shop equipment stereos

[tod evans]

most of us work by ourselves and such things as stock preperation and sanding get quite monotonous so we turn to music to lighten the load. johns post yesterday about enjoying his b&w speakers prompted me to start this thread about this often overlooked very important powertool most of us use. so here are some photos of how i overpower the other tools and enjoy music while i work. the system is an hk cd player,marantz preamp,mackie mixer board and mackie powered monitors. what do ya`ll use?

27949

27950

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Sanyo/equivalent bookcase unit, hand-me-down from the youngest boy when he moved off to school. By the time I can hear it in the shop, you can also hear it waaaay down the driveway.

[Jim Dunn]

I've got a 13" TV with a VCR for Norm's tapes. Can't play it loud enough to hear it over tbl saw or DC as the wife would-?-?-?-well you know:)

[rick fulton]

Now we know why Tod wants his shop at least 1/4 mile from his house.
Crank up the tunes, turn on the dust collector, then crank up the tunes a little more.

rick

[Art Mulder]

usually nothing - can't hear much with ear muffs on, and our lives are noisy enough without a constant stereo yammering in the background.

But occasionally I will "steal" the wireless speaker from the playroom and carry it into the shop. We picked up a pair of wireless speakers a couple years ago. The stereo stays in the (clean, dust-free) house and has a 900mhz antenna on it. The cordless speakers can be plugged in just about anywhere in the house and pick up the signal. Very handy for many uses.

[Tom Hamilton]

Shop tunes come from the 70's Sony tuner through Radio Shack outdoor speakers. Fidelity would rank low, but it is not a listening room, it's a workshop. :)

Perfect for Rush and country tunes in the background.

Merry Christmas, Tom

[Chip Charnley]

A cheap CD player plugged into some expensive wireless headphones with noise reduction that double as hearing protection at the same time! :D

[Glenn Clabo]

IPod docking stations on all levels of the house and in both cars. Having every CD, books, and good old Car Talk available all the time is simply awesome.

[Roger Myers]

I-Pod with the Bose Sound Dock.
The I-pd carries all my tunes and the Bose Sound Dock is small, gives great sound, recharges the I-Pod, and has a remote.
Takes good care of my workshop music needs.

[Kent Parker]

Music in my shop is as necessary as any other tool. :cool: Plenty of times when I'm not cutting with power tools that its nice to have the melodies in background.

This set up consists of inexpensive units including a 5 disc CD, cassette player and amplifier. I have four speakers placed at each corner of the shop. I cover the CD player front with a towel to minimize the amount of dust getting inside. I burn my original CD's on disposible "shop CD's" cuz they will eventually get scratched.


Sounds like an Ipod with a docking station might be the way to go.

Cheers,

Kent

[Travis Porter]

I am curious. I have no real electronics in my shop besides a boom box, but it appears many do. For instance, I take it Tod has a PC in his shop. Does the dust ever cause any problems? What about keyboards and air vents, fans, etc for stereos, etc or is it really not a problem?

[Roger Bailey]

I use the worksite radio charger. That way I can get tunes and charge my batteries. It also doesn't seem to mind the dust much.

[tod evans]

travis, the pc is in the "office" a seperate room from the shop proper, but yeah dust gets everywhere. so far blowing and vacuuming have kept everything alive.....same keyboard for over 3 years. i do burn scrap cd`s for the shop and player life is about 1 1/2 years in the dust enviroment. no problems out of the mixer or preamp in almost 5 years knock on wood.

[JayStPeter]

I have a Luxman receiver with some homemade speakers and iPod dock. It's a pretty nice system even outside the shop.

Jay

[Lee DeRaud]

Plug your ipod into one of these, should cut through the noise from the DC:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/482809/
Put one in each corner of the shop for surround-sound. :cool: :D

[Doug Shepard]

...,mackie mixer board and mackie powered monitors. what do ya`ll use?


Geez - Waddaya doing - cutting yer own CD's out there in the shop er what? That's a heck of a setup for a shop. Gotta be an ex-musician lurking in your history somewhere.

I've just got a AM/FM receiver. Got it free as it was a fire rescue that the owners insurance replaced. Picked up a couple cheap speakers at Circuit City. Grand total was about $40 including the speaker wire, but it works fine and has plenty of volume for drowning out the power tools.

[Steve Clardy]

5 cd changer with am fm.
Radio stays on 24-7. Never shut if off.
My first radio lasted 30 years this way. Don't know about this one though.

[Frank Pellow]

I use a Bosche Power Box. It/s OK but could be improved in many ways. The main advantage to me is the portability because I do so much work outside and at remote sites.

Music of the music played is from CDs and my CDs are mostly folk, jazz, and classical.

Yes, music is a very essential tool.

[Jim O'Dell]

Rght now I use a 30 year old Pioneer boombox. It's pretty decent. When I get the shop rehab done, I have a stereo and a couple of amps from a Mazda RX-7 that play throught 2 Omega 50 bookself speakers. I'm goint to hook the second amp up to a 10" dual coil sub I have left over collecting dust in my closet. Jim.

[Jim Becker]

I have a Sherwood 100w receiver I bought a year and a half ago from Circut City for a "song" and two Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers that I've had since the mid-1980s when I ran one of their larger stores just outside Philadelphia. Good combination. I have everything mounted up near the ceiling which not only protects the electronics from getting whacked by sticks, but also provides a little bass boost (corner effect) with the small drivers. It really does sound great and lets me listen to either my favorite non-commercial music station (WXPN) or my favorite non-commercial NPR non-music station (WHYY) while spending time in the shop. (I think I almost remember what that is like... ;) )

Tod, the Mackies are nice, but I wouldn't let my pro gear anywhere near the shop! (I have similar stuff; different brands, however) I will admit I used to use the little RS speakers as small monitors when I was recording...not ideal, but then again, not unlike what music would be actually played on in the real world.

[Andy Hoyt]

I sing. But only do so when I have every machine fired up so I don't have to listen to it.

[David LaRue]

I use a '83 hand me down boom box. :( Picks up a few stations. Have it on a all Christmas tunes station right now. :)

I probably should extend speakers from my Parasound Amp / Tuner and Sony 6CD changer I have in the adjacent room.

[lou sansone]

2 type of sound in my shop

MacIntosh speakers and radio head phones ... both tuned to the same country station

[Bruce Page]

Here’s my setup, a Pioneer bookshelf system. I’ve now got my iPod incorporated into the system.

It's the 6th post down,
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=9742

[Larry Browning]

I have a Philips MCI-250. It actually hooks into my home network either wired or wireless and streams music directly from the internet without going through another pc. It is very cool and allows me to listen to just about any kind of music I could ever imagine. All setup though a web site. Works Great!

[Tyler Howell]

David Hafler 100W PA, SAE 200W PA, Hafler PreAmp. 2, 12" home builts with EV drivers. Pioneer tuner. Ipod docker. Sony Discman.
Bottom half of the rack is in the shop now.:cool:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=7290&d=1084669762

[Tom Conger]

I use A System of the Down, Lincoln Park, and Nickleback for sanding, OAR, Tool, Perfect Circle, and Green Day for routing, Franz Ferdinand, Gorillaz's, 311, and Nine Inch Nails for the tablesaw, and Foo Fighters, Our Lady Peace, Fallout Boy, Coldplay, and Death Cab for Cutie for all other tasks. :D

[Tyler Howell]

I am curious. I have no real electronics in my shop besides a boom box, but it appears many do. For instance, I take it Tod has a PC in his shop. Does the dust ever cause any problems? What about keyboards and air vents, fans, etc for stereos, etc or is it really not a problem?
Dust can be a problem with key boards, and vents. The newer tuners and volume controls have electronic or digital controls that are sealed to the elements.
I take the shop vac and compressed air to them every so often.

[John Bailey]

Hey Tyler,

Whadaya do, run a disco in there at night?

John

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I use the Bosch Power Box as well! Far and away the best portable jobsite radio on the market. My father and I do a lot of small projects, so portablility is key.

I have used all the others and really prefer the Bosch.

[Steve Wargo]

I've got a cheap old CD boom box in the shop. I've got a couple disks that stay in the shop and take a beating, but usually Slayer, Clutch or Anthrax is jamming, Unless of course the Tribe are playing.

[Tyler Howell]

Hey Tyler,

Whadaya do, run a disco in there at night?

John

John, It's party all the time!!!!
Just managing my resources! When the home theater came in Everything moved one step down. House to shop...... shop to garage.... garage to garbage:o

[tod evans]

tyler, i`m out in the sticks, i`ll bet your neighbors really love you:) tod

[Vaughn McMillan]

Mine's a 10-year-old JVC boombox with radio, CD player and cassette that was my office radio until I started listening to Internet radio at work (radioparadise.com). Decent sound for a cheapie rig, and decent bass as the resuilt of a built-in subwoofer, although I wouldn't use is as a audio reference. The radio reception is lousy in my house (I'm in the foothills...part of Radio Free California), so I listen to CDs...one at a time, since it's not a changer.

Tunes are indeed tools.

- Vaughn

[Don Baer]

Thanks to my sone I have an AIWA tuner/amplifier tied into 4 Jenson speakers for surround sound. It came with a 5 CD changer

27975

LOML just got me an early WW tool for the shop which is now tied into the Stereo for surround song. It's a 27" Toshiba

27976

She said the little 13" I had was bad for my eyesight.

[Dan Larson]

Don, your table base is shaping up nicely!

Dan

[Don Baer]

Thanks Dan, Its all of the hand work now, I'll be cutting the coves in the pedistal when I get the legs finished.

[Tyler Howell]

tyler, i`m out in the sticks, i`ll bet your neighbors really love you:) tod

Tod they got a choice,
Tunes, Tools, or Tools and Tunes.:D

[Jay Knepper]

My wife I tried out many systems that are much much like Tyler's, but I just could not live with listening to that level of distortion.

We've settled on hiring string quartets and bluegrass bands to play in the shop on alternate days. (Forutnately we can now live without a regular dose of opera so the cost is more reasonible than you might expect!)

The groups set up in the frinishing suite so that their insturments remain pristine. There's something of a selfish motive in letting them use the suite -- their instruments stay in tune in the carefully climate-controlled environment.

We never get headaches from listening to second-rate systems in the shop, and we are never bored.

[Per Swenson]

Great thread,

I am just a poor humble redneck who is fortunate to live

smack in the middle of one of the 10 wealthiest countys in

America. What this means to me and my intrepid garbage pickin son,

is a never ending bounty of ground scores, as the populace engages

in the yuppie sport of one upmanship. Sony, Kenwood , fisher, Marantz,

old tube and transistor, dual and audio-technica turn tables (with cartridges)

all end up in the garbage. Well, they end up in the shop actually.

And every other room of the house.

I figure in about 5 years, during my evening stroll around the lake,

we will pick up todays Denon or Bose. Guranteed.

Per

[Corey Hallagan]

Pretty cool Todd! Myself, I use the Milwaukee radio with a DVD player hooked up to it. No TV, but that would be easy to do, maybe some day!
Corey

[Bart Leetch]

I have managed over the years to collect an entertainment center fairly cheaply. The TV a 19" RCA was beside the dumpster & needed a few dollars of repair. The VCR was on top of the full dumpster with the remote & owners manual & works just fine. I purchased the DVD player for $38 new & made a good deal on the stereo by trading an old well used counter top high refer that was given to me for a new small inexpensive stereo.Because I view the TV from the bench area the holes you see in the doors are covered by Plexiglas & have a piece of plastic mirror taped beside it the the signal from the remote bounces off the mirror to turn approximately 90 degrees to go into the cabinet & operate the DVD or VCR.

[Barry O'Mahony]

Northern Tool used to sell a set of hearing protectors with speakers built-in; that's what i use when using the router. The speaker connection is hooked up to a small AM/FM Walkman. When not using those, I use a rather cheap Philips "minicomponent" stereo system.

I'm usually out there in the evenings, and usually listen to the Phil Hendrie show rather than music.

[Steve Evans]

Great thread guys. I use an older NAD 7020 receiver hooked up to a pair of NHT speakers. I have an Audiotron MP3 player hooked up to the network. For those who are unfamiliar with the audiotron, it looks like a stereo component, but is actually a WinCE device. It hooks into your network, and provides a very nice interface for playing MP3, WMA or wav files. It will also play streaming radio off the internet. I'm currently up to just under 10,000 songs on my file server (all legally owned -ripped from CD's that I own). It's been playing Christmas tunes for the last 3 weeks. I wouldn't be without one in the shop.

Steve

[Andy London]

I have a 1970's Sony receiver hooked up to a surrond sound system with dual remotes as it has two amps, one for the front shop where I am one for the back where my son turns. It's noce to have on, I play the 60's 7-'s stuff...I like quality sound and it is that:rolleyes:

[Paul Canaris]

I use Worktunes hearing protectors and listen to NPR when using the power tools.
Otherwise this BERG issue unit.;)

[tod evans]

what is the i-pod some of you use? like a hard drive with music?

[Mark Singer]

I have a old JVC compact unit with CD tape and radio...2 decent speakers...good volumr. It is typically on light jazz, oldies or classical and on saturday morningd "The Car Guys" on NPR....I don't ty to overcome the machin sounds...I just hear it in the interludes...


http://www.geocities.com/j_ports/house/JVC.JPG

[Tyler Howell]

Jay,
LMAOROTF in the saw dust.:D :D



My wife I tried out many systems that are much much like Tyler's, but I just could not live with listening to that level of distortion.

We've settled on hiring string quartets and bluegrass bands to play in the shop on alternate days. (Forutnately we can now live without a regular dose of opera so the cost is more reasonible than you might expect!)

The groups set up in the frinishing suite so that their insturments remain pristine. There's something of a selfish motive in letting them use the suite -- their instruments stay in tune in the carefully climate-controlled environment.

We never get headaches from listening to second-rate systems in the shop, and we are never bored.