Monthly Archive for January, 2009

My ears were confused

Polk Audio MM651um in silver

Polk Audio MM651um in silver

The four stock speakers in the DWR Airstream were $16 coaxial pieces of OEM crap, unfortunately.  For the kind of money a DWR Airstream costs, I would have liked to see a more premium speaker system be standard.  But, that’s not the case. So, I went out and searched for a suitable speaker replacement that would fit the existing holes.

I found some great choices and ended up with the 6-1/2″ diameter Polk Audio MM651UM. This silver colored model is the Ultra Marine model for extra protection from sun, water and salt – for when we park this Airstream semi-permanently on a beach in Hawaii.

Given the mod white interior of the DWR Airstream, I didn’t want all black speakers. Silver works. White speakers of the quality I wanted were not to be found. I got four speakers for under $500.

Polk Audio Speakers next to the Nelson Ball Clock

Polk Audio Speakers next to the Nelson Ball Clock

I installed them in under 2 hours.  I did have to drill a few new holes since they didn’t line up with the old speaker screw holes, but they look great and the sound is way better.  My ears don’t get fatigued anymore and we can enjoy a more high fidelity sound while we are cooking and watching movies in the trailer.

volvo-xc90-dynaudio-spearkers

Volvo XC90 with Dynaudio

Our Volvo XC90 V8 Sport on the other hand has a Dynaudio speaker system that still blows me away. WOW! When I used to be a audio mastering engineer, I edited on Dynaudio Acoustic C3  speakers and it was a pleasure.

So I say to Airstream:  Please check out Dynaudio and see if you can have them customize a system for your trailer line. I would have certainly paid for the upgrade.

Airstream + Volvo XC90 V8 Sport = Yes, we can!

DWR Airstream + Volvo XC90 V8 Sport in the Badlands, SD (photo: Martin Thomas)

DWR Airstream + Volvo XC90 V8 Sport in the Badlands, SD (photo: Martin Thomas)

I love Volvos, for many reasons, so I had to find one that could pull our new DWR Airstream. We went to our dealership and drove a used 2004  XC90 and it was uninspired. I talked to my wonderful sales person, Tristan Grobel at Borton Volvo in Minneapolis, MN and asked, “What about the new Sport Edition?” and he said, “I’ll let you drive it. You’re going to love it.”  He was right.  The moment I opened the door, Kate screamed, “This is it.” And, once I started the V8 and took the first corner, I was hooked.  What a great car.  What a fantastic ride.  Tight, quick and a nice V8 roar when you kick it.

We bought it and Borton Volvo installed my brake controller for pulling the “Streaming Daemon.” That was so much fun for them that we brought the mechanic two 24-packs of Budweiser (that is what the guy liked) when we picked up the Volvo XC90 Sport as a bonus for his effort.  They had to remove the seats and run new cables to the back. Fun!

Then we drove out to Eugene, Oregon to pick up one of the last remaining DWR Airstreams. Tom Hanks bought the other DWR model at our dealership.

Zipping over the Rockies with this V8 beast was more than fun.

Pulling the Airstream is even better.

It is so smooth, quiet and powerful. A combo one seldom sees. I even have a feeling we might be the only people in the US pulling an Airsteam with a Swedish car named WOTAN. It is a great combo. Great design and performance front and back.

DWR Airstream Bambi with Volvo XC 90 Sport in Wyoming

DWR Airstream Bambi with Volvo XC 90 Sport in Wyoming