Dandy
NorthEast
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Joined: 04/13/2007
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I am looking for options to replace my Concertone System. If there are any ideas or recomendations it would be helpful.
My latest problem is that the main surround speakers excluding the bedroom and outdoor speakers are staticky mixed with the regular sound.
The dealer says the Concertone warranty will not cover "electrical" problems like I am having. What a response!!!
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JudoJeff
Southwick, MA
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I don't know anything about a Concertone but most static is caused by poor/no grounding and poor connections. Try tightening and grounding everything and the problem might go away.
If it's only one set of speakers, re-solder the connections. Might be a cold solder joint.
K1BE Jeff
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cenley
NJ
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Joined: 09/18/2006
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If you are under warranty then try contacting Jeff Richardson @ Forest River. I had problems with my Concertone and I was only 1 month from warranty running out the dealer gave me the run around etc.... Contacted Jeff & he had me ship my system back to him and he sent me out a new Concertone head unit & a new Flat Panel LCD TV instead of the LCD monitor I had. Now I can get HDTV signals via the batwing antenna.
If you have never had you Concertone head unit out of the wall you should remove it and look at the rats nest of wiring in there. I would be willing to bet your problem could be solved by taking all of their connections apart and making sure they are tight and correct.
jrichardson@forestriverinc.com
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handye9
Park City, IL 60085
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I have the Flagstaff version of that floor plan. Yes, there really is a rats nest of wiring behind the head unit. All the connections are made with twist on wire nuts. Over time, and with all the vibration and bouncing down the raod, they can and do, loosen up.
I got tired of looking for loose wire nuts (three times) and replaced them all with a terminal strip. Now all the connections are made by a screw with a bit of locktite. No more loose wires.
There's a picture in my mods (link below).
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Dandy
NorthEast
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I have already re-did ALL the connections. The problem is clearly in the unit and I do not want to open it up and re-do any connections in the unit if I can still get a warranty unit, but my frustration has got the best of me and I will soon have my fun with a baseball bat and post the video link when I figure out a good way to replace the Concertone.
The biggest replaclacement problem is the cabinet depth of around 10-inches to work with. I would put in a conventional receiver and DVD player if I could find one to fit the depth but I can't.
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campercajun
Central Texas Hill Country
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Joined: 08/09/2007
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I didn't have a Concertone, but I replaced the cheap, mechanically-tuned CD/AM/FM unit in our trailer with a Jensen AWM960, and have been VERY pleased with the unit, especially the digital tuning. The remote for the unit is convenient to have, also.
We don't use the DVD in the unit, as our LCD TV has a built-in DVD, but I ran RCA cables through my A/C ducts from the TV to the rear AUX input jacks on the stereo, and with the stereo TV and the speakers right over our chairs in the rear of the trailer, it is very close to having surround sound. Our trailer has 3 speaker pairs, and the AWM960 has 3 speaker pair switches.
Of course, as it always works out, the hole left by our original unit wasn't covered by the Jensen. But I had a member of the Forum, who makes either flat-finish or glossy-black acrylic plates, to make me one to order to cover the old hole and allow the Jensen Unit to slide through it, and mounted it under the face of the new unit. He did all the cutting and polishing. I had the panel made to be 4" larger than the unit face all the way around, and it really looks good. Even my wife approves. In a real coincidence, it turns out that he has the exact same travel trailer as we do, and he had already changed his unit to a car stereo unit, and could send me photos of his installation to show me what it would look like in our trailer.
The member's screen name on the rv.net forum is ddadda. He sells his acrylic plates on eBay, and will create a special eBay "Buy It Now" auction for you if you need a plate custom made.
You can see an owner's manual of the AWM960 at:
Jensen AWM960 Owner's Manual, if desired. (Edited to correct Owner's Manual link.)
Dandy, if you would like to see a photo of the installation, with the custom-made filler plate, send me a private message with your email address, and I will email the photos to you. I don't use an image-hosting service at this time, so I can't post them on the forum. If you have an image-hosting service, you could post them on the forum for others to see.
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Dandy
NorthEast
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I took a look at the Jensen, it appears it is not Surround Sound though and it doesn't have a subwoofer set-up. It looks like a nice unit, but it doesn't what the current Concertone set-up has.
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handye9
Park City, IL 60085
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Dandy wrote:I have already re-did ALL the connections. The problem is clearly in the unit and I do not want to open it up and re-do any connections in the unit if I can still get a warranty unit, but my frustration has got the best of me and I will soon have my fun with a baseball bat and post the video link when I figure out a good way to replace the Concertone.
The biggest replaclacement problem is the cabinet depth of around 10-inches to work with. I would put in a conventional receiver and DVD player if I could find one to fit the depth but I can't.
Take a look at Jensen MP5000, AWM960, and AWM970. All three are 12 volt AM/FM/CD/DVD player. All will fit the depth and can be wired to your existing speakers. All have the A-B-C speaker selection. However, they won't fit your existing cabinet opening. You would need a wider cut out that is shorter in height.
Haven't done the job since my Concertone is still working, but, I found a used kitchen cabinet door that matches the cabinet in my TT. My plan is to make the existing opening wider, then cut a hole in the cabinet door to fit a Jensen unit and fasten it over my existing opening.
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Dandy
NorthEast
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Handy - It appears that those units do not have a subwoofer setup and only offer two speakers not five to the A Channel. Typically I would not mind that, but the speakers in the TT are set-up to use a sub.
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handye9
Park City, IL 60085
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Dandy wrote:Handy - It appears that those units do not have a subwoofer setup and only offer two speakers not five to the A Channel. Typically I would not mind that, but the speakers in the TT are set-up to use a sub.
You're right. I just compared the wiring diagrams. Jensen is not wired to operate surround sound. Good thing I didn't buy one yet.
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