2008 Ocean Breeze and TV sound thru speakers (not)

[marter]

We're on our maiden voyage in our new (to us) 2008 International Ocean Breeze and learning the ropes. I am unable to figure out how to listen to TV sound through the Sony radio and cabin speakers. I'm also hoping we can watch DVDs, but one thing at a time.

Our Ocean Breeze has the Audio/Video upgrade package which includes the Sony 10-CD Changer and Sony MEX_DV2000 radio. I have the same setup as wulfraat in the current "Out with the old...." thread, but for clarity I've included pictures. There is a cable with a male mini-stereo plug in the upper cabinet next to the radio compartment, but according to this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ByzU5WMnPc

(at the 17:50 mark) it's for the output to the transmitter for the external Bluetooth speaker, which I don't have.

I have (at least) 2 problems, maybe related. First, the CDs in the changer won't play and the cassette for the changer won't eject. Second, I can't get sound from the TV through the speakers (Surround Sound, as Airstream calls it). I believe I need to be using CD Ch2 on the radio, but no joy there. I haven't tried playing a DVD in the head unit yet, but I believe if I would get sound from that I should be able to get sound from cable TV. Maybe not.

Is there a setting on the TV that needs to be changed? It appears to be wired for audio and video on the Component/AV in panel on the back of the TV.

Any help?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[marter]

First off, thank you wulfraat for your private replies in trying to help troubleshoot this. As I told him, I, checked the RCA plugs on the TV and tried setting the head unit in CDC2 mode and turning up the volume to max on the head unit and TV, with no sound to the AS speakers.

I was looking around the cd changer a bit more and found this wire unconnected coming from the concealed compartment behind the Sony head unit. Any idea what it used to connect?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[LBOskiBear]

I could be wrong, but that looks a lot like an antenna connector. Perhaps AM/FM for the Sony radio tuner that probably links to the rubber antenna on the roof?

[marter]

Originally Posted by LBOskiBear

I could be wrong, but that looks a lot like an antenna connector. Perhaps AM/FM for the Sony radio tuner that probably links to the rubber antenna on the roof?

I thought it looked like a small coax connector but it's coming from the concealed compartment behind the Sony tuner so its the wrong end of an antenna cable, and the radio still has good reception. The previous owner may have put in a splitter from the rooftop antenna to feed another device in the locker.

I'm going to have to start removing panels and look into the rats nest.

Thanks for the reply.

Mike

[wulfraat]

Might be the “bus control” cable that connects the Sony XA-300 aux input switch into the CD changer port on the head unit.... although the ones on my unit seemed larger and didn’t have a 90 degree bend.

Have you verified you can play CDs when CDC1 is selected on the head unit? If not - that could be the issue right there. IE if neither CDs from the changer on CDC1 input nor TV sound on CDC2 input are being played on the stereo speakers that tells me your aux switch is likely not connected to the head unit since both of those audio paths transverse the XA-300.

I’d remove the CD changer (2 screws I believe) then pull the side panel in the overhead bin (3 screws) and verify the wiring is connected correctly based on the docs I sent you.

It’s a rats nest in there but I’m sure you can trace back to the issue.

[marter]

I have several issues, and you may be right on target about the connectivity of the aux switch and the head unit.

When I first started playing around with the system, I determined that the radio was working fine. Then I pushed the CD cassette into the changer (the previous owner had left their CDs loaded in the cassette) to see how it worked. It seemed like it went in ok, i.e. kind of like a servo motor was taking over when the cassette made contact, and it pulled it in and down. I switched the mode on the head unit to CDC1 and tried to play a CD but nothing happens. Press the forward or reverse arrow buttons and nothing, and nothing from the Rep/Shuffle/Album +/- buttons; the unit just beeps on each button press. When I try to eject the CD changer cassette, it won't eject. I have not tried a CD or DVD in the head unit slot behind the face plate.

The cable I showed in the second pic is not the bus control cable to the changer; that's quite a bit larger and is connected along with the RCA plugs in the changer.

Time to expose the wiring. We're headed home tomorrow so I'll tackle it in the driveway.

Thanks again for your help.

Mike

[marter]

Well, I've met the rat's nest of wires, and I'm not finding any loose or missing connections, as far as I can tell. But that's by feel as much as sight. What a mess.

Maybe someone can see a pattern here:

• Basic sound system
  • One of my goals is to hear the sound from the TV (cable and OTA) through the AS speakers; as I understand it, this should be working in mode CDC2, however it doesn't
  • Able to cycle through Mode button, seeing CDC1, CDC2 and CDC3 (but not CDC4); I hear a click in the XA-300 Aux unit
  • These modes show their status on the TV when in component source
• CD Changer
  • The CD cassette is inserted, fully loaded with CDs
  • I should be able to play a CD in CDC1 mode, but it shows 0:00 and is waiting for a command to play a CD; pressing head unit buttons all I hear is a beep, nothing else happens
  • It won't eject cassette, so I've unplugged it
• AM/FM radio works great
• CD played through Sony head unit (behind drop down face) works great
• DVD will play, and is viewable on TV when switching to component mode, however it's in black and white; no color. Sound comes through AS speakers. I don't have the Sony head unit remote so operating the DVD is quite challenging
• TV on cable or over the air is in color and sharp; sound through TV only. When I remove and replace the RCA cables connected to Audio In on the TV I hear a slight pop/buzz through the AS speakers so I know their connected.

I can live without the CD Changer, but I have (had?) hopes of getting the system to function as it originally did, with cable/OTA TV sound coming through the Airstream speakers, and obviously seeing DVDs in color instead of B&W, but I'm starting to have my doubts. Maybe I should just upgrade the components, but I don't give up easily.

Anyone see anything to check/try/test here?

Thanks in advance,


Mike

[wulfraat]

Seeing DVD’s in B&W is, um, not normal [emoji4] what a PITA.

Let’s try and tackle the Audio issue first, which may lie in the XA-300.

Here is what I would do:

1. Find the 2 rca output audio cables from the xa-300 and trace back to the radio. Unplug them from the radio (keep the radio inputs in sight and don’t loose them in the rats nest)

2. Find the aux in rca cables that connect to the xa-300 in the other side of the box (these are inbound from the TV) and unplug them from the xa-300 and then connect them directly to the radio, effectively bypassing the xa-300 from an audio path perspective.

3. Leave the bus cable connected between the radio and xa-300

4. Turn in the tv, go to CDC2 and see if you can hear sound

5. If you still don’t hear sound try unplugging the xa-bus cable from the radio, completely removing it from the system. I’m not sure the radio will work without it but see if you can monkey around with the inputs to hear sound directly from the tv without the xa-300 in the system.

6. If none of that works here is an alternative solution - buy a 6’ RCA female to 3.5mm male conversion cord. Plug the rca cables inbound from the TV into the rca female connectors on the cord. Then route the cord out of the bin area and plug the 3.5mm audio jack into the “aux” port on the front of the radio. Select aux input and you should get tv sound if the inbound rca cables from the TV are not damaged somewhere along the way

B&W dvd is odd - it’s over composite video cable so I just don’t know why that would be.

Or you could replace your head unit and ancillary components with a double DIN touch screen and clean up the rats nest while you are at it

[marter]

Well, I tried your troubleshooting steps, to no avail, and then finally took a look at the manual for the TV. One of the POs had replaced the original Sony TV with a Samsung, and plugged in the same cables that ran to the Sony. I finally looked at the manual for the Samsung, and discovered that the Audio RCA jacks on the back are Audio In, not Audio Out. So hearing sound from that TV over the Airstream speakers was NEVER going to happen. Doh.

So then I took a smart DVD player out to the AS and plugged a cable from the yellow video out component plug into the TV and the audio out from the DVD to the cables for audio out running back to the Sony Aux unit, and it worked; color DVD on the TV and sound from the AS speakers. And the bonus is its smart, so I was able to connect to WiFi and test streaming from Netflix.

Weird thing is the DVD video from the Sony head unit is still B&W. With only the yellow component cable, I get nothing, but when I plug in the red cable I get picture, but B&W, not color. Go figure.

Anyway, I pushed all the rats back into the nest, put the divider panel back, and will go with what I have for awhile, at least. The CD changer still doesn't work, so I left that out, but we're more likely to stream Spotify from our phones to a little Bose SLIII anyway.

Thanks so much for your help with answers and troubleshooting. May do the upgrade down the road.

Thanks,

Mike

[SteveSueMac]

Whew! I was following but had nothing to offer - this was a cliffhanger - fun to see some resolution! [emoji3]

[wulfraat]

Great news! Yeah when I changed TVs I had to use the headphone jack and adapter to feed audio back on the RCA cables to the Sony.... as there was no RCA audio output jacks....

Well now you know the inner workings of the MEX-DV2000 head unit [emoji4]


Re the black and white - sounds like you may have the composite video output from the Sony head unit (yellow rca) plugged into one of the COMPONENT (blue green blue) inputs on the TV.

On the back of the TV check to make sure your yellow video input cable is in the yellow composite video input receptor.... seems that it is from the original picture....

also! remove those red / white RCA cables connected to PR and PB inputs .... the TV is probably looking for separate blue/green/red video feeds. You need to force it to look for composite video input only by only attaching the yellow video rca cable.

[marter]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

Great news! Yeah when I changed TVs I had to use the headphone jack and adapter to feed audio back on the RCA cables to the Sony.... as there was no RCA audio output jacks....

Well now you know the inner workings of the MEX-DV2000 head unit [emoji4]


Re the black and white - sounds like you may have the composite video output from the Sony head unit (yellow rca) plugged into one of the COMPONENT (blue green blue) inputs on the TV.

On the back of the TV check to make sure your yellow video input cable is in the yellow composite video input receptor.... seems that it is from the original picture....

also! remove those red / white RCA cables connected to PR and PB inputs .... the TV is probably looking for separate blue/green/red video feeds. You need to force it to look for composite video input only by only attaching the yellow video rca cable.

wulfraat,

Good point on the headphone jack feeding the audio cables back to the Sony. Hadn't thought of that yet.

And I think you're right on the component vs. composite comment. I'll look at that closer; could swear there was no picture when I had just the yellow plugged in, but I need to be a little more methodical.

Thanks again for your quick replies and help. Great community here.

Thanks,

Mike

[marter]

Thought I'd post a final update. The headphone jack adapter to RCA cables works and I have TV sound through the Airstream speakers. Still haven't sorted out the lack of color issue but decided to carry a smart DVD player so we HDMI for video (kind of laughable for a 19" screen) but it also gives us Netflix etc. when we have WiFi. It's another device to carry and hookup occasionally but not a big deal. Shouldn't be sitting in front of the TV anyway.

Thanks for your help, wulfraat.

Mike