Shop speakers/sound system

[alex2929]

Debating what I want for speakers in my shop/party barn. Has anyone used PA/DJ speakers? Thoughts on the idea?

 

[Fierljeppen]

It's hard to go wrong with good used PA speakers and a commercial amp. Very affordable, with decent sound at both low and high volumes.

You mentioned party, so I'll assume the volume will be turned up at times.

 

[Scubadriver]

It works great in my garage.

I can route the digital output of the TV to the mixer. With YouTube and a mic, I have Garage Karaoke!

 

[driftpin]

I went to a local thrift store yesterday, and I picked up a pair of Bose 310 Series III speakers for <$40. They work perfectly, I have multiple receivers to choose-from, and also some 'retired' quality car stereos, with good amps: Concord and JLAudio. The JL Audio is a 'made in the USA' model. I currently have the Bose speakers powered by a big Yamaha RX-V870 receiver. I also have a vintage Yamaha CR-1020 monster chassis receiver, awaiting its turn.

 

[M6erfan]

I use a Sonos One SL, control it with my iPhone. Or I have my noise canceling headset on. No separate amps, speaker wires, etc.

 

[bbmach]

I've had the same setup for years, so I guess I am old school, I just move it when I do. My first new receiver - a digital Onkyo from the '80s with a pair of JVC four-way speakers with 12" woofers. They sit on shelves near the ceiling. I use an old iPad to stream XM or Spotify, etc.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Oh hell yeah...all the fun pics were on my phone that blew up though.

Thoughts; the camera is about where the car you are working on goes, which places you right about where the bass really unfolds.

 

[liliysdad]

I have an Onkyo receiver/amp and an Optimus dual deck cassette deck, running through a pair of TEAC 3-ways with 8" woofers...sounds amazing, and all of it was sourced at thrift shops. I have less than $50 in the whole setup, including the Amazon bluetooth receiver I use to stream to it.

 

[redmondjp]

Yard/estate sales, thrift stores, Nextdoor classifieds and Facebook Marketplace are all good sources for "garage" speakers. Heck, a lot of people are now getting rid of decent home theater sound systems (because they want to downsize to a tiny sound bar that IMO sounds like ****) that you can pick up for pennies on the dollar.

I like big bass and I cannot lie, so I have speakers with 12" woofers in my garage. Just picked up a Yamaha RX-777 receiver at Goodwill for $40 that has 100W per channel and can drive both sets of speakers out there (smaller pair near garage door for sound while working on a car in the driveway) to nosebleed levels with no distortion.

You should be able to piece together a really nice shop stereo system for well under $200. You can also use a multi-channel audio/video receiver (AVR) to run in stereo powering 2 or even 3 pairs of speakers quite easily, using one of the higher-power AVRs anyways.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

5k forklift shown for scale

 

[DIY Rookie]

I have an Onkyo receiver/amp and an Optimus dual deck cassette deck, running through a pair of TEAC 3-ways with 8" woofers...sounds amazing, and all of it was sourced at thrift shops. I have less than $50 in the whole setup, including the Amazon bluetooth receiver I use to stream to it

So I have a question here. I have a Yamaha Receiver I want to use in my garage I'm redoing. You said you have and Amazon Bluetooth receiver you use to stream to it. To stream to your Onkyo Receiver? If so how do you connect that to your Onkyo receiver? And you mean you are streaming like Spotify from your Amazon bluetooth to your Onkyo receiver? I'm looking to do the something since Yamaha receiver isn't bluetooth. Appreciate your time and help.

 

[ycgoat]

I have a Bose Sound Touch Wire less system with a 20 series in the house garage

 

[Stobal]

You can add a Bluetooth capability to the Yamaha. It will hook up into one of the audio inputs in the back of the receiver. When that source is selected on the Yamaha whatever you are transmitting to the Bluetooth will play through the receiver. Something like this will do: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9PI9T6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

now as far as the source for the Bluetooth a lot of people use their phones or a spare tablet with apps alike Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal etc.Just connect it to the Bluetooth device attached to the receiver and you are good to go.

 

[DIY Rookie]

You can add a Bluetooth capability to the Yamaha. It will hook up into one of the audio inputs in the back of the receiver. When that source is selected on the Yamaha whatever you are transmitting to the Bluetooth will play through the receiver. Something like this will do: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9PI9T6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

now as far as the source for the Bluetooth a lot of people use their phones or a spare tablet with apps alike Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal etc.Just connect it to the Bluetooth device attached to the receiver and you are good to go.

Awesome Ty appreciate it.

 

[bbmach]

Awesome Ty appreciate it.

Or, you could hook the player of your choice up by cable... RCA into an open input on the receiver, and a 1/8" stereo jack for the phone/tablet headphone port.

 

[xjfish]

Just don't do like I did and replace a quirky quality old Pioneer receiver with a PYLE that has bluetooth. PYLE was a POS back-in-the-day... and still is. (Bluetooth connectivity is great, thats where it ends)

 

[Stobal]

Or, you could hook the player of your choice up by cable... RCA into an open input on the receiver, and a 1/8" stereo jack for the phone/tablet headphone port.

Very true! This is trades a bit of convenience for better sound quality and is certainly the most economic solution.

 

[liliysdad]

I am little late for the boat, but yes, its just a simple BT receiver that plugs into one of the RCA inputs. I am still a cassette guy, so I used the CD input. I have a cheap tablet I keep in the shop just for streaming music so I don't tie up my phone. It works very, very well with excellent sound quality.

I greatly prefer the BT solution over stringing yet another cable to the receiver.

 

[Jblount3]

Oh hell yeah...all the fun pics were on my phone that blew up though.

Thoughts; the camera is about where the car you are working on goes, which places you right about where the bass really unfolds.

dude funktion 1s might be a little over kill, but awesome

 

[jonshonda]

I found a great deal on FB mkplc on four Infinity bookshelf speakers, and center, which I mounted in the corners of the garage and the center right over my bench. Found a nice Marantz receiver to power them.

I currently have a crown amp powering one 12" sub, but I need more bass. End goal is 2 12" subs, as I don't want to have to crank the volume to feel the bass......did I mention I like bass?

 

[crewchief888]

I have a pair of JBL studio series, and a JBL sub in the garage. Powered by a bookshelf radio. My last house/ garage I was using a Marshall slant back cabinet, Powered by a Peavy CS400 Amp. Currently using the same Amp with Kustom 15" cab in my basement reloading room

 

[GRivera]

I just use my Bose sound bar with BT from my phone - great sound, simple, no wiring. I have T-Mobile cell service so all streaming services don't use data - even if they did, I have Wi-Fi in the shop as well. Decent BT speakers are pretty inexpensive these days...

 

[Dancing Bear]

I have a pair of Cerwin Vega E-715's running off of a Marantz SR7200 receiver ... I believe it puts out around 100W/channel, so the 715's are definitely underpowered. I too love some heavy hitting bass, so I added a pair of Cerwin Vega LW-15 powered subwoofers. Let me tell you, this system hits HARD with all four 15 inch woofers. It's been running with no issues for years, other than one tweeter replacement in 2018.

 

[Blackbyrd]

I have an old home theater onkyo unit and speakers. The video inputs got jacked but the sound works just fine. Plugged my echo dot into and just have it play music from prime or xm depending on mood.

 

[Fasthotrod]

I run Pro Audio gear in my shop... and it has it's pro's and cons.

I have a mixer that I use for controlling the inputs/volume.



I have a small DVD player that I sometimes use to play old CD's, but more often than not I use a Bluetooth module and stream from my phone.

The mixer connects to an EQ that has a microphone that I can setup in the shop to dial in the response curve I like (JBL House Curve) when then feeds over to a digital crossover to split the signal to my mains and subs.



(Analog crossover in this pic is just sitting there... not being used.)

From there, it goes into two Crown XLS 1500 amps, and feeds my Peavey 15" cabs and 18" subs. This is all sitting up on my mezzanine above my office space in the shop.










This pic is before I put the system up on the mezzanine, just to provide some perspective of the space. My shop is 40x50x14 with a 4/12 open span pitched roof.



The good: It can get loud as hell in there. I can control the music and overall volume from my phone, which is pretty handy.

The bad: It can be a little fatiguing if you listen at high volumes for very long.

I'm thinking I'm going to move the main speaker cabs to the other side of the shop, mounted high up on the shop walls and angled down slightly. Either in the corners, or inboard a little bit.





Hopefully that will help with stereo imaging and sound dispersion. Unfortunately, I have too many other pressing projects that are taking priority right now... so it will have to wait.

 

[ronr80]

man I thought I had a decent system, PSB1000 sub, 2 amps bridged, para-graphic EQ, 4 good speakers. but you guys rock love it . R

 

[Dancing Bear]

@ronr80 that is an awesome looking EQ you have there!

 

[73project]

You cant beat a lot of the quality vintage amps and speakers, but for convenience sake, I put in a pair of Google Nest Audio speakers. As long as you have a good wireless signal in your garage, they will work great. There is no connecting your phone by plugging it in, or connecting it by bluetooth. All you have to do is go out in the garage, say "hey google, play (insert your favorite artist/album here) full album" Done. Need to turn it up/down? Voice commands for volume too. It's just too damn easy compared to playing something from your phone, or streaming service.

 

[Citation]

So I have a question here. I have a Yamaha Receiver I want to use in my garage I'm redoing. You said you have and Amazon Bluetooth receiver you use to stream to it. To stream to your Onkyo Receiver? If so how do you connect that to your Onkyo receiver? And you mean you are streaming like Spotify from your Amazon bluetooth to your Onkyo receiver? I'm looking to do the something since Yamaha receiver isn't bluetooth. Appreciate your time and help.

So I have a question here. I have a Yamaha Receiver I want to use in my garage I'm redoing. You said you have and Amazon Bluetooth receiver you use to stream to it. To stream to your Onkyo Receiver? If so how do you connect that to your Onkyo receiver? And you mean you are streaming like Spotify from your Amazon bluetooth to your Onkyo receiver? I'm looking to do the something since Yamaha receiver isn't bluetooth. Appreciate your time and help.

To expand on the answer you were already given, with a receiver we can assume you have RCA inputs. One way to stream is get a BT receiver off Amazon. You want one that is powered since it will be left on much of the time. I would also find one with a power switch so it doesn't connect to your phone every time you enter the garage.

A different option, the one I use is an Amazon Echo Dot. I connect it to the stereo using a 1/8” to RCA cord. I can stream music from the Echo directly but it can also BT pair with my phone. Thus I can come into the garage, turn on the stereo and say Alexa play [radio station name]" or "Alexa, connect to my phone". The second one let's me stream the stuff on my phone. My garage is small so range is never an issue. With a larger garage it could be.

 

[jonshonda]

I use a BT receiver, which simply plugs into any device that will accept RCA inputs. It is connected to the CD player inputs on my receiver, so I just switch to CD player and connect to my phone. My receiver has a 110v outlet in the back, which is switched, so the BT receiver is only on when the receiver is on. Which is really nice, because that BT receiver is aggressive and likes pair with your phone whenever possible.

 

[ronr80]

Dancing bear, thanks , but I wish I could get it repaired , it's crackling a little and I had it in 2 different shop and no one can repair it. I have the repair manual, but I'm all thumbs with electronics.
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