Furrion Stereo Upgrade: A Sound Choice

[Snackchaser]

I’ve never liked the Furrion DV1230 entertainment center, it’s not user friendly and the front panel is difficult to read in low light. The tiny remote is absolutely terrible, and the larger upgrade remote isn't much better.  I usually control it with the phone app when I remember where to find it, for some reason they called it "ES Control,” and it constantly drops out.  The tech is outdated.

Iv’e wanted to upgrade it for years, but never found a unit that met my requirements and justified the expense:

• Has to fit into the existing cutout (7-3/8" x 4")
• Controls that are intuitive and easy-to-read
• Decent remote control
• HDMI ARC ports on front and back (not the cheap HDMI pass-through ports)
• Current Bluetooth technology
• Two speaker zones
• Cost under $200

I found IRV Technology’s model IRV62 for a $180, and it had everything I wanted.   https://a.co/d/0dODdwBi  The controls couldn’t be simpler or easier to read.  It does have a few less features than the Furrion, but nothing that will be missed.  Like only 2 speaker zones compared to Furrion’s 3 and the Optical audio port that caused horrible sounding audio phasing issues between TV and stereo speakers.

The IVR62 was a close fit on paper.  But unfortunately Oliver had cut an oversized opening for the Furrion and miss-drilled extra mounting holes.  Consequently, the new faceplate didn’t quite cover the extra holes, and the new mounting holes were on the very edge of the cutout.  This was resolved with white JB weld on the edge of the oversized cutout to strengthen the screw holes, and I made a thin 3-D printed bezel that covers the extra holes.  It’s not even noticeable.  The print file is available if anyone has the same problem, or I made extra bezels if anyone needs one.

The rest of the installation was easy, although it took a minute to figure out how the Furrion was mounted.  There are 4 screws behind top and bottom trim pieces.  These trims have small notches on the ends where they can be popped off with a screwdriver.

It’s highly recommended to identify and mark each of the 4 speaker cables before cutting the connections.  Use the wire color code legend on the back of the Furrion case to identify the right rear, left rear, right front, and left front.   Also the IRV’s yellow “Bat” wire and the fused red “+12” wire are both connected to the Olivers hot wire, which was purple in my case.  Other than that, the wiring is straight forward.

The new stereo is so much easier to use, it works seamlessly with Bluetooth and the TV, and it sounds better too.  I’ll be using it more often now that I don’t need a flashlight and reading glasses to operate it.

Cheers!  Geoff

Edited 8 minutes ago by Snackchaser

[routlaw]

I totally agree though our Furrion unit is probably older than yours but regardless these things could have only been made by a very troubled mind. Effectively we never use ours, never watch TV while out in the Oliver and radio reception is near non existent in places where we usually are at. If it weren't for creating an ugly gapping hole I would have taken the thing out years ago. Looks like you found an excellent alternative. Looks nicer too.

Edited May 11 by routlaw

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, routlaw said:

Effectively we never use ours, never watch TV while out in the Oliver and radio reception is near non existent in places where we usually are at.

Same for us re the radio, though we stream TV, news and pickleball matches, movies shows often and have added Samsung TV and soundbar which has far superior sound.

I would not replace the radio merely for slightly improved functionality but it would have to look much better. Exchanging one ugly black box for another is not for me. Took a quick look online and they all seem to be BLACK. I'd buy a white or light gray model. Also, I've been meaning to change out those black speaker grills with something lighter in color too. Please let me know is anybody finds a better looking product!

Rob, with all the adventurous mods you've made 😎, you could remove your radio and create a small cabinet. Remove the speakers and cover with trim plates flush to the ceiling, being much less noticeable.

[routlaw]

I have thought about doing just that, remove radio and create small cabinet or something else more useful. Just now turned off the AC breaker bar for the old WH and unscrewed the black wire and capped it off per your suggestion. Feels much better knowing there isn't a live circuit laying dormant at the back of the basement. While I'm still recuperating from knee surgery 10 weeks ago considering changing out the old kitchen faucet and maybe even sink too. 

I would love to change the old Suburban furnace as well, just haven't found anything that would fit. The Fogatti is much nicer, more efficient but from what I can tell would never fit into the Oliver and if it did man what a major project that would be. Enough of that taking this thread off topic from the OP hifi change out. 

Rustoleum does make a very nice white paint that one could paint those speaker grills with. I've used it and it's very durable paint and the spray cap puts out a very nice even spray unlike so many of those other spray cans. You can find it Lowes. Might be a lot cheaper and easier in the long run rather than replacing the grills.

[rideandfly]

Geoff,

Nice looking job!

Our Ollie came with a Furrion DV 1200 unit. The DVD player and remote control operates erratically. Will look at iRV units to replace our old Furrion unit.

Thanks for posting!

 

Edited Friday at 02:42 AM by rideandfly

[Snackchaser]

On 5/11/2026 at 9:09 AM, jd1923 said:

I've been meaning to change out those black speaker grills with something lighter in color too. Please let me know is anybody finds a better looking product!

Jd, my Oliver came with Furrion fs65w speakers.  They have white grills and at $20 each on Amazon they are a bargain.  You might spend as much just changing the grills.

I actually looked into replacing the Furrion speakers with Polk Audio DB652 to improve the sound.  They have a broader frequency range and the sensitivity is improved from Furrion’s 86dB to 92dB.  However, they have black grills, would need a 5.5” to 6” adapter, and they are about $50 each.  The return didn’t justify the cost.

I took another route and painstakingly measured the Furrion’s speakers Fs (free-air resonance frequency) to determine if a 3-D printed sealed enclosure or baffling would improve their sound.

This involved injecting a range of frequencies through the stereo, then measuring the voltage at the speaker terminals through a 10 ohm resistor.  The highest voltage was at 188 Hz, which is the point where the speaker resonates most freely.  This indicated that the speaker suspension was on the stiff side and improvement was unlikely

After all that, just the new IVR stereo was enough improvement that I completely forgot about replacing the speakers.

Cheers!  Geoff

[jd1923]

22 hours ago, Snackchaser said:

Jd, my Oliver came with Furrion fs65w speakers.  They have white grills and at $20 each on Amazon they are a bargain.  You might spend as much just changing the grills.

Geoff, thank you for addressing the speakers too. It's nice OTT is installing white-clad speakers in newer hulls. It's odd that advertised 6.5-in speakers are closer to 5.25". Maybe the outer dia of the grille is 6.5". On ours the circle for mounting screws is 5.4" dia and ours came with Jensen speakers. They're quite heavy and solid and to my ear still in good working condition after 10 years.

On 5/10/2026 at 8:00 PM, Snackchaser said:

But unfortunately Oliver had cut an oversized opening for the Furrion and miss-drilled extra mounting holes.

Only OTT has the uncanny ability to drill holes and then drill more holes! I could insert a half dozen pics showing drill-happy installs!🤣 Shame we must do extra work to account for lazy work. You fabricated a very nice trim plate to cover it up! 😎

WARNING! If you have an older hull like ours, the IRV62 may not work for you! The cut-out on ours is 9 1/4" wide and 6" tall. The picture on the IRV62 Amazon listing shows the face is 8 1/4" x 4 3/8". Given this the IRV62 would fall right into the massive opening cut in our hull. No wonder ours is so ugly, it's BLACK and 11" x 7" HUGE! (picture shown w/o outer bezel)

On 5/10/2026 at 8:00 PM, Snackchaser said:

The new stereo is so much easier to use, it works seamlessly with Bluetooth and the TV, and it sounds better too.  I’ll be using it more often now that I don’t need a flashlight and reading glasses to operate it.

Yesterday I was working in the Oliver, fixing a couple of drawers, replacing the Blum undermount drawer slide on one and new orange latching ends on another. Because of your post, I thought to fire up the Furrion, listen to a local FM station while working.

Yes, I needed the flashlight on my phone and it took me 5 minutes to figure out the interface! When we travel, Chris is usually the one to operate the Furrion stereo. She will pair it to her phone, or sometimes at dinner she will play a travel CD she burned for our trip. Kudos to her for learning to operate this crazy box.

Your IRV62 looks much better and you can just look at the front panel picture to see the simple buttons make sense, are intuitive. If they only made one in white or gray! When searching online for wall mount RV radios, you'll find nothing but BLACK! I did find a Jensen model that would fit the larger opening cut into our hull.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082VXFC7W/

On 5/10/2026 at 8:00 PM, Snackchaser said:

Like only 2 speaker zones compared to Furrion’s 3 and the Optical audio port that caused horrible sounding audio phasing issues between TV and stereo speakers.

In our 3-zone system, Zone A are the front speakers, Zone B for the rears and Zone C is not wired to anything. Yep, for the 4-speaker Oliver configuration two zones is all you need. It would be nice if Zone C was wired to two exterior speakers.

But, the Oliver really needs a special zone! One that when eating dinner the speaker over my head is not powered on! Just bad placement. I would rather they had mounted both left and right front speakers above the closet. And sound from the rear speakers pointing down is lost in the bedding. Speakers left and right of the attic door would certainly produce better sound.

The radio outer bezel popped off easily with a plastic pull tool. Then 4 screws and the entire radio pulls out. I also removed a speaker grill.

Maybe paint would lighten up the look some. Though I'm cautious when it comes to paint. It goes on easy but you're stuck when not satisfied with the result! Much ado about nothing here, at least for me and for now, as I will likely leave well enough alone. 😒 I learned a bit though. Thanks again Geoff, and enjoy your new IVR62!

Edited 1 hour ago by jd1923

[Snackchaser]

1 hour ago, jd1923 said:

WARNING! If you have an older hull like ours, the IRV62 may not work for you! The cut-out on ours is 9 1/4" wide and 6" tall. The picture on the IRV62 Amazon listing shows the face is 8 1/4" x 4 3/8". Given this the IRV62 would fall right into the massive opening cut in our hull. No wonder ours is so ugly, it's BLACK and 11" x 7" HUGE! (picture shown w/o outer bezel)

Jd, you make a good point, I replaced a Furrion DV1230, and it is indeed smaller than the older unit you have.  I 'll go back and make an edit..

BTW, a guy like you needs a 3-D printer!  I can’t list all the tool parts, jigs and adapters Iv’e made.  It's another tool you don’t know you need until you have it.  You could actually print some pretty decent white grill covers, or a larger bezel to fit a new stereo in that oversized hole.  Just sayin’

Cheers!  Geoff