outside, and have to use a second through the window, to feed the two inputs on our TiVO. When I pulled out the fireplace, I saw how easy it was to drill through the slide’s wall to install the separate dual satellite feed plate. So, now I have two feeds from the dish, directly to the TiVO, and the rest of the house is connected to the standard Monty wiring so I can watch either cable or use the antenna with the amp.

Reason the amp kills your satellite feed is because it doesn’t have a direct DC path, once the amp is on. And the dish’s LNB is powered by the DC from your receiver.

Keystone did an admirable job of wiring a standard system for most users. They just didn’t allow for folks who might want to use two satellite feeds, or a satellite feed and still use either cable or antenna.

You can get around it by double checking how the wiring runs in your Monty, and installing a set of A/B Switches to make it work. In fact, one of those big switches they sell at CW, for instance, might be a workaround for such a situation. They have internal amps that would negate the need for turning on your bedroom amp. You’d still have to alter the way the wiring goes, behind your TV. But it probably would work.

I just found it much easier to avoid that, get my two dish feeds, and still leave the Monty wiring pristine, for any future owner by adding my own feeds.

I might eventually mess around a bit more and see if and how the “CABLE” input works on my TiVO, to see if I can use the TiVO to switch from satellite viewing to cable viewing, without using the A/B switch I have in my entertainment center.

Also, as for all that room in the area above the TV? Be happy! I filled mine up! Even with the new Sony sub-woofer moved to behind the fireplace, I have the VCR, TiVO, Home Theater System, bundles of cable, a wireless headphone transmitter, A/B Switch, Surge-Protected Power Strip, a flashlight for poking around in that area, large digital clock, a switch for flipping the headphone transmitter from TV sound to DVD sound, and some VHS tapes and DVDs sitting in mine. I still have room for more!

Steve

Montana_5701 · 06-12-2006, 01:12 PM

Well I am finding out that my front speakers and the bedroom speakers are tied to the living room TV.. I think I may find out that my bedroom TV may be tied into the speakers over the sofa and dining table..

Montana_1240 · 06-12-2006, 01:24 PM

If you have a home theater system in that rig, the bedroom speakers are probably “Speaker B” on the unit, and can be turned off and on by using the home theater system’s controls.

If they’re tied into a boom box, then there’s likely a on/off switch near the bedroom speakers.

And, if you can hear the living room’s TV sound through them, without the home theater system being on, and set to “TV Audio,” your house is wired in an extremely unique fashion.

Sorry if I don’t recall what each of you has in your house, but unless it’s specifically mentioned in a post, it’s hard to design a reply that fits.

As for the rear home theater speakers? You have to have a surround sound compatible DVD in the thing, (or use the controls to set the various speaker functions on, and volume up,) before you will hear much out of them.

Steve

richfaa · 06-12-2006, 02:42 PM

Do not have the fireplace and the wiring is behind the Tv set..We are going to tear that out Tomorrow and see what goes on behind there. .We have the dual feed on our dish and eventually we will run a separate line back to the bedroom TV.I don't think we have ever used cable..we always set up the sat and we would like to be able to use the sat in the living area and be able to hear the radio in the bedroom or visa versa. I know I can make it work and probably have the parts in my electronic pieces/parts bin.. Helen had no trouble setting up the quest system ..Everything works as It should. When it breaks we will put in a better system.

Montana_1240 · 06-12-2006, 03:01 PM

Rich,

If you don’t have the fireplace, then you will have to pull off the back wall of the cupboard that’s under there. (I think that’s what’d be there instead of a fireplace.)

On mine, behind the fireplace, there were a couple of holes cut into the paneling that showed a space between that and the outside wall of the slide. I saw how the cables dropped down from up where they have the connector panels behind the home theater system. And seeing that I had plenty of space allowed me to drill a couple hoes through the slide to install the twin satellite feeds.

I ran the feeds up to where I drilled hole next to the existing connection panels, and plugged them right into my TiVO.

If you want to get an idea of how it works, all you need do is to unscrew the connector panels behind the home theater system. The holes are big enough, and there’s enough slack cable that you can pull the cables up a bit to see that they run down the side of the slide. One will go to the outside cable connection, and the other two will run to the bedroom amp connection panel.

If you want to feed the bedroom TV, I think you already mentioned how you can come in below the nose piece, below one of your cabinets. The existing cable runs up the nose piece and into the ceiling, where it drops down by the slide to go into the bundle that runs along that flat plastic cable support between the frame and the outside edge of the slide. Trying to follow that routing would be next to impossible. Running it to a panel outside or below the nose piece would be my bet for feeding a separate satellite receiver in there.

I’m addicted to TV, so if there’s cable, I will plug into it, just for local stations. If no cable, I want to be able to use the antenna on the bedroom TV so we can watch local stations. Handy when there are storm warnings to be heard. Satellite TV is useless for those, unless you have the local stations on satellite. (Not available here in southeastern Alabama.)

About the only time we use the bedroom TV is when I’m up there and taking a shower or getting a shave. The wife doesn’t watch it.

Our Sony home theater system doesn’t have any auxiliary outputs, so the bedroom speakers are now useless. I would have liked to have them since with this system, and the antenna that came with it, it can pick up some radio stations. Unlike the old Quests we’ve had with that useless 75 Ohm cable adapter “antenna” thingy. I was able to run the single wire antenna lead to the slide wall and drop it down behind the paneling.

Steve

Lije Baley · 06-12-2006, 05:31 PM

Steve, I've got some of questions.

We've got a 2955. The TV is, however, mounted very similarly to yours. Unfortunately there is no molding to the left of the TV, as the slide covers it. The cabinet above the TV is also much smaller. There is room for an decent receiver and our tivo in the cabinet below the TV, while a dvd player can go where the Quest unit is now located. Here's a picture from a dealer's website (with a newer TV).
http://www.greshamrv.com/inventory/d...?productid=437.
I'm replacing the Quest and the speakers. The left speaker will go on the window curtain box behind the dining chair. The right speaker will mount to beside the TV where we can hit it each time we use the stairs.

Where did you find the facia board to replace the one that held the original three speakers? And how hard was the replacement to do without damaging the surrounding cabinet?

Right now I'm only using one lnb from my satellite dish, and its signal goes to both sets with the booster turned off. After you installed direct connections for both lnbs to your Tivo, do both the satellite and cable signal go to both TVs without switching? Getting behind the TV to access the video input connections in my unit would be a major chore.

Don't you wish the Montana old world craftsmen cared more about TV? At least our newer units have satellite wiring which the older ones lacked, not allowing the dc at all. Just wait until customers want to see HDTV with 16x9 sets...

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