Shop stereo - clueless.....

[Cliff Beer]

Non-GT40 related, but somewhat gearhead related at least....

I'm getting around to finishing up my new shop/garage with a few whistles and bells. I'd like to add a stereo. My shop/garage is no poser garage - there's plenty of dust and metal filings and WD40 dribbles all over the place.

I'd like to not take up work bench space with a stereo sitting on the bench area. Besides it would get pretty beat up from MIG welding spatter or belt sander filings or grinder dust. I have some nice oak cabinets mounted fairly high above the bench and I'm wondering if there is an under cabinet stereo receiver/CD player of some kind I can mount under there? I have wiring already in the walls for external speakers with a panel to plug RCA cable to at the stereo end.

So, I'd like the stereo to have some decent power to power good sized external speakers (which will be mounted high up in the corners). Does this mean I need an under cabinet stereo and also an external amp of some kind?

What have others done to get a little melody into the garage space?

Thanks.

 

[Mark]

Sounds like a lot of thought going into a non-poseur garage hi-fi, which, in the end sounds (no pun) like the 'hi-fi' element will be lost/wasted anyway? Speakers in corners is also a bad idea generally.

As you have the wiring and speakers in place, why not simply pick up any typical, current system from the high street retailers and bang that in a cupboard coupled to an external eye for the remote?

 

[Ian Anderson]

Small, brilliant sound and connect an I pod hor hours of your choice music
No need for additional speakers and mount it on a shelf near a power point.

Wave music systems III | Bose

But I bet the price in the USA is half that of the UK

Ian

 

[Pat]

+1 Ian. The BOSE system is fantastic and you can move it around if you get the urge to work on the car outside come spring.

 

[Phil]

Cliff:
We simply have a receiver on a shelf up about eye level, speakers are hung on the wall. I think its an old Kenwood or something, but it sounds pretty good.
I keep the receiver at one setting and I have satellite radio in my truck that transmits an FM signal in about a 30 foot radius, I just pull up and flip on the breaker and we have tunes.
I just got tired of all the commercials.
A friend of mine uses his PC at his shop and has a pair of wireless speakers and runs Pandora in the background and that works well also.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

True. Modern compact stereos are so good that there isn't much point in using old stuff. At our vacation house I have a Sony system that plays DVDs and CDs, gets Pandora, etc, has surround sound. It sounds at least as good as all the vintage tube electronics I have at home. And didn't cost much.

 

[Mike Christian]

Ooh, ooh, I spent time working on this myself. In one garage I have a 1970s vintage Pioneer SX1080 receiver with similar vintage JBL L110s (all gifted to me by a friend) fed streaming music by a Raspberry Pi loaded with Squeezelite software.

In the other garage, I have a vintage 1980s old Phase Linear series two stack with Vandersteen 2C speakers also being streamed but this time to a Squeezebox Touch.

Both of these systems are big and clunky and won't necessarily meet your requirements, but they were very inexpensive (much less than the Bose solution), they sound great, and they make spending time in the garage a lot of fun.

There is some cheap vintage gear out there to be found. Search your local thrift store. I have also put together some vintage 1960s/1970s tube audio systems that are smaller and would work great for that application for cheap (relatively cheap). Dynaco ST35 or SCA 35 and some Dynaco A25, A35 or KLH Model 6speakers.