In-ceiling speaker/stereo system

[87brad]

I'm currently remodeling my garage and want to put in stereo system with in-ceiling speakers. Garage is about 650 sqft. I do not need something super nice but don't want junk either. Looking to spend no more than $1000 for speakers and receiver.

Suggestions?

 

[Stuart in MN]

A couple decent sources for ceiling mount speakers:
Dayton Audio http://www.daytonaudio.com
Parts Express https://www.parts-express.com

For the receiver, do you just want radio, or will you be listening to CDs or do you want to link to your phone? Good quality used receivers show up all the time on Craigslist or at garage sales, but it depends on what features you want.

 

[87brad]

[QUOTE
For the receiver, do you just want radio, or will you be listening to CDs or do you want to link to your phone? Good quality used receivers show up all the time on Craigslist or at garage sales, but it depends on what features you want.[/QUOTE]

I want it to be bluetooth so that I could play music off my phone. I place in town suggested that I install an Ethernet line in the garage instead of relying on a wifi connection.

 

[jeffmattero76]

I am considering doing something similar. Why would you need an Ethernet line? Does a receiver have an Ethernet input? If so, why? Granted, it has been many years since I looked at stereo equipment.

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk

 

[jmiller_2308]

$1000 should more then meet your needs whether you buy new or used.

I have ceiling speakers in my shop. I was a bit concerned that they wouldn't have enough bass so I also added an in wall sub-woofer with its own amp. In reality, the ceiling speakers were good on their own.

I do encourage you to look on craigslist, ebay and even woot for a receiver. I got a relatively recent Denon for less than $300 complete with ethernet and apps like pandora. Unfortunately Denon's networking and Pandora implementations ****! They seem to go offline about once a year when SSL certificates age and Denon can't seem to figure out how to recover without releasing all new software. Denon music is great but their apps ****!

Onkyo has some relatively inexpensive amps that have online capabilities but I've had two of these amps fail on me. Your mileage may vary.

Bluetooth on the amp may mean getting a much newer amp that could limit your choices but you could always use an external bluetooth receiver connected to an input on the amp as a way of getting bluetooth cheaper.

When you run wires be sure to use large enough gauge and nothing smaller than 14, 12 would be better.

Think about how many speakers you want to drive and how much power they may need. I run 7 pairs of speakers and needed to use a speaker selector to balance the power. The Denon has the ability to run a second zone with its own amplifier. This was great for being able to split speakers up so that the amp could actually drive that many speakers.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I want it to be bluetooth so that I could play music off my phone. I place in town suggested that I install an Ethernet line in the garage instead of relying on a wifi connection.

Bluetooth ethernet and wifi are all different connection methods. You dont need one to operate the other.

Bluetooth can work without the other 2.

Ethernet or wifi would be needed if you plan on doing internet streaming or want to play something off a media server.

 

[Fasthotrod]

I've bought more than a few pairs of these 8" speakers for multiple projects:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=4103

The nice thing about these speakers is that you can buy an enclosure that covers the back of them:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=11942

That way, you can keep the spiders/dust/crud/insulation off of the back of them. I run two pairs in the rear of my home theater.

My friend Jim has four sets of these in the ceiling of his 40x60 shop and it sounds decent. He wanted more bass, so he added some 15" subs to fill it out. He runs everything with two Crown XLS-1500 Pro Audio amplifiers... thankfully, he's out in the country so he's not disturbing the neighbors when he's jamming.

I put 28 of the 8" speakers and covers suspended from an open ceiling into our brewery in OKC, along with four Yamaha RX-V 579 receivers to drive them. (Seven speakers per receiver.) The receivers have Bluetooth, wired and wireless Wi-Fi, and built in internet radio, Pandora, and Spotify. They were a good deal due to closeout... $299.99 if memory serves me, but it doesn't look like they are available anymore. There are a LOT of others in that price range though... I get pretty good deals from NewEgg and I've bought a lot of stuff from them, and highly recommend them. Here's a quick search for 7.2 channel receivers from NewEgg:

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?Submit=...28&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=36

So figure $300 for the receiver, give or take... add 2-3 pairs of speakers with covers for about $100/pr, and you're in for $500 - $600. That leaves some extra $$ for speaker wire, cables, speaker wire wall plates, stuff like that.

Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[Jazzman442]

If your budget is 1K then I Believe you like really good sound for your garage. I would go with and I also have JBL built in 8" they are fantastic. Or the JBL enclosed speakers. These are the ones Disney and all parks use for back ground and events. All others listed or cheaper speakers. Good Luck spent years in the audio business.

 

[remagenman]

Hit up a Goodwill/Value Village in the good side of town and you can find audio gold for cheap! Seriously, some of the stuff people donate is in the $100's of dollars range that you can get for a few bucks.

Anyhow, I have done Raspberry Pi audio setups, computer audio setups, etc., but honestly it is very convenient and easy to just use a smart speaker with Alexa or Google voice and see myself using that most often.

Currently the Sonos One (Gen 1) is selling for $149 on Amazon, pair a couple of those up and your done.

 

[Citation]

You might try posting this question in the general garage section.

With a $1000 budget I think you could do quite a bit. The question is what are you really looking to get. One or two pairs of decent in ceiling speakers, a $100 receiver (or a used one) and a $25 Logitech BT adapter and you are good to go.

Personally, I would look for a good set of bookshelf speakers (NHT, Pardigim Titans, PSB Alphas... may others) and mount them high vs in the ceiling. In my house I have some NHT SB2 speakers, a good BT adapter and an Extron XPA1002 conference room style amp. The Extron is mean to be used in classrooms, conference rooms etc. The great thing is the low power standby. I never turn it off. When I start the music playing it auto detects and turns on. Decent power (60W/ch) which is plenty for background music.

However, if thumping bass is your thing then you might want something different.

 

[Specracer]

Sonos Amp to power the speakers. Or a receiver fed by a Sonos connect. More enjoyable than bluetooth through your phone. You wont get interruptions of your music, from calls, texts, and other notifications.

 

[87brad]

You might try posting this question in the general garage section.

With a $1000 budget I think you could do quite a bit. The question is what are you really looking to get. One or two pairs of decent in ceiling speakers, a $100 receiver (or a used one) and a $25 Logitech BT adapter and you are good to go.
.

I was not quite sure where to post this but may post over there as well. I'm looking for even coverage throughout the garage so between 4 to 6 speakers in total. I had a guy come out probably in January from best buy and at that time they had a 5 speaker system through sonos on sale for $595 but I wasn't really sure what I wanted at the time. I'd be alright with going with that set up now if they still had it at that price.

As far as why I want in-ceiling speakers vs ones attached to a wall or on a shelf is solely for aesthetic purposes.. I'm super **** when it comes to making things look clean and clutter free. I want the sound but I want them as minimal visible as possible. Thus in-ceiling have the cleanest look to me.

 

[Citation]

I don't have a good ceiling speaker suggestion as that isn't something I've looked at in the past. However, I do have some other suggestions. A receiver may be a good way to power 4 speakers but may not be good for more than that. Ideally you should use either one amp channel per speaker or a high voltage system to distribute the sound (a 70V system like you might find in an office ceiling system).

A while back I helped my brother do a ceiling setup in his house. I think he picked some PSB speakers. He wanted an amp that didn't draw much power in idle and didn't want to turn the system on each time he wanted to use it. The system had 3 pairs of speakers. We ended up using three amps kind of like these
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C2P61FO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

We just used a series of Y splitters to take the output from his Logitech Squeezebox and send it into the three amps. At idle these use very little power. The only down side is they have limited power. Sufficient for background but not for going loud.

A Google Chromecast Audio is a decent alternative to a bluetooth setup. You can get 3rd party apps that will stream from you phone to the Chromecast. So long as the phone and Chromecast are on the same wifi network it works well. Then again, BT isn't bad either if the range isn't too much.

 

[Specracer]

If you have more than 2 pairs of speakers, indeed you have to consider the impedance (actually a cheap receiver may not even be able to handle 2 pair, they could be only rated to handle 8ohm). A speaker selector with impedance protection solves this (there are countless versions available, here is a basic cheapie)

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=9995

 

[SGKent]

wall mounts or speakers sitting on small secure shelves will give better sound. Wait until something lands on the back of the ceiling mount cone and the speaker starts buzzing. I used to install them for a living eons ago. In ceiling is for convenience only, not for sound quality.

 

[MrGoods]

I've got a fairly "budget" setup that covers my garage/shop as well as backyard/deck areas, and I've had quite a few buddies **** me into helping them get systems setup after partying at my place... this is one of the few topics I actually have solid experience in.

First and foremost I'd steer clear of using a home theater/surround sound amplifier, instead go with a two channel commercial amplifier used off eBay/craiglist/facebook. I'm partial to QSC but Crown also makes some great units. In my setup I run a QSC GXD 4 1600 watt 2 channel amplifier. I paid under $200 for mine, it's able to handle my 9 speakers running at 8-ohm impedance with ease. I've got mine setup to run split channels, Channel 1 is connected to a long range bluetooth receiver, I've used several but currently I'm using a 1Mii. Any reciever that's BT 5.0, and has aptX is good, check Amazon there's quite a few available. Channel 1 is for streaming from phones/laptops/anything bluetooth enabled (or connected to a BT adapter), while channel 2 is connected to a remote source switcher which can switch between my shop computer, cable box, xbox/PS4, etc...

Now as far as connecting speakers to the amp you have a few routes you can go down, if you want control centrally you can run something like Theater Solutions TS8D Eight Zone Dual Source Selector which offers circuit protection and impedance matching as well as an easy way to turn off certain speaker pairs (or more, if running in parallel). You can also run a the output into a single source distribution block and from there connect to something like OSD's resistive volume controls (they come in quite a few different flavors, resistive, passive, 100 watt or 300 watt, a-b selectable or not..). The idea is that you want to try and keep your impedance consistent 8 ohm, 4 ohm, 16 ohm (depending on the amp you get and how you lay your setup out) so that you don't have volume spikes and don't stress the amp unnecessarily. So long as you have impedance control devices along the way your only limit to number of speakers is going to be power output...

As far as speakers, I'll echo the others in this thread... don't do in-ceiling unless you absolutely must. bookshelf/boxed speakers mounted up high will provide a far better experience. I'm a Klipsch fanboy (I'm not gonna lie, the copper cones are like 50% of what I like about them... they're so pretty!) and I've had great luck tracking down scratch and dent/cosmetically challenged speakers for my shop on the cheap. I have 3 floor standing towers along my shop's back wall that were $350 each at retail, but due to water damage on the bottom and heavy scratches I paid $200... they still sound great, and I don't have to feel guilty about having them in the shop. It's a similar story with the 4 smaller bookshelf speakers i have mounted up high at the front of the shop, they're not pretty but they sound great. The outdoor speakers I bought off monoprice and they also seem to work quite well.

For only 650sq ft I'd think something like a QSC GX5 or even GX3 amp and 4-6 speakers (depending on if you go with floor standing towers or smaller bookshelf speakers). Off the top of my head with the amp at $200, wire at $100, and volume/channel/impedance control at $250-$300 you've got a solid $400 to blow on speakers. The bigger they are and the more dynamic range they have, the better!

Right, ok I think I've rambled on about this for long enough for now... if you want specifics on any of that wall of text above feel free to ask, I can certainly elaborate (more...).

 

[cort]

There is already good advice in this thread, but I want to add a bit of caution for others contemplating ceiling speakers in their garages. If there is living space above the garage and you install ceiling speakers, then you may be penetrating a code governed fire barrier. Check with your AHJ first.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Denwood]

With regard to fire code and backer boxes...from an older post of mine doing some ATMOS ceiling speakers for the home theatre. The boxes were drywalled over with two layers of 5/8", then speaker holes cut. I have them mounted up here for testing:

To do a 1 hour fire rated backer box (which would be code here), the box needs to be lined. There are a few backer box tutorials suggesting that cement board is a good choice. Some research (Hardieboard) suggests that although inflammable, the product is not fire rated as it simply transmits heat, whereas fire code X drywall actually dissipates heat via a reaction in the gypsum. This gives it the 1 hr fire rating. That said, I figure the paper drywall layer would likely burn off very quickly. With that in mind, I found this Certainteed Glasroc Tile 5/8" backer board which is fire rated. The "tile" side is acrylic coated, with a fiberglass layer beneath, however the back side is glass coated.

This is what the back side of the Glasroc looked like after about 30 seconds with a propane torch. Even after a minute, the back side was just warm.

The Tile side has an acrylic coating for adhesion. It did not burn, but bubbled up immediately given the torch treatment..so for sure it should be reversed in the backer box.

Cutting this material is simple..identical to drywall. Score with a razor knife and snap.

The spec from Paradigm for their H65-R Atmos ceiling (6.5" driver) calls for an ideal 34 liter (1.2 ft3) backer box. This seems like a lot, but these are designed to go into wall cavities...so the design spec makes sense. Putting a ceiling speaker in without a backer box would be a big noise issue upstairs (my theater build is right under our living room), so these ones are built to stop noise transmission. Mass and Green Glue (to create a viscoelastic dampening layer) are proven techniques.

The Makita track saw once again proved a perfect tool for this job.

The first structural layer is just 3/4" birch and 3/4" MDF I had in the shop. Wood glue and air nails makes short work of assembly.

Backer boxes ready to install for six LED lights and two Atmos ceiling speakers . The Atmos boxes are 34 litres (1.2 cubic feet) and will tuck up between basement ceiling joists.

 

[nsula_country]

Yamaha for receiver. Hard to beat.

Never did ceiling speakers.

CT

 

[87brad]

Has anyone ever tried the Polk Audio RC80i? https://www.crutchfield.com/p_107RC80I/Polk-Audio-RC80i.html

I've heard great reviews on this. It was rated the best in-ceiling speaker in 2018 and currently the 2nd best for 2019 https://bestreviews.com/best-in-ceiling-speakers

Also as far as speaker boxes are concerned, I've heard mixed ratings. Some say do it and some say not needed. One of the most reputable places in town (Classic Stereo) said that speakers boxes would not be needed in my garage since my house is a ranch. He said typically people would put speaker boxes in in homes with rooms above the garage so the sound does not travel up into the room. As far as my house he said that it will be just fine without boxes and to put a layer of mat insulation between the speaker and the blown in insulation that will be going in the rest of the attic.

 

[ASHMAN_AZ]

My go to cheap ceiling speaker is the Polk RC80I ~$150 a pr. I use 6 for my surround sound and 8 on my porch. I would add a sub, they are too small to support much below 80hz. Cheapest way to build a powered sub is 12V car audio amp with a 12V computer power supply. To stay under $1000 I would buy new speakers and used amplifiers.

I hide two 6th order bandpass boxes above the drywall, Its a unique sound since the ceiling surface helps with dispersion.

 

[LX-Markham]

hung my old college-days speakers (Yamaha NS-A8835) from the roof and finished flush with the ceiling. Vaulted ceiling makes them sound great!