One of the many upgrades made to our new Travel Lite 840 SBRX was the addition of a 32 inch 1080p TCL Roku enabled flat screen. Like may TVs, the relatively small speakers leave a lot to be desired. We have always found it difficult to hear dialog when running the A/C are full capacity and I have in the past installed small stereo soundbars in the forward section of the cab over ceiling. This has worked great in all three previous applications. Having the sound 24 inches from your head eliminates the A/C drowning out the sound. It also allowed us to listen to movies in the wee hours of the morning with the volume set so low, not even dogs could hear it outside but we could hear it fine, so it’s nice to know we’re not bothering anyone else.
The drawbacks have been the overhead proximity seems to attract Yoly’s noggin on an occasional basis and they have required routing power and audio cables. So this time I searched for a bluetooth soundbar that would connect to the TV wirelessly. Although advertised as such, none of the 3 soundbars I tried would pair with the Roku TV. These soundbars typically have two 5 watt speakers and cost less than $50. In searching for an alternative, I chose to add a set of Roku home theater speakers. They are made for the Roku TV and pair effortlessly. They include 2 bluetooth remotes with voice command so you can call up programming and movies by name. They weigh 4 lbs apiece and have 3.5 inch sub woofers in them. I cannot find any wattage specs anywhere on the internet. They list for $200 but can be had routinely for $150. They do require 110 volt for power. The upside is that they do not encroach on headroom space and since they’re made for a home living room, they are as loud as you could ever possibly need. We had been watching the TV with the built in speakers at the maximum 100 setting. The Roku speakers are much louder set at 20 (out of 100).
They typically rest on a flat surface but come with a 1/4-28 nutsert built in to the back of the housing for wall mounting. This is quite secure with the 3/4 inch wood backing that I’ve added on the inside of the cabinet walls where they’re mounted. Knowing the road conditions in this country and the shock loads involved, I also added steel shelf brackets to support their weight in addition to the provided wall mount design. Just for test purposes, I turned them up louder than we could almost stand and went outside. Since all the windows were closed (A/C running on max) I was totally blown away by the absence of sound outside. I literally couldn’t hear a thing 3 feet from the truck camper for the entire perimeter. I would not have thought that to be the case but we love it !
Neil & Yoly
2016 Ram 2500HD Tradesman, 2WD Crew Cab, 6.4L Hemi
2018 Travel Lite 840 SBRX
Honda EU2000i
