Garage ceiling speakers

[Jwithing1]

Hey folks, just a quick question about ceiling speakers in a garage. I bought 4 monoprice Amber 8 inch ceiling speakers and the can housings on sale for nearly half off. I planned on putting the speakers towards the 4 corners of the rectangle 600sqft 3 car garage. I was wondering if it would be better to not place the two speakers near the garage doors are incase there is any potential for the sound to resonate terribly off the garage doors when open. Doors are steel insulated.

I've looked all over and can't seem to find any info specifically around this, so itay not be an issue. Thanks in advance!

 

[Buy2Much]

Could you wire in some volume controls in case they do?

I've gone the route of ear protection with bluetooth built in to listen to things. Has a mic too so I can send a text or make a call or answer a call "Hey Siri"

 

[Kaizen]

I’d mount them more towards the center about 1/3 of the way in from the walls. So find halfway and split it in half.
I did ceiling speakers in the house and while they worked I will never do it again. Using small speakers in the garage that I can move and direct the sound. Also easier to replace if an issue


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[pgray007]

Don’t know about the resonance but I have a pair of the Monoprice (forget which ones but they were on the nicer end of the spectrum) in my 20x24 and love them.

Are you asking about resonance when the door is open as it would be under the speakers?


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[aka Larry]

I've gone the route of ear protection with bluetooth built in to listen to things. Has a mic too so I can send a text or make a call or answer a call "Hey Siri"

Got a link? Sounds interesting.

 

[Buy2Much]

I've got and older Ryobi tek4 headphone that have an ambient mic for talking. But today I'd go with the Ryobi Phone Works ear buds over at the Home Depot. They look much lighter.

I've got a couple of years old bluetooth receiver transmitter from Amazon. It has a mic on it for phone calls. It's good for about 30ft.

It is probably safer to keep the cell phone on yourself to make an emergency call should you need it.

 

[Jwithing1]

Don’t know about the resonance but I have a pair of the Monoprice (forget which ones but they were on the nicer end of the spectrum) in my 20x24 and love them.

Are you asking about resonance when the door is open as it would be under the speakers?


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Yes, that's exactly my concern. Not worried about it drowning out the sound, I can always crank it up if no resonance

 

[Jwithing1]

Could you wire in some volume controls in case they do?

I've gone the route of ear protection with bluetooth built in to listen to things. Has a mic too so I can send a text or make a call or answer a call "Hey Siri"

Wiring in volume controls at this point isn't really feasible. Your voice command ear protection setup sounds sweet though...

 

[Jwithing1]

I’d mount them more towards the center about 1/3 of the way in from the walls. So find halfway and split it in half.
I did ceiling speakers in the house and while they worked I will never do it again. Using small speakers in the garage that I can move and direct the sound. Also easier to replace if an issue


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I hear ya, I know it's not necessarily ideal, but the clean finished look of ceiling speakers won.

 

[chaosracing]

Not trying to hijack thread, but

Got a link? Sounds interesting.

https://www.skullcandy.com/shop/headphones/bluetooth-headphones/hesh-2

I use these for mowing, trimming and other stuff. They work great and the battery lasts a long time between charges. Been using them for a year and a half with no problems. They have also been dropped many times with zero problems.

 

[chaosracing]

If your really worried about the sound bouncing off the garage door when open, then I would place them so they would not be above the door when open. Why can't you install a volume control switch? And honestly, 4 speakers might be overkill for a 600 sq ft garage. I have two exogear wireless speakers from Costco and one is plenty in my 1000 sq ft garage right now. Might need both once its full of stuff and wall covering up, but they can get pretty loud.

 

[jonshonda]

And honestly, 4 speakers might be overkill for a 600 sq ft garage.

How dare you!


I have thought about ceiling mounted speakers too, but would miss the imaging the comes with speakers mounted horizontally. Maybe you could build a small speaker box with a mount to aim them as you please?

 

[CJ7VFR]

...I have thought about ceiling mounted speakers too, but would miss the imaging the comes with speakers mounted horizontally. Maybe you could build a small speaker box with a mount to aim them as you please?

This is why I didn't go with ceiling mounted speakers in my basement bar area and ended up mounting speakers in the four corners of the room all pointing towards the center of the room.

With the speakers in the ceiling, pointing straight down, you do loose a lot of sound, especially in the mid to high ranges. That, and it seems like as you walk around the room, and you walk under any of the speakers, you get blasted with sound for a second, which is annoying.

Jim

 

[mike93lx]

Never put speakers in corners and if possible, avoid being close to walls.

Getting them into the room a bit will sound much better.

Are they single point stereo? If not, it may be best to send a mono signal to them, otherwise it won't sound great when you aren't right between a stereo pair

 

[Kaizen]

I hear ya, I know it's not necessarily ideal, but the clean finished look of ceiling speakers won.

Yup looks sometimes have to come first. The baffles behind them will help. Seal them well.


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[Jwithing1]

If your really worried about the sound bouncing off the garage door when open, then I would place them so they would not be above the door when open. Why can't you install a volume control switch? And honestly, 4 speakers might be overkill for a 600 sq ft garage. I have two exogear wireless speakers from Costco and one is plenty in my 1000 sq ft garage right now. Might need both once its full of stuff and wall covering up, but they can get pretty loud.

Insulation, drywall, and slatwall is already up. Speaker wire is ran to the basement and will be connected to a smart AV receiver for compatibility with Google home. Running a volume control for each speaker and having an accessible location would be a pain to say the least.

I'd rather be over powered than under powered

 

[Jwithing1]

A couple more pics that didn't want to load in the last message.

 

[Shiftless]

Never put speakers in corners and if possible, avoid being close to walls.

Getting them into the room a bit will sound much better.

Are they single point stereo? If not, it may be best to send a mono signal to them, otherwise it won't sound great when you aren't right between a stereo pair

Realistically, speakers in a garage just about have to be near walls. From what I remember about audio design, the problem with corners is that it tends to overemphasize bass. With smaller speakers I don’t consider that much of a problem.
I have a small 2 car garage 20x20 with small Advent outdoor speakers mounted on the walls near the ceiling in each corner. Driven by an old Sony receiver STR-D315 so I have control of balance left, right, front, and back. 80 watts per channel. Works great! But then again I am perfectly content with radio only and always listening to the same channel.

 

[Jwithing1]

If your really worried about the sound bouncing off the garage door when open, then I would place them so they would not be above the door when open. Why can't you install a volume control switch? And honestly, 4 speakers might be overkill for a 600 sq ft garage. I have two exogear wireless speakers from Costco and one is plenty in my 1000 sq ft garage right now. Might need both once its full of stuff and wall covering up, but they can get pretty loud.

Never put speakers in corners and if possible, avoid being close to walls.

Getting them into the room a bit will sound much better.

Are they single point stereo? If not, it may be best to send a mono signal to them, otherwise it won't sound great when you aren't right between a stereo pair

Well, I was planning on just slapping them in the ceiling and calling it a day, but seems more complicated lol

Primary use will be music, so mono would be good there. But I would also like stereo capability as I plan to put a projector in for a golf emulator and may watch sports on it as well. The av receiver should give me both capabilities. I drew out the attached setup. Anybody see any faults here?

 

[rattle_snake]

If your a normal person listening to music at a reasonable level, the placement isn't going to be super critical.
On the other hand if you want the best results, you should experiment and see what you like best. I suggest temporarily mounting (hanging) them and test a few locations. It will be clear what matters and what does not, and what is best for your specific room and subjective opinion.

I also suggest using only 2 speakers, 4 isn't going to improve anything, IMO. A 'stereo' architecture/signal format was designed for a 'stereo' (2ch) speaker layout. Consider what you see at a concert or a mixing room. They don't randomly sprinkle extra speakers around. Sell one pair and get a subwoofer(s)

The bass response will be significantly improved if mounted in the corners, but reflections at higher frequencies will likely smear everything else to some degree.

If you like it loud but people in the house don't, put the speakers close to where you spend most of your time.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Never put speakers in corners and if possible, avoid being close to walls.

Getting them into the room a bit will sound much better.

Are they single point stereo? If not, it may be best to send a mono signal to them, otherwise it won't sound great when you aren't right between a stereo pair

Realistically, speakers in a garage just about have to be near walls. From what I remember about audio design, the problem with corners is that it tends to overemphasize bass. With smaller speakers I don’t consider that much of a problem.
I have a small 2 car garage 20x20 with small Advent outdoor speakers mounted on the walls near the ceiling in each corner. Driven by an old Sony receiver STR-D315 so I have control of balance left, right, front, and back. 80 watts per channel. Works great! But then again I am perfectly content with radio only and always listening to the same channel.

Exactly. My setup is almost the same as yours except I have a small Bluetooth receiver attached to my stereo receiver so I can also play anything that is on my phone, or any of the thousands of internet stations.

Actually, putting speakers in the corners and closer to walls is one way to increase the bass if the speakers don't have separate woofers like you said. That has been a "trick" of audiofiles for decades. You can get better bass with cheaper speakers like I have, and like Shiftless has, versus spending a ton of money on speakers that are going into a garage or basement.

Yes, the other frequencies may not respond as well as the bass does by putting the speakers in the corners, or close to the wall. But most humans can't detect the difference unless the volume is significantly increased. And doing that just makes your ears hurt anyway!

Just look at how any home stereo setup is done. People pay big bucks for wall mounts to put their surround sound speakers up and out of the way, mounted just inches from the wall. This helps to direct the sound to where you want it. Same for anyone who uses speaker stands.

I can't remember the last time I saw surround sound speakers far away from a wall or corner except when someone had them on a cabinet or table. Most of the stereo places even recommend putting the speakers near the corners of a room to get the best spread of the sound for watching movies and listening to music.

Jim

 

[Jwithing1]

If your a normal person listening to music at a reasonable level, the placement isn't going to be super critical.
On the other hand if you want the best results, you should experiment and see what you like best. I suggest temporarily mounting (hanging) them and test a few locations. It will be clear what matters and what does not, and what is best for your specific room and subjective opinion.

I also suggest using only 2 speakers, 4 isn't going to improve anything, IMO. A 'stereo' architecture/signal format was designed for a 'stereo' (2ch) speaker layout. Consider what you see at a concert or a mixing room. They don't randomly sprinkle extra speakers around. Sell one pair and get a subwoofer(s)

The bass response will be significantly improved if mounted in the corners, but reflections at higher frequencies will likely smear everything else to some degree.

If you like it loud but people in the house don't, put the speakers close to where you spend most of your time.

Thanks for the input. My understanding from reviews of the 8 inch monoprice Amber is that they actually already have some good base. I've wired to allow me to throw in my old bic pl200 under the workbench of I so choose.

I may have to just trial and error by testing. I'm not looking for audiophile quality, just don't want to cut holes in the ceiling then be upset lol.

 

[Jwithing1]

If your a normal person listening to music at a reasonable level, the placement isn't going to be super critical.
On the other hand if you want the best results, you should experiment and see what you like best. I suggest temporarily mounting (hanging) them and test a few locations. It will be clear what matters and what does not, and what is best for your specific room and subjective opinion.

I also suggest using only 2 speakers, 4 isn't going to improve anything, IMO. A 'stereo' architecture/signal format was designed for a 'stereo' (2ch) speaker layout. Consider what you see at a concert or a mixing room. They don't randomly sprinkle extra speakers around. Sell one pair and get a subwoofer(s)

The bass response will be significantly improved if mounted in the corners, but reflections at higher frequencies will likely smear everything else to some degree.

If you like it loud but people in the house don't, put the speakers close to where you spend most of your time.

Forgot to mention, I meant surround, not stereo. More of a nice to have for this setup.

 

[Jwithing1]

New house has an open floor plan, so my surrounds in the living room are no more. I could always just put a pair of these in the living room ceiling... I know... Not ideal, but better than nothing. The last house that we were in for 2 years didn't accommodate my surrounds as well and I missed them quite a bit, especially on a 110 inch screen

 

[ChaseDE]

To answer your question, we don't know.

Easiest way to find out is to wire the ones up that will be above the door, just loose wire inside the garage, crank the sounds, open the doors, get on a ladder and hold one over the door.

If you get no resonance that way, they ain't gonna resonate when mounted in the ceiling.

 

[Shiftless]

Some guys are building a pretty sophisticated listening room in their garages. Lots of guys have big flat screens in there too. That’s great! I just don’t have the room.

Ceiling mount in finished space gives a nice clean look with no wires to hide. That is good!

Other guys like me just like some tunes while working with tools that don’t make a lot of noise. BTW, with a garage sale sourced receiver and 4 speakers with 100 feet of speaker wire from Home Depot I came in at just under $100.
I mounted the receiver in a room next to the garage so sawdust wouldn’t clog it up. Like I said earlier, I never change channels. (Jazz fan here)

My Advent Marbl speakers have been discontinued but if anybody is looking for good value in a small package, you might still find them somewhere cheap.