Speakers for a large garage space?

[Stuart in MN]

My question is do you need to fill the whole space with sound? If you'll be listening to music mainly while sitting at the workbench, or while working in one specific area, you only need speakers for that area.

 

[vinceg101]

Dug through some folders and found these to illustrate my previous post:

This is looking over at my bay, you can see the receiver and CDP in the back corner high up on a shelf (directly under the "M" in the banner) and you can barely make out the two Marantz speakers on the mezzanine floor; one behind the fan and other above the clock.

Since the previous photo I added the two Cerwin-Vega's on the side wall. You can also barely see the Marantz's on the back wall peaking out from under the banner. The CV's are a great addition and really help allow me to keep the volume at a reasonable level as I end up working under them most of the time. The acoustics in the hangar are pretty impressive so it doesn't take much to fill the space with music.
As I mentioned the receiver is an older (1992) mid level Sony AVR (that was first AVR I bought new) with a newer Sony 200 CDP Music Bank. FM reception in the hangar ***** until I get an exterior antenna, so having 200 CD's on shuffle means I never have to worry about music again.

 

[rattle_snake]

Most any PA speaker is way more efficient than a typical home hifi speaker, and hence will be much louder with same power level.
I have similar sized space with 1.7 kW of amp power and relativity inefficient car audio speakers. It gets the job done very well.
The placement of the speakers is critical, perhaps more important that the quality or driver size. Plan on trying a few different places to see what works and what does not.

 

[Mr. Demeanor]

Screw it, went with 6 Klipsch R51 and a big powered sub. I already had.

 

[Duster346]

Harman kardon reciever, 2 polk floor standing speakers, 2 Polk bookshelf speakers and a 10" Polk sub in my 1200 sq. ft shop. Sounds really friggin good in my opinion.

 

[Mr. Demeanor]

Ive got this monster JBL sub that is too big for the room in my house. Smallsih room with hardwood floors. I decided to just go with the Klipsch R51's mounted around the room and the sub. Ill get a smaller sub for the house.
I bought two of the R51 and I am going to see how they sound. If I like them I will get two more for the big room and two for the 400 sq ft workshop area. If I dont, Ill just keep these two for the workshop area.

 

[greenskeeper]

 

[ItsNemo]

Take your pick...both rigs hooked up in the basement for testing. JBL's on the outsides, QSC K12.2's on the stands, QSC KW181 under the rack for the JBLs. At full tilt unprotected it will instantly damage your ears, can max out the scale on my db meter that goes to 126db.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Dug through some folders and found these to illustrate my previous post:

This is looking over at my bay, you can see the receiver and CDP in the back corner high up on a shelf (directly under the "M" in the banner) and you can barely make out the two Marantz speakers on the mezzanine floor; one behind the fan and other above the clock.

Not to stray too off topic, but are you also on the mye28.com board? I also have an M535i, so seeing one here is cool.

 

[vinceg101]

Not to stray too off topic, but are you also on the mye28.com board? I also have an M535i, so seeing one here is cool.

That's me. Same screen name.

 

[chilow]

Get a boombox. They are cheap nowadays and I find that it fills up a large space pretty well.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Get a boombox. They are cheap nowadays and I find that it fills up a large space pretty well.

I thought they stopped making them in 1988.

Tommy

 

[Sureshot]

I used Bose AM5's in a space that size and people were shocked at the volume and quality.

 

[nehog]

I put a set of 15" PA three way speakers up in my shop, in the two adjacent corners. Wired them to a 200 watt amp, (with 12 awg wire...) and I have sounds that are fantastic. The speakers are well rated, and we can crank it up when working outside and have good sounds with the garage doors opened. They are about 8 to 9 ft up from the floor. Even though they are at one end of the 60 ft part of the building, they cover the space very well.

 

[phy6]

I use a pair of Behringer 15" powered speakers that I used for my wedding. I have them hooked up to a light switch controlled outlet, so I can have one or both on, and they are plenty for a 36x60x14 shop. I have them high up in the corners, aimed into the center of the shop. Because they're powered I ran a 100' and a 30' 1/4" signal cable up in the attic, back to a cheap mixer that has mic inputs and a bluetooth receiver.
Then my phone or google home + Chrome Cast music can output to the mixer. The kids love talking into the mic.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMRV9H6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[PCMusicGuy]

If you only needed passive speakers and have the power end sorted already, I'd just pick up some Monoprice 15" Pro Audio passive PA speakers. You will be so limited on room treatment in a garage space that spending bit money on drivers makes no sense.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24718

 

[ClappedOutBport]

Yeah, I was going to suggest some 90s speakers with 15" drivers. Certainly not high-fidelity, but definitely will get your roof deck rattling!

2 sets from a thrift store and you are in business.

What are you using to power them? Maybe a vintage receiver?

The home speakers with multiple, smaller drivers are good for a home-sized room, but for this space, you need more like PA style with 15" drivers. Heck, that's larger than a small church!

I picked up some old school Cerwin Vegas off craigslist.

This would be my route. I've heard good things about the new CWs, but the price matches.

 

[rjprice]

I'm in the middle of the same project. Putting speakers in my 40x50 shop. I mounted 2 pairs of Klipsch Heresy, one in each corner and a set of Polk Monitor 5s in the middle of the long walls. Just got done running the wire this weekend. Ran 400+ ft of 12 Guage (overkill). Had to rent a scissor lift to get over the 14ft doors. I fabricated the speaker brackets out of angle and square tube. See pictures. I have a big sub, too.

I'm going to run a 100w Pioneer receiver thru a Niles Speaker selector (to correct impedance). If it's not loud enough, I'll go for multiple amps. Craigslist has tons of PAs and speakers. Good Luck!

So I finished my speaker project pretty much. I still need to make a shelf for the receiver and speaker switch and hide the wires. Below is the speaker switch.

THE SOUND IS AWESOME! 2 pairs of Klipsch Heresy and a pair of Polk Monitor 5s in the middle. I was worried the speaker switch would decrease the watts per channel to where it would not fill the shop with sound. The sound field covers the whole 2000 sqft and the sound quality is amazing. The $25 100w pioneer receiver is plenty.