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Old 06-08-2008, 02:20 AM   #1
Lambchop
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Surround Sound System??

We purchased a 2008 Mountaineer in the fall of 2007. It was advertised in the brochure & online, that it had DVD & AM FM Surround. Even the sales person stated it was surround sound, because it had 4 speakers in the main area. You could not hear much separation in sound, just right & left.
I took it back to the dealer because there was NO surround sound. Also the speakers were sounding fuzzy & distorted. The technician said all the mountaineer's sound this way. It was normal, because it's not a 'SONY'. It a cheap unit that they put in! $40,000 for what!!
To make a long story short, I took it home . After checking out this system, this what I found:
1. Both right side speakers were wired together...same with the left speakers. You only have stereo...nothing else.
2. The right front speaker was the fuzzy speaker..really bad. The tech said this was normal?? I installed a spare speaker of equal value & it at least sounds 100% better now, but still no surround.
3. Also, the outside speakers were wired wrong..left was right & etc.

All I can say about the system is it is FALSE Advertising!
Sombody please wake up at Keystone.

Lambchop
 
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Old 07-01-2008, 08:59 AM   #2
Lambchop
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UPDATE:

Just got an email from Keystone on this Jensen DVD Player.
What I got is what I have, they can change anything they want to during the manufacture of units.
I don't think it's worth $5
I really don't think they want to put too much value in their units.
I had two SOB's & the factory bent over backwards for me. I'm not a constant griper about things I buy....I just want was promised to me.
Otherwise, the unit we have is good.
I will be careful on buying the next 5th wheel!

My two cents,

Lambchop
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Old 07-01-2008, 11:07 AM   #3
Mrs. CountryGuy
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Mountaineer and Montana (Big Sky and Cambridge) all specialize is what we call "running changes". This can be a good thing, as when they moved the water pump switch in the 3295 (Montana) from the back of the unit where you could not turn on the water pump while the slides were in, like when you are toting and want to flush the toilet. One day they changed where that pump switch was in the unit, problem solved. Running change.

If they cannot get vendor parts, I am sure they change too, so, rather than not put in any cd player, or dvd, or whatever, they will change vendors.

Same with furniture, we were the extremely happy recipients of the chairs with the lift seat with storage. Just weeks, like 2 or 3???, we would not have received these, we love em, yep, we were happy.

SOOO, it can work for you or against you depending on what running change you are affected by and if you like it or now.
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Old 08-08-2008, 03:39 AM   #4
KathyandDave
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Surround is Surround. Look on the back of the receiver unit. You should see at least 6 speaker connections (i.e., 12 wire holes): Front Left, Front Right, Centre, Subwoofer, Rear Left and Rear Right. The labels may just be acronyms (FR, FL, etc.), but 6 is the number. If there are two more channels, they are for the bedroom speakers that you may or may not have.

You should have 5 speakers for surround: left, centre, right, left rear and right rear and you should have a wire pair (two copper conductors) for each speaker - no joining or twisting. You may or may not have a subwoofer. Strictly speaking, it's not required for surround, but is required for 5.1 (it's the .1).

To test for surround performance, you must use a DVD of a modern movie, preferably with special sound effects. I recommend Gladiator or a similar Hollywood blast-fest. THe sounds are easy to discern and separate.

The speakers should ALL sound clear at low volume. Even if you are not experienced with sound, your ears aren't lying to you and you CAN tell the difference. At high volume, the receiver doesn't have the horses to haul a big load or go fast, so the sound will get fuzzy if you push it, but all of the speakers should respond fairly uniformly.

I had to fiddle a bit with our Montana's receiver's settings to get the speakers to all make sound. The receiver is very under-powered and the speakers aren't great, but they are all clear at low volume, so Keystone hasn't sold us short. I have yet to investigate whether the wiring is all in-polarity (i.e., (+) to (+) and (-) to (-) terminals).

If you want a more theatre-style experience, you may want to change the components out for a more powerful setup with a brand name. They are pretty inexpensive these days at Best Buy, etc. and you can re-use the existing surround wiring, as long as it's there, of course.

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Old 08-08-2008, 04:13 AM   #5
Lambchop
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Kathy & Dave,
Yes, I know what 5.1 surround is....I do NOT have it in my Mountaineer. It is a Jensen DVD...ONLY Right & Left speaker hookups. It is a glorified stereo setup from Keystone. I have contacted them twice & now they don't even reply to me. So much for customer service!!
I guess I should have bought a real Montana!!

Lambchop
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Old 08-08-2008, 04:51 AM   #6
SlickWillie
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Low bid perhaps? We have the Memorex in our Mountaineer; it's a piece of crap. Popped and bit the dust just a few days ago. Second one for us. The original never did work.
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Old 08-08-2008, 04:52 AM   #7
JimF
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Lambchop, we bought a "real" Montana and got a brand X surround sound that was of such poor quality that it was worthless. I took the system out and replaced it with a Samsung that interfaces with our up-graded 1080I Samsung 32" Flatscreen. The factory wiring was used for the rear speakers, which worked out well. I pulled the beadroom speaker wires into the Bdrm TV cabinet and hooked them to it. All in all we are now happy and have a full 1000 watts of quality surround sound. Don't expect to much on the base OEM stuff, it is the cheapest available. Shouldn't be that way, it just is.
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Old 08-08-2008, 05:03 AM   #8
KathyandDave
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Since this is the Hey Montana section, I figured I would make it clear that some people out here do know the difference between surround and a hole in the ground and can support the argument technically. I don't know much about tire pressures (still learning), but I do know a bit about audio, so if I can help clear the fog, I will.

As to the point that features and changes are done on the fly, I believe that Keystone has the right to make improvements and lateral changes on the fly, but that they should live up to the promises made, i.e., surround is surround. Moving the location of a device, OK. Deleting or disabling the device without telling the customer, not OK.

I appreciate that, with the changes we see in the market, Keystone may want to de-content the Mountaineer to make it more affordable, however, if a Mountaineer is ordered with a promised feature set, the customer should get the features.
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Old 08-08-2008, 05:23 AM   #9
Lambchop
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Thanks, everybody for your input....I guess I'll bite the bullet & upgrade on my dollar.
The two previous 5th wheels we had, did have 5.1 surround. They were a mid- profile type & yes a little cheaper.
When you have a good system & then get a piece of crap.....well you know how we feel.
Otherwise, the Mountaineer is a outstanding unit...we love it.
Everything else in the trailer works excellent. The 'Olivea' HD LCD TV is great!
Have a nice day everybody,

Lambchop......Roy & Kay
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