TV and audio setups?

[The_Auto_Tech]

Just curious to see what you guys have.

Last year I re-did my living room and ended up with a Vizio 60" 4K display along with a Vizio 5.1 sound bar setup. Both items have Google Cast built into them along with an app to control them. The display was wall mounted with a Sanus full motion wall mount, and I have a Google Home that voice automates with them.

After finishing out a lot of the garage I decided it was time to get some sort of sound and TV setup out there as I do a lot of side work in there. For years I just had a single bluetooth speaker which was OK. I actually just bought the 2017 version of the above display which now has a better LED display and HDR, so the old display went out into the garage with a Harbor Freight full motion wall mount. Now that I have a really nice TV out there I'd like to do a decent audio setup.

Thinking about just doing another sound bar setup, this time maybe just a 2.1 setup as surround sound will do zero good in the garage due to me not being in a static seating arrangement.

What setups are you guys working with?

EDIT: Forgot to add - the garage now has a Google Home Mini as well. No need to take gloves off and stop working, can change display volume and music and videos with voice.

 

[ddawg16]

I can't hear **** over the noise of the power tools.....so why bother....

Actually, we have outdoor speakers in the backyard. My garage is detached and in the back....If I want tunes....I turn on the back speakers and listen to it between power tools....like when I'm staining wood....

 

[ZipSnafu]

I'm just using some nice larger speakers in my garage because lets face it... garage acoustic's usually *****. That way if I'm using noisey tools I can crank it.

 

[BPJOOP93]

40” tv older kenwood tuner with 6 older floor standing speakers all up on top of cabinets. Sounds great! Nothing fancy but it was all cheap or nearly free.

 

[Falcon67]

$199 40" LED TV, Chromecast, audio sent to a 1982 model Radio Shack tuner/amp with $20 worth of matching RS junk sale speakers. Works great, good sound.

 

[Hollywood D]

I recently moved in with my girlfriend so we have a lot of doubles of stuff now. Good news is I’m putting my 40” Samsung in the garage as well as some other electronics. We will see how long it lasts with the sawdust and temp swings.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

That's what I'm thinking as well is that something decent and cheap will do the job for sound. I'd like more than just a single bluetooth speaker. I could get a Vizio 2.1 soundbar setup for about 100 bucks.

 

[Oldbear]

42" flat screen, old Sony amp and the shop CPU wired to the network. I have a small bookshelf speaker in each of the four corners - but I have them wired as only two channels - rather than surround sound. I run streaming music all the time and I'm now setup to watch streaming shows on the big screen too (we've cut satellite to help fund my beer habit...) but as mentioned shop acoustics often **** so I'm more about volume than quality. The CPU is part of the entertainment package too. Put also gets used for instructional videos and to run my Snap-on/Mitchell diagnostic programs.

I listen to the music as I work and I watch shows when I'm done (once the beer is opened).

There is my old PS2 out there also. Sometimes a guy justs wants to race cars or smash faces without ending the night in jail...

I'll be moving this all over to the new shop when it gets to that stage.

 

[Oldbear]

That's what I'm thinking as well is that something decent and cheap will do the job for sound. I'd like more than just a single bluetooth speaker. I could get a Vizio 2.1 soundbar setup for about 100 bucks.

I like simple, but I've been too simple in the new shop build; I spend too much time in my own head if I don't have music so I've been using my iPhone to play music in the new shop build. One little speaker is not enough. So my awesome wife found me an old portable radio last night to up the speaker quality - but I need to repair the antenna first...

 

[Thirdyfivepickup]

Man, as much as I don't want to play along I'm gonna follow this. I have a simple wall hanging radio/cd combo. I don't really want to add a TV out in the garage.

but... I'm upgrading to a 65" 4k in the house and might break my rule and put a tv in the garage so I can watch the game

 

[Oldbear]

Man, as much as I don't want to play along I'm gonna follow this. I have a simple wall hanging radio/cd combo. I don't really want to add a TV out in the garage.

but... I'm upgrading to a 65" 4k in the house and might break my rule and put a tv in the garage so I can watch the game

I like the TV in the shop - but I have to remember to leave it off when I have work to do. But to watch a MotoGP race while having a drink and a pipe is nice.

 

[kwschumm]

It was difficult to hear dialog of our 70" Vizio 4k TV with the crappy built in speakers in our large great room.

I already had the equipment (stored from the last move) so I hooked up my Denon surround sound receiver, MK front and rear speakers on floor stands, placed an MK center channel below the TV, and hooked up a Yamaha subwoofer for 5.1 surround sound.

It still sounded like **** with muddy dialog even after using the self-tune microphone and setup of the Denon receiver.

I then ordered a Sonos playbar and it sounded great out of the box. Turned off the loudness control on it and the dialog is even better, crisp and clear with decent bass.

I've had it with being an audiophile wannabe. Too much money, too much trial and error, too many wires, too many remote controls, and too many acoustical variables.

IMO the Sonos is the way to go. I may pony up for the Sonos rear channel speakers and subwoofer some day but it sounds great the way it is. Maybe I'll leave it as is and buy more tools instead.

 

[Morrison]

55” Sony 4K HDR (900E)
5.1 surround
Boston Acoustic Speakers
Denon Receiver
Xbox One X

 

[rzims]

I upgraded my surround sound in the house and put the old tuner out in the garage with a couple of decent speakers.
For the TV, I got a small 32" on clearance for under 100.00 and that's mounted up in the corner with a digital antennae. I always have music on out there but only use the TV when there's a Sharks game on...

 

[engineer2]

Took down my 1970's era stereo and tube TV. Now have:
Vizio TV (finally got around to fixing it)
Cable to attic with a $5 antenna picks up all the Chicago stations.
Altec Lansing boombox with remote, FM radio, and aux inputs.
Audio output from TV feeds boombox.
Phone can connect to boombox.

 

[ZipSnafu]

Man, as much as I don't want to play along I'm gonna follow this. I have a simple wall hanging radio/cd combo. I don't really want to add a TV out in the garage.

but... I'm upgrading to a 65" 4k in the house and might break my rule and put a tv in the garage so I can watch the game

I broke the rule of no TV's in the shop about 8 months ago... now I have a 50" Samsung and satellite and love it. I mostly listen to tunes but the swamp buggy races the other night was cool to relax by.

 

[garage guy1of38]

Here's mine

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

For a long time I told myself I wasn't gonna put a TV out there, but I've been using my phone to do all my videos and music streaming lately. Now with the TV out there and Google Home Mini I can simply change songs, videos, volume, etc. without having to take off my gloves and press any buttons. It's very friendly when you're in the middle of something. It comes in very handy for those YouTube instructional videos for sure. Also, sometimes I have "customers" that stop in for something easy that's only gonna take 15-20 minutes and they can chill and watch TV instead of sitting on their phone. Also, I'd agree 100% about being an audiophile. I used to get into receivers and speakers and stuff back in the day, but now I just don't care. A 5.1 soundbar is more than what 95% of what people need. I can testify, the setup in the living room rarely sees anything above 15% volume. Sure, for a dedicated theater room you may want more, but for any "normal" setup it just seems like a waste.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

It was difficult to hear dialog of our 70" Vizio 4k TV with the crappy built in speakers in our large great room.

I already had the equipment (stored from the last move) so I hooked up my Denon surround sound receiver, MK front and rear speakers on floor stands, placed an MK center channel below the TV, and hooked up a Yamaha subwoofer for 5.1 surround sound.

It still sounded like **** with muddy dialog even after using the self-tune microphone and setup of the Denon receiver.

I then ordered a Sonos playbar and it sounded great out of the box. Turned off the loudness control on it and the dialog is even better, crisp and clear with decent bass.

I've had it with being an audiophile wannabe. Too much money, too much trial and error, too many wires, too many remote controls, and too many acoustical variables.

IMO the Sonos is the way to go. I may pony up for the Sonos rear channel speakers and subwoofer some day but it sounds great the way it is. Maybe I'll leave it as is and buy more tools instead.

Sonos makes some very nice stuff. Brother in law has their soundbar setup and really likes it. I almost considered getting a similar setup and moving my Vizio soundbar setup to the garage, but both setups would go to waste.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

I like simple, but I've been too simple in the new shop build; I spend too much time in my own head if I don't have music so I've been using my iPhone to play music in the new shop build. One little speaker is not enough. So my awesome wife found me an old portable radio last night to up the speaker quality - but I need to repair the antenna first...

I'm the same. I gotta have background noise of some sort. I had a shop I worked in that was always loud with air tools and power washers and vacuums. It was terrible. Had to wear hearing protection all the time. That really sucked because then you could never hear the radio. I ended up having to get a set of headphones because I'd go crazy.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

$199 40" LED TV, Chromecast, audio sent to a 1982 model Radio Shack tuner/amp with $20 worth of matching RS junk sale speakers. Works great, good sound.

Chromecast is the best thing since sliced bread. I'm really happy that Vizio decided to build it into most of their newer TV's.

 

[Git]

I have a Yamaha soundbar (from Costco on sale) under the TV . It has bluetooth, so a cheap Amazon Dot ($30) streams to the soundbar when I want to listen to music. My favorite radio station is on iHeart radio - I just have to tell the Dot to play the station

Amazon Dot
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DFKC2SO/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Klipsch 5.1 system hooked to a Yamaha 7.1 receiver for audio.

Video is a 110” screen painted on the basement wall for my 1080 HD projector to shine on.

Most people don’t want to watch movies with me. They say I have it too loud. Well, atleast that’s what I think they’re saying. I can’t hear them over the movie.





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[bushmechanic]

Display:

Panasonic 800U Plasma (P65ZT60 would be better, but they're hard to find. I won't buy anything else until there are NO compromises)

Receiver:

Pioneer Elite (Should probably be upgraded, but at least I ditched all the amps... I kind of want to try Atmos in here). I know components are better, but after a while you kind of get tired of it all. Ditched the turntable, as well.

Speakers:

JBL Studio L (Outstanding speakers that are quite a bit cheaper now, so you might want to have a look if you're shopping around) in a 7.1 arrangement.

Source Units:

Xbox One X, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Sega Genesis/CD/32X, Nintendo Wii, NES... Pretty much everything, but the One and One X are pretty much the best source units ever manufactured now that they bitstream the HD codecs.

Yes, I do keep a couple of CRT displays to game properly when I fire up the more retro consoles. They're on carts, though.

Control:

Logitech Harmony RF, as it's all rack-mounted in another room. It's running through some voice control stuff with the lights and all. Hell, it takes eight remotes to run this stuff without it.

Wiring:

All Bluejeans Cable, run through walls into really nice terminals I modded a bit to look cool.

TV Stand:

I know it's not normally a cool thing, but when Circuit City went out of business, I bought one of those steel television displays. In my "single male" household, it looks really nice. I've got a nice-looking electronic "fireplace" on the baseplate.

 

[JD3020]

Heres our set-up in the garage, think its a 40" LG with DirecTV. Kinda surprised how well its held up in a shop that doesn't really have climate control. In the summer with A/C off i've seen it at 100* inside, and in the winter if there isn't a constant fire it can hit low teens. Surprisngly its been going strong for 6 or 7 years now. Only issue is the sound *****, never leaves max volume and that can be a struggle to hear at times. Really need to get a cheap set of speakers in the corners.

But it'd be weird having a shop without a TV to be honest, its about the only place i watch TV anymore. Can easily keep up with the local news/weather, watch racing or tractor pulling, and have plenty of commercial free music channels. And if something is kicking my **** i can kick back with a cold beer and cool down for a few minutes. I would love to have one of these new voice controlled gizmo's though, PITA trying to keep track of the remote when i have a piece of equipment tore apart and i'm covered in grease. Kinda funny because the house remotes are a nice bright white with black buttons, and the shop remote is all dark brown.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Heres our set-up in the garage, think its a 40" LG with DirecTV. Kinda surprised how well its held up in a shop that doesn't really have climate control. In the summer with A/C off i've seen it at 100* inside, and in the winter if there isn't a constant fire it can hit low teens. Surprisngly its been going strong for 6 or 7 years now. Only issue is the sound *****, never leaves max volume and that can be a struggle to hear at times. Really need to get a cheap set of speakers in the corners.

But it'd be weird having a shop without a TV to be honest, its about the only place i watch TV anymore. Can easily keep up with the local news/weather, watch racing or tractor pulling, and have plenty of commercial free music channels. And if something is kicking my **** i can kick back with a cold beer and cool down for a few minutes. I would love to have one of these new voice controlled gizmo's though, PITA trying to keep track of the remote when i have a piece of equipment tore apart and i'm covered in grease. Kinda funny because the house remotes are a nice bright white with black buttons, and the shop remote is all dark brown.

I've got the full size Google Home inside and the Google Home Mini in the garage. They are very nice because it keeps the kids from losing the remotes as well and if they do, I can still easily control what's on, sound, etc. Google Home Mini right now is on sale for like 30 bucks. In the garage it's far more handy. I forgot, the other feature I use is that I can simply ask it to set timers and ask it what time it is. You start to find more and more uses for it the more you use it.

 

[Bldmovs]

I️ have a Samsung 60” and a Vizio 2.1 soundbar in my detached. I️ use to be into home theater also. I️ feel like my setup out there, is more than enough for my needs.


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[Pathfinders]

I have a 40" LG TV. Sony receiver, Sony CD player, Sony speakers. Asus ROG laptop. All were leftovers from upgrades in the house. Garage is about 20' from the house so I get Wifi. I pull in about 20 broadcast TV stations with a homemade Yagi antenna I made with a 2x4, 4 coat hangers and a 75 to 300 ohm matching Transformer. I have around $4.00 in the antenna.

 

[BPJOOP93]

Here’s a couple pics of mine.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Installed a Vizio 3.0 soundbar yesterday. I'll get some pictures up of my setup tomorrow!

 

[PurpleZj]

I was planning on putting our 42" in the bedroom(since I finally found the remote lol) and taking the 32" out to the shop. But the wife thinks the 42" will be too bright in our room at night, so now even better I'll be putting the 42" in the shop and wall mounting it. I have some spare speakers laying around and just need to pick up an old stereo receiver to run them. I doubt my wifi reaches to the shop so I'll have to come up with a solution for that.

 

[PurpleZj]

Finished the tv shelf and got everything setup. Until I find a replacement remote I may have to unplug the subwoofer, this system bumps.


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[Johnson]

No TV at this point. Just last week got the old Sony av receiver hooked to a pair of 6.5" two way DIYs and an 8" DIY sub. Speakers up high on cabinets, sub under workbench.

 

[rburke65]

I have the cable t the shop but no tv yet. Will see.....

 

[brownbagg]

got a 28 flat because they are cheap at wally world to watch football in the shop, that it

dont need no high power stereo quad a phonic 17 channel high definition system to make sawdust

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Installed a 3.0 Vizio soundbar wall mounted under the TV. Super nice setup, love it! Not a lot of bass, but sounds great and I didn't have to try and hide the subwoofer somewhere that it wouldn't eat dirt.

 

[wirt]

I've got a 60" with a soundbar and an old receiver and big old speakers in my detached.

 

[ozyborn]

Last thing I want is a tv in my shop to distract me. Just an old 80's boom box tuned into local radio station I like. Background noise while playing.

 

[chrisBTSC]

In the garage I have an older 50" TV and a Samsung Home Theater in a box for the surround sound.

We just did a complete upgrade of our home theater inside the house. Check this link for the full specs.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6895377&postcount=85

It turned out great and is way better than going to the movies.

 

[Buck41]

Just got the Sirus XM for the shop. I haven't installed it yet but because of the metal on the siding and roof, I suspect I will have to mount an external antenna. I like the background noise and can't get a good FM reception. Time will tell