# Correcting Poor TV Sound



## peedee (May 10, 2005)

I have a Sharp 15 inch flat screen TV and a DVD player in the van but the sound does not have enough volume for comfortable listening, especially if you have one ear buried in a pillow.  Stero is also non existent on it because of the lack of externally spaced speakers.

I have a perfectly good cab CD/stereo radio with rear speakers in the the accommodation area. It gives really good sound and I have been trying to think of a way of getting TV sound into it but it has no auxillary inputs.

I have come across this FM Modulator. Has anyone tried one of these and are they any good. I would only have to run an audio cable to the cab if I installed there.

Has anyone got any better suggestions or any comments please?

peedee

ps editted to try and reduce line width and spelling error and finally to correct url to the FM Modulator from Maplins

p.p.s Maplins appear to no longer sell this Modulator a search using google will be necessary to find a similar product.


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

This might not have anything at all to do with it but we have just come back from a weekend when we watched 2 of our own recorded DVDs and one cheap ( newspaper, freeby) one. The sound in all 3 lacked volume and we had to have the volume control on high. 

We know that our TV normally is fine and quite loud and clear enough and we wondered if the quality of the DVD and/or the way we recorded them had anything to do with this.

Just a thought....

G


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Thanks Grizzly but I have been having this problem with just the TV. Its fine in the house so I also think it is something to do with the position of the TV and the acoustics in the van.

peedee


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## cobaltkoala (Sep 11, 2006)

*Separate Speakers*

We bought a separate set of speakers at maplins for £5.99 (they work on mains and also via our inverter on 12v)
They set the camper rocking for both TV, DVD, notebook and even lets you plug your mp3 in for maximum listening.
Well it works for us!


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## fdhadi (May 9, 2005)

Peedee

We have had the same problem with sound, more so on the move.
I found this at Aldi (£19) but have not seen them since. The one we have is identical but called Tevion 1630 speaker System. You can connect using din plugs or through the headphone socket. (Both supplied)

Ministry of Sound Aluminium Compact Speaker System

http://www.lxdirect.com/rf/navigation/SuggestedProduct.do...

or here

lxdirect.com link (mod edit)

The sound is brill :wink: 10/10 product


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## MOTORHOMER (May 9, 2005)

peedee said:


> I have a Sharp 15 inch flat screen TV and a DVD player in the van but the sound does not have enough volume for comfortable listening, especially if you have one ear buried in a pillow.  Stero is also non existent on it because of the lack of externally spaced speakers.
> 
> I have a perfectly good cab CD/stero radio with rear speakers in the the accommodation area. It gives really good sound and I have been trying to think of a way of getting TV sound into it but it has no auxillary inputs.
> 
> ...


Hello

I have been informed by other half that he bought a similar product at one of the shows & it works brilliantly. I leave all this sort of stuff to him.

Motorhomer


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for the responses. I see low power FM Transmitters are to be made legal wef 8th December. See HERE. May not have to run any wires after all and perhaps we will see other devices now come legally on the market.

peedee


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## 101075 (Sep 22, 2006)

*FM Transmitter*

Hi Peedee,

I have a FM transmitter for my satnav easy to setup and it works a treat thru the vans sound system. Should do the same for your TV

Dane


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## rickwiggans (May 10, 2006)

Be aware that only those meeting the requirements in terms of frequency will be legal - many of those currently available will not be licence exempt


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

I fitted the FM modulator over the last couple of days. The hardest part was deciding where and how to install everything so as not to be unsightly. I did not want to have to drill or cut holes into the dash board and the chosen locations had to provide an unsightly route for the wires without having to make adjustments to the supplied wire tails and their terminations. 

I was spurred on by having just bought a new Ipaq HP2490 to run TomTom version 6. The sound volume on it is much lower than my previous Ipaq HP3970, in fact it is inaudible on the road at full volume! 

I therefore decided to also purchase a two port audio switch which I have wired to the input of the FM Modulator so that I can feed either TV/DVD sound or TomTom voice into the cab radio and output it to the vans stereo system. It also means I can now use my Ipaq to play my recorded music which is on SD cards via the stereo radio. 

It all works very well but I am a little disappointed in the performance of the FM Modulator. It's output lacks filtering and as a result it is not a very clean signal and it does wipe out a large part of the FM radio band but the radio still works just as well as before if you switch off the modulator.

To feed the TV/DVD sound to the cab I installed a 3.5mm audio jack socket in the same wall facia panel as the TV aerial socket and ran the cable under the van into the cab to the audio switch. This has made a very neat job and means I can plug any audio device into the system that is placed near the TV and power sources . 

peedee


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## 88782 (May 9, 2005)

I have an FM modulator in front of me at the moment ready packed up to send back, very disappointed in the product even though it's a "Belkin", in my opinion it has very poor filtering and picks up interference from any spurious signals, I would not consider buying one again.

KenS


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Ken,
Does your FM modulator work by actually transmitting a radio signal or is it wired in line with the aerial feed like the one I have bought? So far I have not experienced any interference and because it has two set frequencies I can change to an alternative if necessary. There are also intermodulation frequencies at a lower level higher up the band, hence my complaints about poor FM Modulator filtering. These tend to block out all but the strongest radio sigs but the modulator comes with a power on/off switch which can be dashboard mounted. Once the modulator is switched off there are no problems with radio reception.

I did notice Halfords are selling car radios with MP3 and auxillary audio inputs for about the same price as it cost me to install the FM Modulator but for neatness I think an audio cable run and installation of a two port switch would have still been necessary to meet my requirements but it would make certain one did not suffer interference.

peedee


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## 88782 (May 9, 2005)

Hi peedee

I used the word "Modulator " it would probably been more correct to use the word "transmitter", it plugs into any audio equipment and transmit on a frequency of between 88.1MHz-107.9MHz

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=166903

I removed my original radio in favour of a much cheaper Goodmans because the latter had an Aux input on the face, this is obviously by far the best solution. The reason I experimented with the transmitter is that we travel with a cat that has a liking for electrical cables, he will chew through any cable lying around including live ones.

Thinking about it, The Belkin unit being plugged in should give a clean signal, I may unpack it and give it another try.

KenS


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## 101075 (Sep 22, 2006)

*FM Transmitter*

I have the transmitter type that you can change the frequency on to suit a spare one on the radio. The only problem I have is you have to turn the volume up higher than normal. It works on any equipment that has a socket for headphones. It's great for the satnav, mp3 player and the Tv.

Dane


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## 88782 (May 9, 2005)

Unpacked it, played with it (the transmitter) again, didn't like and it's now in the post.

KenS


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Sorry to hear you are still not satisfied. I guess any device which actually transmitts is going to be susceptable to interference if not immediately then somewhere else on our travels. The wired solution should be a better option if you do not want to change a perfectly good stero radio system just because it has no auxillary inputs. I will try to remember to update this thread or write a review on the one I have fitted sometime later in the year but so far so good

peedee


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## 92859 (May 1, 2005)

Greetings,

As far as I am aware the FM trnsmitters or modulators do not give true stereo sound and the sound that it does give leaves a lot to be desired, it is mainly a means to an end to get sound through your cab radio.

Dedicated active speakers are the route to go and I am looking for a decent deal, although the MOS ones posted by Peedee see a good buy, alternatively a small 5.1 system with a DC input socket.


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Peter,
Dunno about the transmitters but the modulator works fine on stereo. I could not see much point in adding additional speakers when I have a perfectly satisfactory set up already in the van. For me it would be just something else to find a home for and anchor down.

peedee


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

peedee said:


> I fitted the FM modulator over the last couple of days. The hardest part was deciding where and how to install everything so as not to be unsightly. I did not want to have to drill or cut holes into the dash board and the chosen locations had to provide an unsightly route for the wires without having to make adjustments to the supplied wire tails and their terminations.
> 
> I was spurred on by having just bought a new Ipaq HP2490 to run TomTom version 6. The sound volume on it is much lower than my previous Ipaq HP3970, in fact it is inaudible on the road at full volume!
> 
> ...


It is now nearly a year since I fitted >this device<  and I promised an update.

There is not much to add to what I have said already other than I it does the job exactly what is was purchased for without any interference from other stations and I am very please with it. It is a hard wired system rather than a wireless transmitter and I think this gives it a real edge over transmitter devices although it may be more fiddly to install. Since I made my purchase the price has fallen and they have added a dashboard switch :x Just my luck. You do need to switch off the modulator for good radio reception.

I think it is an advantage if you can adjust the output of the audio jacks on the devices you are going to use it with. This way you can obtain the best sound inputs to the radio and the base, treble, balance and volume radio controls can then be adjusted to suit your taste.

I am certainly quite happy to recommend this device.

peedee


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## andyangyh (May 1, 2005)

We have a 19" Swisstec LCD TV from Currys. Great picture but appalingly thin sound. So we bought one of the type of FM Transmitter that just sits on the dashboard. The sound was fine but we did find it annoying that when it wasn't receiving a signal it turned itself off. That meant that if the phone rang and we pressed the Mute button on the digibox the FM Transmitter turned off. That meant the radio suddenly had no signal and would give out annoying white noise. We now have a set of powered speakers (230v)and this arrangement works well although they do have to be removed for travelling. As we live in the van on the campsite we manage for 8 months that isn't a problem. We keep the FM gizmo for when we are on the road.

Previously we had a couple of speakers from Maplins that I removed the 230v plug from (it was a 230v - 12v transformer) and connected into the leisure battery via a fuse. Fastened them to the Hymer dash and they were fine for 3 years until the right one finally gave up (too much Queen??). Can't seem to find the equivalent at the moment as all the ones I looked at had the 230v all the way to the back of the speakers (doubtless the 230v ac to 12v dc transformer is inside).


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

I have been browsing this old thread with a view to fitting a modulator,just rung maplins to find it is discontinued and they no longer stock it.

Does anyone know where I can buy one or even better find the one out from the garage that you don't use anymore


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

If you google FM Modulators you will turn up plenty. They are probably wireless though and not like the one I used. 

peedee


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Just completed this job,I sourced a hard wired FM modulator on e-bay for£19.99 and it works well.

Much better quality sound through the stereo speakers in the rear of the m/home compared to the flatscreen tv speakers


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

Good news but my how the price has fallen since they legalised wireless ones.

peedee


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