Special Feature - Audio

Special Feature
Words Andrew Harris; pics Andrew Harris and manufacturers
Options for RV audio
that’ll be music to
your ears.
A
road trip without a soundtrack is
barely a road trip at all. From radio to
eight-track, cassettes to CDs, driving
and jiving have gone together through the
decades like pies and sauce. Today, there
are options aplenty for the mobile music
lover, from inobtrusive personal audio,
through to speaker docks and small sound
systems, right up to fully fledged surroundsound installations.
Travelling tunes present a two-fold
consideration: what you want to use to play
your music, and how you want to listen
to it. It depends on whether you’re happy
with a humble CD player, or you prefer a
digital music library on your iPod or laptop.
Listening-wise, you might want speakers
built into your van or motorhome, or you
might prefer headphones.
Integrated car-audio systems
For the clearest, most defined, allencompassing audio experience, an inbuilt
system wins hands down. Coastline
Trading’s Ian Menzies, who supplies audio
equipment to caravan builders, says RVers’
audio expectations are increasingly high.
“They are demanding more quality,” he
says. “They want what they’ve got at home.”
He believes that improvements in the
breadth and quality of what’s available on
12V has contributed to this. “You can get
really good stuff at really good prices.”
RV-specific audio installations have to
take into consideration a number of factors,
including the volume and shape of internal
space and the sound-absorbing or reflecting
properties of its surfacing; whether or not
cabinetry and wall and ceiling cavities can
be used for recessed speaker installation;
and the power requirements of the system,
especially if it involves a subwoofer. For
these sorts of reasons, Ian says the best
time to think about audio systems is before
your van’s even built. “That’s the most
opportune time,” he says. “It’s always more
difficult to retrofit something.”
Coastline Trading sells three speaker
models suitable for RVs, both direct to the
public and through resellers. The Crossfire
is a 150W, corrosion-resistant, stainlesssteel-encased, 6in x 9in (152mm x 229mm)
three-way speaker, with a composite-fibre
cone protected against the degrading
effects of UV light. As with all threeway speakers, the Crossfire uses three
individual speaker cones to accurately
reproduce sound across the spectrum from
sharp highs to booming lows. The speaker
cones are usually of three ascending sizes,
and are referred to as the “tweeter”, “midrange” and “woofer”.
Axis two-way, 100x100mm, 50W marine
speakers are made for outdoor use, with
splash-proof design and stainlesssteel mounting brackets. Ideal for RV
installations, Axis Slimline fixed-grille
speakers are 150W three-way units that
mount flush with cabinetry and interior
panelling.
To match its speaker selection,
Coastline Trading also offers a DVD/CD/
AM/FM head unit with a built-in power
amp that decodes to Dolby 5.1 surround
sound. A subwoofer can also be connected
to the included line-out, if you’re really keen
on a cinematic experience. TV audio-input
is an optional extra.
Retrofitting your van
Allan Elmir, owner of Strathfield stores
at Caringbah, NSW, and Thomastown,
Vic, says fully-featured surround-sound
systems can be retrofitted to existing vans.
Allan’s Thomastown store works with
Majestic Caravans in Campbellfield, Vic,
on its audio installations. Allan says it’s
mainly home-theatre that he’s found RVers
are after, though not everything is always
possible. “It depends
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Special Feature
bedroom for a rear TV, and two external
weatherproof speakers mounted below
an awning or in a luggage bin, with the
possible addition of a subwoofer.
As we spoke, Peter talked me through
an installation nearing completion in the
Jacana workshop, in a 30ft Mitsubishi
bus. “It’s got all the new-wave technology,
it’s got wireless speakers, portable audio
enhancers, digital surround,” he says. “It’s
just up-to-date, proper 142W speakers, and
all up it puts out 800, 900W. I think it’s
pretty up there, for a motorhome, anyway.”
The system comprises five speakers and a
subwoofer.
It’s worth remembering that the sort of
coach conversions they’re used to often
have immense power-storage and powergeneration capabilities, with batteries of
batteries, solar panels tiling the roof, and
chunky diesel generators built-in.
Crossfire corrosionresistant, stainlesssteel-encased
speakers (above),
and Axis marine and
car-audio speakers
(left).
SOUND ON THE GO
on the size of the
caravan,” he says. “It depends on all the
cupboards and kitchen area.” Sometimes
to compensate for a lack of ceiling space,
cupboard space, or the available wiring
possibilities, hand-made boxes and other
clever cabinet-work have to be used to
accommodate speakers, and to get the
sound right. They can’t always sit flush
with the ceiling.
As much as you might want an allencompassing eight-speaker wireless
surround set-up in your van, it might not
be entirely possible. And anyway, there
are times when you want to keep things to
yourself, without disturbing your
co-traveller or any RVers relaxing
around you. With your music
library on a diminutive mp3
player, you can listen through
a compatible in-car or in-RV
system, or instead you could plug
in a decent set of headphones,
close your eyes, and disappear
into your favourite tunes,
wherever and whenever you like.
Luxury options
Custom motorhome builder Jacana
frequently accommodates the desires of RV
dream-chasers in its audio fit-outs, making
use of brand-name Clarion, Sony and JVC
components, with high-grade speaker cable
and premium leads and connectors. “In
every motorhome we have done,” storeman
Peter Taylor says, “we have put a surroundsound system inside.” These systems can
comprise six speakers in the living and
dining areas, with an additional two in the
acknowledged as the precursor to Sony’s
1979 Walkman. He was so moved by
listening to music in the great outdoors,
he said he felt his device had “the means
to multiply the aesthetic potential of any
situation”. In short, portable audio provides
a soundtrack to life.
High-capacity mp3 players, such as
iPods, with hard-drive storage up to
160GB, hold tens of thousands of songs in
a minuscule package, easily selected and
well organised, with the recent additions
of video, photo and voice-recording
capabilities. Older players were only a
fraction of a gigabyte and held only a
hundred or so songs.
‘Mp3’ refers to the digital file format of
the songs transferred from a PC or Mac
to a music player. Music in mp3 format is
‘compressed’, which means that the data
takes up as little space as possible. You
can buy mp3s from online stores, create
them from your CD music collection using
a range of software, and share them with
The iPod Touch plays music and video, browses
the web and just about does the dishes.
MP3 audio
This technology is the best thing
to happen to portable audio
since 1972, when German–Brazilian
Andreas Pavel tested his Stereobelt, now
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Darcey and Joy’s rolling luxury
Purpose-built by Jacana Motorhomes and
Brisbane’s Coachworks, and used for nearly
three years across Tassie and the mainland,
Darcey and Joy How’s 40ft (12.2m) Mercedes
O303/3-based motorhome is a no-expensesspared RV, with a fully-featured, three-television
entertainment system and a surround-sound
installation.
“It’s an apartment on wheels,” Darcey says,
“that’s why it’s got surround sound.” The
system is a JVC THS-9 digital cinema with four
80W RMS 55mm satellite speakers, a two-way
55mm centre speaker and a powered 160mm
120W RMS subwoofer. It’s hooked up to one
of three LCD televisions. A computer can easily
be hooked to the surround system and LCD
television via USB.
Darcey and Joy have been able to power their
audio experience guilt free, with the help of six
80W roof-mounted solar panels coupled with
a 2500W inverter running off the battery array.
“We’ve always parked in caravan parks, but you
can park in the backlots,” Darcey says, “because
it’s got everything in it.”
The coach features a huge awning, great for
outdoor entertaining. A huge 4.1×1m slide-out
allows the party to be brought inside, with plenty
of space for everyone in the warm interior of
American cherrywood.
With washer/dryer, dishwasher, double sink,
bathroom with full-size bath,
separate toilet, split airconditioning, instant gas hot
water and fully appointed
home office, this motorhome
could be another couple’s
dream realised – Darcey and
Joy, based in Redcliffe, Qld,
are parting with their baby for
a cool $429,000. For another
$10,000, you could drive
away with a 2000-model
Mercedes-Benz A140 in tow,
on a two-wheel Gypsy trailer.
For more information, phone
Darcey on 0438 830 590.
Caravan World
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Special Feature
80
station and so on) is on the Touch’s bottom
surface, right by the 3.5mm headphone
socket.
Included in the box with the Touch is
a pair of standard white Apple ear-bud
headphones, a USB-to-dock-port cable
(used for charging), a cleaning cloth and an
adapter shim to allow the slim Touch to be
used in a standard iPod dock.
Using the Touch is simple and intuitive.
Apple calls the interface “multi-touch”,
which means its usefulness extends to
dragging items across the screen, ‘flicking’
scrolling menus that then gradually
decelerate to a halt, and ‘pinching’ to zoom
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friends. One audio CD holds around 15
songs, whereas a data CD filled with mp3s
would hold maybe 10 times that.
The very slickest of mp3 players would
have to be the iPod Touch (RRP $499), which
is also a portable web browser and video
player, among other things. As thick (or thin)
as three $1 coins stacked atop each other, it
gleams cheekily, begging to be played with.
Almost the entire front surface is a highresolution touch screen. There are only two
physical buttons – an on/off and a sort of
universal navigation button.
The universal socket for all things iPod
(charger, PC or Mac connection, docking
Caravan World
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Headphones
If you want to keep your music to
yourself, your best option is a decent set
of headphones. Offerings can generally be
split between in-ear and ear-cup phones.
In-ear phones come in a ‘bud’ style that sits
just inside the ear and over the ear canal,
as well as a ‘canal phone’ that sits inside
the ear canal, like an ear plug. Ear-cup
phones are either on-ear (or “supra-aural”)
or over-ear (or “circumaural”), meaning that
they surround the ear. These can be further
distinguished by the presence of a band over
the head, behind the head, or no band at all.
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Buds, such as Apple’s basic white models,
don’t fit everyone’s ears, and different
brands fit differently. Unfortunately, due to
Australian health and safety regulations,
there’s no opportunity to try buds before
you buy. This can be a costly mistake, so if
you’re not sure about buds, opt for on-ears
or over-ears.
Over-ear headphones, with padding
that encircles your ears, tend to offer the
best sound reproduction for price, and it’s
usually possible to try on a demonstration
pair in-store. There are closed-back models
(the back of each speaker is covered by a
solid casing, so you’re ‘isolated’ from your
environment) and open-back models (the
back of each speaker is covered by a grille,
so you can hear what’s going on around
you), as well as high-end active noisecancelling headphones.
Passive noise cancelling is achieved by
the acoustic sealing of cushy earpads on or
around your ears. Active noise-cancelling
headphones ‘sample’ background noise with
a small microphone, usually somewhere on
the headphone cord, and play it back with
an inverted waveform, effectively cancelling
out the drone of an engine, for example.
Audio-Technica’s ATH-ANC7 active
noise-cancelling headphones (RRP $399)
are a blissful experience. These phones
are touted by the manufacturer to reduce
background distractions by 85 per cent.
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in and out of an image or a web page on the
inbuilt Safari browser.
Basic functions are easy to master.
Audio and video files are easy to locate in
the media library, especially with the new
“album roll” functionality, which appears
when turning the iPod horizontally when
viewing the music library.
You can’t use it as a data storage device,
as with previous iPods, and you can’t
change volume or tracks without taking
it out of your pocket, but apart from
these two minor gripes, an iPod Touch
is an invaluable road-trip entertainment
package.
For more information, contact Apple, Level
13, 255-259 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000,
133 622, www.apple.com.au/au/itunes.
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81
Special Feature
On the road, engine and tyre noise proves no issue for these
puppies, and is easily ‘cancelled’. As the passenger on a long drive,
or as a co-traveller in the back of a motorhome, you can enjoy your
tunes at a fraction of the volume you used to – the real beauty of
active noise-cancelling technology.
Some active noise-cancelling systems have the microphone
and battery assembly dangling off the headphones, on the lead.
The ATH-ANC7s have one microphone on each ear cup, mounted
discreetly behind a tiny metal grille. A single AAA battery slots into
the left ear cup.
Truth be told, they’re no bulkier or heavier than any other decent
set of headphones. I wore them for hours on end with no discomfort
or listening fatigue. Sound reproduction is extremely clear, with
strong bass and detailed highs. And even with noise-cancelling off,
they remain a fine set of headphones.
The noise-cancelling system can’t block out every sound –
ordinary speech, for one. On the other hand, the closed-back,
circumaural design does significantly deaden close-range
conversation.
Zipped into their sturdy, high-impact nylon case (which also has
room for an iPod or similar mp3 player, and a pouch containing an
airline adapter and 6.3mm plug adapter), a pair of ATH-ANC7s will
suddenly seem as essential as your toiletries bag.
For more information, contact Technical Audio Group (TAG),
45-43 Bridge Road, Stanmore, NSW, (02) 9519 0900.
Caravans
some AUDIO ENTERTAINMENT CONTACTS
• Coastline Trading, (07) 5500 6071
www.coastlinetrading.com.au
• Jacana Motorhomes, (02) 6551 7706
www.jacanamotorhomes.com.au
• Strathfield Thomastown, (03) 9464 1755
www.strathfield.com.au
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