Wood Shop Stereo

[Rob Will]

This may seem a bit off topic but let's say for a moment that a nice sounding FM stereo system is an intregal part of your wood shop and something that "enhances" your creativity. That makes it a tool right? ......and since it consumes power....it's a power tool;) .

Anyway, what have you members done for "shop tunes" and have you been able to find a "simple" FM receiver that is fairly small? My shop walls are wired for two speakers and the receiver will go in the office to avoid some dust. It would be nice to have a remote power switch and volume control out in the shop area (without having to open the office door).

I've got my eyes on a pair of indoor/outdoor Yamaha speakers that have glowing reviews at Amazon for about $70.

Tonight, I dug into the attic closet to retrieve a couple of old stereo systems and promptly hooked them up in the shop........yikes! :eek: how did I listen to this stuff back in the college days? It sounds like, well.....it sounds like it's been in the attic for 20 years. My el cheapo shop radio is not much better.

Any suggestions?

Rob

[Randal Stevenson]

Since my shop is small, and I have an OLD ham radio (one channel on it, would contain several now), it has a power supply that people used to buy/make? and place on hams and cb radio's so they could be used from home.

I was thinking of hooking it up to a reasonable car stereo, and place the speakers in the ceiling out of the way. Mount the radio next to the beam that runs the length of the basement, next to the phone jack (in case of a call or emergency).

Just one option. Another, ahem, an EXCUSE to buy one of those tool charger radio's that are also portable, maybe.

[David DeCristoforo]

Got one word for ya....iPod. I have a 4th gen 20G iPod with a dock that connects to the reciever's "Aux" input. Got over 2,000 cuts on it. Punch the "shuffle" button and it will play for days without repeating. And it's only 1/4 full! Cheapo outdoor speakers are fine...not worried about "accurate reproduction" or anything...just some low level tunes. No CDs to mess with or get ruined or lost. So far, no issues with dust but if you have an office where it can live, even better.

[Pat Germain]

I'm currently using the proverbial "boom box" and I listen mostly to public radio in the shop. (I can't stand commercial radio!)

Anyway, if I was going to buy a receiver, I'd go to Sam's Club or Costco. They often have very nice receivers for very good prices because they are last year's models being cleared out. I'm assuming you aren't particular about having the latest model.

Some electronics stores also clear out old models and floor models at a discount. Although, the discounts in these cases typically aren't much. Be careful of signs reading "$200 off!". It's unlikely that item was ever actually priced at the "regular" price.

I would suggest not buying anything by RCA. My parents kept buying RCA junk for years against my advice. It would fail again and again while my Sony gear just kept on going. They finally got the message.

Panasonic equipment is typically of surprisingly good quality. Most people don't think of Panasonic as being "high end", but it's consistently top-rated by Consumer Reports and I've had good experiences with their gear. Unlike the high-end stuff, Panasonic gear is reasonably priced.

I have a Kenwood 5.1 receiver I bought at Sam's about 5 years ago for an amazingly low price. It's still the hub of my home theater system. :)

[Pat Germain]

Got one word for ya....iPod. I have a 4th gen 20G iPod with a dock that connects to the reciever's "Aux" input. Got over 2,000 cuts on it. Punch the "shuffle" button and it will play for days without repeating. And it's only 1/4 full! Cheapo outdoor speakers are fine...not worried about "accurate reproduction" or anything...just some low level tunes. No CDs to mess with or get ruined or lost. So far, no issues with dust but if you have an office where it can live, even better.

Hey, that's a good idea, Dave. Another, less expensive, option would be an MP3 player from Creative Labs. They make multiple models and they're priced far below an iPod. However, they are not iPods.

[Gary Benson]

I have both the cheap boom box, left over from when it was "state of the art". I recently picked up a pair of powered computer speakers from Goodwill ($7!), and they have an 1/8" mimi jack that fits in the headphone jack of the Ipod. Sounds great, and can be placed anywhere handy.

[Gary Keedwell]

I'm currently using the proverbial "boom box" and I listen mostly to public radio in the shop. (I can't stand commercial radio!)

Anyway, if I was going to buy a receiver, I'd go to Sam's Club or Costco. They often have very nice receivers for very good prices because they are last year's models being cleared out. I'm assuming you aren't particular about having the latest model.

Some electronics stores also clear out old models and floor models at a discount. Although, the discounts in these cases typically aren't much. Be careful of signs reading "$200 off!". It's unlikely that item was ever actually priced at the "regular" price.

I would suggest not buying anything by RCA. My parents kept buying RCA junk for years against my advice. It would fail again and again while my Sony gear just kept on going. They finally got the message.

Panasonic equipment is typically of surprisingly good quality. Most people don't think of Panasonic as being "high end", but it's consistently top-rated by Consumer Reports and I've had good experiences with their gear. Unlike the high-end stuff, Panasonic gear is reasonably priced.

I have a Kenwood 5.1 receiver I bought at Sam's about 5 years ago for an amazingly low price. It's still the hub of my home theater system. :)
David ...I have a nice old Onkyo receiver. Can I hook this Ipod thing to it and run a couple of old speakers from the receiver? I have a home theater setup but still a few years behing in the electronic field. I-pod? I heard about them but never seen one.
Gary K.:confused:

[Bill Fleming]

Old "boom box" plugged into an Apple AirTunes that plays music from iTunes on my computer including a great collection of Internet Radio Stations.... which is why I call my shop the "Salsa Workshop"

Cheers Bill

[Bruce Page]

Rob, I built a cabinet to house a small shelf system – it’s about the 6th post down ( http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=9742 ) I don’t think I would like a remote system. I’ve been running this system for several years without problem, I just blow out the filter every few months. Later, I added an iPod to the mix, ( http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=11952 ). I can’t remember the last time I listened to the radio…

[Todd Jensen]

I use a $50 sony boombox in the field and they generally last a year or two, and thats with getting banged around in the back of the truck, and the ipod plugs right into it. While I try and keep the dust off of it to some degree, fat hope of that happening, and they seem surprisingly resilient. My shop stereo is also an old boombox that sits out in the open in a fairly dust-free area - its older and still works great after a number of years; even the cd player still works. I've got remotes for both and I love them, particularly in the field. Phone rings, the general or homeowner walks in, whatever, and I can instantly turn it down. I keep the remote in my bags and once again, is amazingly resilient despite the heavy dust that fills them. Happy stereo hunting and happy 4th!

[Christof Grohs]

The music just plays in my head by itsef

http://www.audiocircle.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12241/366098170_7e053e97e5.jpg

I actually use one of these little digital amplifiers with a built in volume control from Amazon for $30!!!

Amp (http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Impact-15-Watt-Portable-Amplifier/dp/B00009W44B)

The amp is connected to a small iPod with a pair of DIY speakers I build from free plans here.

Very easy to build speakers (http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/bfb_e.html)

The whole thing will fit into a cigar box, does not generate heat like an old stereo and has no moving parts that can be damaged by dust. The whole thing cost me under $300 and sounds wonderful...better than any system you can buy under $500 and that is probably an under estimate.

[Mike Heidrick]

I use the Dewalt digital tuner charger/radio and an Ipod tapped into its aux port. Also have a DVD player in the shop that I plug into the aux port. Works great.

Yes you can use the Onkyo with the Ipod - get a mini-stereo to RCA cable (they sell them everywhere - Walmart has them for example) and plug the ipod into one of the Onkyo's input channels, select that channel on the receiver, select shuffle on the ipod and rock out all you want!

[craig caldwell]

I don't care which mp3 player you use, it all comes down to the headphones.
I use a set of Shure e3s and next to my felder kf 700 they are the best tools I own. They act as hearing protection while giving me uninterrupted tunes while I work. I don't know about you guys but I like to listen to a lot of stuff and there is nothing less productive than waiting to finish listening to something before firing up the saw or planer. With a set of in-ear headphones you can work hard and not miss a single word of you favorite song or podcast/netcast.

craig

[Jude Kingery]

Hey Rob,

You've got lots of great suggestions; just to add my two cents, we have an Onkyo receiver; it's probably about 10 years old, but the speakers wired into the shop I picked up at Goodwill and they serve well, then we have a set of outdoor speakers on the deck and a little box you can set to where you want the radio delivered: house, shop, deck, all three, or just two or one. Works out great for us! It was a bit of a chore running wire through the attic, but once done, no problems since. But now you do have to come into the house to shut it off, turn it on, change channels or whatever. So might traipse some dust in if you're not careful. We enjoy it, though, every great shop has to have some great music!!!! Let us know what you decide and how it works out for you. Jude

[Rob Will]

What do I have to do to install a remote volume control in the speaker wires?

Rob

[Chris Rosenberger]

I used to have a receiver & speakers. I got tired of not being able to listen when a tool was running & getting poor reception of AM in my shop. It was also a problem turning down the volume when the phone rang or someone came in the shop. After I add an office to my shop I moved the receiver there. That solved the poor reception of am but I still had the problem of not being able to listen when I was making noise in the shop & turning the volume down quickly. I decided to make my own wireless system. I connected the reciever to a low power FM transmitter instead of speakers, bought work tunes hearing protectors & I also bought 4 reconditioned Millwaukee radios that are set in different areas of the shop for the times that I do not want to wear the work tunes. I can turn on a radio in the area I am working in the shop & keep it at a reasonable volume level. I have my computer & TV connected to the reciever. Now I can listen to a race or ballgame that is on tv & listen to music or podcast playlists that I have created on my computer. The fm transmitter has enough power to reach most of my yard so I can wear the work tunes while using the mower.

[Rob Will]

I used to have a receiver & speakers. I got tired of not being able to listen when a tool was running & getting poor reception of AM in my shop. It was also a problem turning down the volume when the phone rang or someone came in the shop. After I add an office to my shop I moved the receiver there. That solved the poor reception of am but I still had the problem of not being able to listen when I was making noise in the shop & turning the volume down quickly. I decided to make my own wireless system. I connected the reciever to a low power FM transmitter instead of speakers, bought work tunes hearing protectors & I also bought 4 reconditioned Millwaukee radios that are set in different areas of the shop for the times that I do not want to wear the work tunes. I can turn on a radio in the area I am working in the shop & keep it at a reasonable volume level. I have my computer & TV connected to the reciever. Now I can listen to a race or ballgame that is on tv & listen to music or podcast playlists that I have created on my computer. The fm transmitter has enough power to reach most of my yard so I can wear the work tunes while using the mower.

Very Very cool stuff Chris:D :D

Rob

[Dave Lindgren]

I use an RCA Lyra system. The transmitter plugs into the sound card of my computer, and I have receivers wherever I want tunes. Shop has a Muntz (!) stereo receiver the Lyra plugs into, and a couple of Panasonic speakers from Goodwill. A second receiver is hooked to my home theater system aux port, and a third one to a set of computer speakers i can take anywhere else I want sounds. I have about 500 hours of music on my computer to select from, so I don't get much repetition, and local control wherever I need it. Picked up all the Lyra components on sale for about 40 bucks. :D

[Mike Cutler]

iPod.

Like David stated, it plays forever. Bob Marley tunes in the background while sanding can't be beat.

Mine just plays through some middle of the road Boston Acoustics. Complete overkill for a shop.

[Brad Townsend]

I have a small modular system that has a receiver/CD player and two detachable speakers. To keep dust out of the CD player, I built a box out of OSB with a hinged top and plexiglass panel for the front (to allow for the infrared remote) and mounted the whole thing on the wall of my shop.

[Al Willits]

Kinda depends on what you consider "nice", I have a tri amped 250wpc system with custom speakers, and some might consider that "nice", I'd consider it a bit excessive, but I'm a bit nuts when it comes to audio stuff anyway.

Personally, if all I wanted was decent sounds for my shop/garage, I'd look at one of the boom boxes out there, for under $300 you can get a 6 CD player, remote controlled system that should fill most shops with enough noise to help drown out the wife's screaming..
Most now will play MP3's and some will play WMA even, so you could load up the 6 CD's with enough music to keep ya happy for the better part of a weekend.

Plus a boom box would probably be easier to keep sawdust out of.

Al

[Brian Penning]

I use an old Sony boombox and listen to whatever station isn't playing "Delllliiiilaaaah..." Sheesh!

Other than that John Tesh is supposedly making me more intelligent, but not so, according to the Mrs.

[Jim Becker]

A few years ago, I picked up a Sherwood 100w receiver from one of the box stores online sales for $100. It's mounted in the shop and drives two old, but very serviceable Radio Shack Minimus 7 aluminum speakers. Since I have said small drivers up high and near corners, I actually get a pleasing frequency response...not audiophile, but not tin cans, either. Since I've had those speakers since the mid-1980s, they have certainly paid for themselves many times over! :)

[Per Swenson]

Bosch power box.

6000 songs on the ipod.

No commercials.

On the job, I don't have to pay some one to change cds.

I could not be happier.

Per

[Don Bullock]

I went to the Sony Outlet store and bought a reconditioned boombox that I play CDs on. Some day, once I quit "needing" so many tools (it will be a while:( ;) ), I'll get an iPod set up like some others have mentioned.

[Gary Herrmann]

Old, old radio I think I bought when I was a sophomore in HS. Maybe one of these days I'll put something decent down there.

More happy with the outdoor speakers and stereo I put out by the pool. I'd much rather focus on what we can listen to while splashing around than listen to my wife say "you're going to buy WHAT for the shop?"

[Larry Fox]

XM Radio with their version of the boom-box. I got it dirt cheap on one of their specials and I have one in the car so adding the shop one is about $6 per month (less than the cost of a new CD). 100+ stations and no commercials on the ones that I listen to. Can't beat it.

[John Revilla]

Shop tunes? I use a full pledge backloaded horn using Fostex drivers powered by a 300B tube amp. Source is either a 30G ipod, a Dual 506 turntable or a Pioneer CD player. I also use Bozak 301S speakers powered by a Marantz receiver or a Mc Intosh receiver as alternative. Yes, I used to be an audiophile. Godspeed.

[Dave Hale]

A few years ago, I picked up a Sherwood 100w receiver from one of the box stores online sales for $100. It's mounted in the shop and drives two old, but very serviceable Radio Shack Minimus 7 aluminum speakers. Since I have said small drivers up high and near corners, I actually get a pleasing frequency response...not audiophile, but not tin cans, either. Since I've had those speakers since the mid-1980s, they have certainly paid for themselves many times over! :)

I thought for a second Jim and I switched ids. ;)
I have a Sherwood 100w stereo receiver from Circuit City purchased 2 years ago on 'Black Friday' for $50 (1/2 price) and some old RS Minimus metal speakers from the mid 80's. Shame RS doesn't make them anymore, them and the cockroaches will both be around after we're all gone. iPod is hooked up via RCA cables to headphone jack (another RS product). Very, very serviceable for the gar... SHOP. :rolleyes:

Per,
How much you pay for changing playlists? I need a new career. :)

[Jim Becker]

Well, Dave...in the mid-1980s I was running a large RS in a local mall...so there was quite a bit of "that stuff" around my house for a long time. Only those speakers and a few odds and ends still survive. (I still do have a set of large passive radiator tower speakers boxed above my shop...who knows what condition the cones are at this point as I have not opened the box since before moving here in 1999)

[J.R. Rutter]

Shop tunes? I use a full pledge backloaded horn using Fostex drivers powered by a 300B tube amp. Source is either a 30G ipod, a Dual 506 turntable or a Pioneer CD player. I also use Bozak 301S speakers powered by a Marantz receiver or a Mc Intosh receiver as alternative. Yes, I used to be an audiophile. Godspeed.

Nice! I have some Fostex back horns that I made a few years ago, with Foreplay/Dynaco/Sony SACD.

My shop system right now is a 30 G iPod, old Marantz receiver, and some slapped together speakers.

I used to use some headphones that I put into Peltor H10 hearing protection and used the iPod in my pocket, but with multiple people in the shop blasting the tunes works better.

I've toyed with the idea of an FM transmitter to set up a low power station with the iPod as DJ. Seeing a successful story here may get me off the dime...

[Tony De Masi]

I use the Sirius Satelite Boombox in the shop. Just eject out the radio itself and put it in the truck when travelling. No commercials, and the reception is outstanding.

Tony

[John Bush]

I bought an iPOD shuffle and an iPAX($30) speaker system for my daughter and it sounds incredible for its size and price. It is 3" X6" and is cintaoined in its own zippered nylon, padded holder. Both at Target. Good sound but no Mrantz.

[Rob Will]

Well, Dave...in the mid-1980s I was running a large RS in a local mall...so there was quite a bit of "that stuff" around my house for a long time. Only those speakers and a few odds and ends still survive. (I still do have a set of large passive radiator tower speakers boxed above my shop...who knows what condition the cones are at this point as I have not opened the box since before moving here in 1999)

LOL:D :D, I have the same thing (a couple of Radio Shack Minimus 7's) from my old patio. Mine are rather grungy so I'm replacing them after 20+ years.

But that's not all......(Jim's gonna crack up)......I still have 4, yes FOUR of the old RS Mach One 15" speakers that I had in my dorm room. They're in perfect condition but unused for many years. I can't bring myself to get rid of these sonic icons of my younger days. It's a wonder I can hear anything.

Hmmmm.....wonder how those would do in the new wood shop?....

Nahh, I just ordered a Yamaha 50 watt receiver with ALL ROTARY tone controls (I've never liked today's tiny push-buttons). Also grabbed a set of Yamaha patio speakers.

Based on your suggestions, I'll put the receiver behind glass so the remote will work. An iPod might be the next shop addition.

Thanks for the ideas,
"Rockin" Rob;)

[Bob Feeser]

I have 2 systems in the shop. One is fed from the other room which is an office, that is relatively dust free and is driven by 2 old Adcom amps; a 600 watt MKII feeding a pair of Electro Voice 15" PA System speakers with large horn tweeters, and an Adcom 300 watt MKII feeding a pair of DCM K6-10s 3 ways.


http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/386/2623768450100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

I also have an old Velodyne 15" subwoofer that came with its own 400 watt amp. The foam around the speaker edge has lost it, so I need to recore the speaker on that one, but it rattled the walls when it worked. No need to turn it way up to get great sound. You can see it at the bottom of the next photo. By the way, the electo voice PA speaker doubles as a great miter saw stand. :-) joke.

http://inlinethumb25.webshots.com/4632/2990793970100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

The signal end is covered in the other room (the first picture) which is an office by a Mackie 16 channel mixing console, which is really designed for a PA system. I make it into a pre-amp of sorts, that you can plug up to 8 stereo sound source devices into. So I have a regular CD player, and an AM/FM Marantz tuner, from my old days plugged in there, plus a Sony Satellite receiver that gives you CD quality, and Direct TV gives you quite a few uninterrupted music channels. Also plugged into it is the computer in the office with a high end audio card, that I have tunes stored on the hard drive, that took a couple of weeks to put only the good songs on, of a 400+ CD collection, that I sold on eBay. (Record your tunes in the original .WAV format, it is the EXACT same format that the CD is originally recorded in, even though it takes up 750 megs for a whole album on your hard drive) All told I was able to cherry pick, and get 1500 great songs out of the CDs. With hard drive being so inexpensive, (a 250 gig for 59 bucks these days) you can get 2, one for backup. (After selling the collection, if your hard drive ever crashes, you just lost your entire collection. So I have several backups.)

So What Do I Really Use?

(I feel like a kid who got some really cool toys for Christmas, and winds up playing with the box. :-)
With all of that stuff, what is the second system, the one that I really use most all of the time? It is a simple $89 computer sound system. An Altec with an 8" subwoofer, and two front speakers. It is a high efficiency system, which means that you get a lot of sound out of a little signal. I bought it on a clearance, for only 89 bucks. It was a clearance item when Altec was coming out with a replacement with 120 watts for $350. The one that I have is 80 watts. It rocks. I feed it with a $79 iPod. (Amazing what sound comes out of that little thing) So $89 plus $79 is what it costs to use the system that I use most all of the time.


http://inlinethumb54.webshots.com/5749/2357193600100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

Not Gearing Up for Sound and Video too?

You can see in the next photo, I had taken one side of an old sliding glass door, that someone was throwing away, took the surrounding trim off of it, to make it just the double wall glass, and installed it in a new wall. (The new wall was built between the fitness room and the shop, with new 2x4s, capped with the old cedar, from the wall that I tore down to expand the shop. The old shop was a smaller room, the one where I began to learn woodworking from, with my Dad.) So I have the old cedar shop side, and new cedar from Home Depot, planed, and tongue and grooved, and finished with 4 coats of spray on regular home depot lacquer, that you will see in the photo after this one. Keeping up the cedar tradition you know.


http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/7210/2624103380100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

Then on that wall in the fitness room, (I wanted to have a TV in that room) so I mounted a 20" Sony Vega TV, on a TV wall mount from Home Depot, right alongside that glass panel, so I could swing it around, and see it through the glass into the shop. (In case I wanted to watch a piece of the New Yankee Workshop, doing a specific type of job. I have boxes and boxes of tapes, in a library fashion of Norm doing his thing.) TV sound is piped into the shop using either system.


http://inlinethumb48.webshots.com/5359/2325512530100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

The problem is that the Home Depot wall mount is junk. It works, although not on a flat plane, so when I spin it around to be seen through the glass, it is on a tilt. Doesn't feel too good leaning like that. Someday I will need to upgrade. I put some 2x6s in the wall where the mount went, before capping with the cedar, so it will support it.

So to wrap up this lengthy post, I also use the iPod with ear buds that came with it when I hear tunes while muffling the noise, instead of adding to it, with loud speakers. After about an hour of use, the earbuds get painful. I understand, their are some noise cancelling headphones, that have really great sound. Mating them to an ipod, you can get uninterrupted quality sound, while protecting your ears from the volume. I wear ear protectors on a regular basis, when running for example the planer. My experience with ear protection is that it greatly reduces the noise, yet you easily can still hear things, even someone speaking to you. I haven't tried noise cancelling headphones yet, but it may be a nice optoin for the shop. I was figuring the regular headphones would do the job. That is on my wish list.

Is it overkill for shop sound? You betcha. Since I came from a band in high school and college, plus I bought a bunch of high end used stereo gear real cheap, I wanted to use it. So I had to figure out what to do with the gear, so I put it where my heart is in the wood working shop.

[David DeCristoforo]

"David ...I have a nice old Onkyo receiver. Can I hook this Ipod thing to it and run a couple of old speakers from the receiver? I have a home theater setup but still a few years behing in the electronic field. I-pod? I heard about them but never seen one."

With a Universal iPod dock, you can hook up to any "Aux" input and play the 'Pod through that. On most recievers, you can also hook up to the "CD" input. As pointed out, there are other MP3 players but IMMHO, none compare to the 'Pod.

Info about the Universal dock here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300277

FWIW, I would advise you to never wear a headset in the shop. There are a number of good reasons which I would be happy to discuss with you if you want.

[Jim O'Dell]

I use a 3 amp power supply (need to change it out to the 25 amp unit) and a pull out radio from an old Mazda RX-7, with separate amps. Don't have CD, buit may be a way to wire in my portable unit without using the cassette adaptor or an fm modualator. Just need to sit down and figure out the wiring on the DIN cables. Speakers are some small 2-way bookshelf home speakers that sound surprisingly good. The 4" midrange in them (can't bring myself to call it a woofer:rolleyes: ) is a butyl rubber speaker surround so moisture doesn't interfere with it. I have a 10" dual voice coil subwoofer that I need to build a box for and mount in the ceiling and run the second factory amp to. It won't give much bass because of the low power of the amp, but it should add a little. I have the unit power up when I throw a wall switch upon entering the shop. Jim.

[John Schreiber]

Stereo? That would be when I have both of my old garage sale radios on at the same time. Usually I just use the loud one, but I also have a little one at the carving table.

There's a lot of money to be saved by being tone deaf.:D

[Mike Seals]

Since I build speakers, I have to have a place to try them out. So I used some of my older gear, a Nikko Pre-amp and two power amps, one Sony ES series and one Hafler, both rated 100 watts per channel. Feeding the sounds is an older PC that I have hooked to the net, my shop is wireless to the main house.

I recorded a large amount of CD's to the PC (still doing it) and then I have the ability to down load music and when I wnat, I stream radio in on the PC. Since we have XM satelite radio in the Yukon, I can stream in those stations too. Yesterday I listened to the XL comedy station all day while cleaning the shop.

[Matt Meiser]

I have a set of cheap speakers from a garage sale. They are powered by our old AV reciever and an old cartridge-style CD changer which I never use. My shop computer is also plugged into the reciever and I use iTunes to play music. All of the electronics except for the speakers are in my shop office, which is separated from the shop and fed air by a thermostatically controlled blower which draws its air supply through a filter.

Mike reminded me that I could also be using my Sirius subscription through the Internet, which I should do now that I don't drive my truck nearly as much with the new job.

[Ted Jay]

Sony 8-Track Player and about 150 eight track tapes.... just the best high end stuff for me buddy!!!:D

[Wes Bischel]

Gee, a lot of high tech stuff here. I use whichever tube radio is working at the time - or listen to the tiny B&W TV we got for free.:rolleyes:

Wes

[Wilbur Pan]

http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/386/2623768450100733997S600x600Q85.jpg

Hi Bob,

Forget the audio stuff. What about that guitar amp? :)

[Jim O'Dell]

Since I build speakers, I have to have a place to try them out. So I used some of my older gear, a Nikko Pre-amp and two power amps, one Sony ES series and one Hafler, both rated 100 watts per channel. Feeding the sounds is an older PC that I have hooked to the net, my shop is wireless to the main house.

I recorded a large amount of CD's to the PC (still doing it) and then I have the ability to down load music and when I wnat, I stream radio in on the PC. Since we have XM satelite radio in the Yukon, I can stream in those stations too. Yesterday I listened to the XL comedy station all day while cleaning the shop.

You have a Hafler that relegated to the shop?????:eek: :eek: :D Pray tell, what is the "GOOD" stereo inside??? Jim.

[glenn bradley]

I picked up some powered computer speakers/sub woofer for about $50. It has a remote for volume. Power is controlled by the input signal so on and off are 'automatic'. I have used it with a $40 portable CD player that plays MP3's (about 160 tracks per disc). Recently I switched to an old laptop that I pick up internet radio on. Player sets in the pantry for dust protection, remote for volume is velcro'd near the bench and the speakers don't care about the dust.

[Jacob Snow]

I had some old 5.1 speakers for my computer that i hooked up on the light switch circuit. i just bring my mp3 player out and hook it up...

[Bob Feeser]

Hi Bob,

Forget the audio stuff. What about that guitar amp? :)

Wilbur,
Thanks for asking. It is about a 10 year old Fender Tweed tube Amp. The name derives from when fender made the old tube amps, in the fifties, and they used a heavy duty tweed cloth covering on them. They re-introduced them as a re-issue. It is a single 12" speaker, with a 40 watt tube amp. (Not to be confused with 40 watts today) and mated up to a Fender stratocaster, or my old "tele" it has that sweet deep throated sound. I know this is a post about shop sound, in a wood working forum, but I have to share with you that I have an old 1966 Fender telecaster, that I bought new in 66. I refinished it natural, so it is not worth any kind of crazy money, like the ones that were never touched. I used it in a band during high school etc. The action is so wonderful, it almost plays itself. With extra light gauge strings, it makes a hero out of you.
In the band I had a Fender Bandmaster with 2 12's and a stack on head. No reverb, but it didn't seem to matter. Wound up selling that, and of course we all wish we had everything that we ever sold.
Are you into old amps or anythng?
PS: With a plug converter you can use the guitar amp with your iPod as the sound source for your shop. See it is about wood working after all. :)

[Bob Feeser]

I picked up some powered computer speakers/sub woofer for about $50. It has a remote for volume. Power is controlled by the input signal so on and off are 'automatic'. I have used it with a $40 portable CD player that plays MP3's (about 160 tracks per disc). Recently I switched to an old laptop that I pick up internet radio on. Player sets in the pantry for dust protection, remote for volume is velcro'd near the bench and the speakers don't care about the dust.

Glen,
That is the magic set up. I have a remote on the computer speaker system that I use also, and it is one of the handiest tools in the shop. Phone rings, you don't have to run across the shop to turn down the music. Plus you can get out in the middle of the room and get just the right volume setting.
Bob

[Jeff Considine]

For father's day my daughter upgraded my old boom box set-up with a compact little unit from Sony with a single CD player and tuner. She also gave me a set of USB headphones that operate from an adaptor plugged in to the mini jack headphone output.

The biggest advantage of the wireless headphones I've found so far is the lack of ...well... wires. I often suffer from a distinct lack of coordination that my wife tells me accompanies my advanced years, and not having wires hanging down from my head is a distinct pleasure.

If I need to change volume or mute, the controls are on the outside of the right phone, just tap and it's done, or I can just slip them off. 30 foot range, but they do seem to occasionally suffer from some line of sight issues if I'm at the outer range.

They fit will with safety glasses, dust mask and specs. If I could find a pair of oversized ear muffs I'd be in good shape.

Just a thought, but I'm enjoying them.

[Bill Wyko]

A car stereo is a good way to go. A little power inverter and your good to go.:D (That's the business I'm in so it was a natural for me.)

[Wilbur Pan]

[Guitar amp geek stuff snipped]
Hi Bob,

I love old guitar amps, and have always used a tube amp. Unfortunately, I got into vintage amps after the collectors drove the prices up, but my go to amp has been an 80's Fender Concert designed by Paul Rivera (he designed amps for Fender for a while). It's a 6L6 push-pull amp, about 60 watts.

I feel your pain about selling that Bandmaster head. Once I passed on an opportunity to get a 60's era Super Reverb in great condition mainly because I was stupid and didn't see how I could use an amp without a distortion channel, which is why I got the Concert instead. Not that I'm complaining -- I think it's still a great amp, but ironically I found myself using the distortion channel less and less until I barely used it at all.

I'd love to be able to find a tweed era Bandmaster, which would be the version before yours, but in the meantime I am slowly working on making a tweed Deluxe clone. Luckily, with this woodworking stuff, I can build my own cabinet. :D

[Bob Feeser]

Hi Bob,

in the meantime I am slowly working on making a tweed Deluxe clone. Luckily, with this woodworking stuff, I can build my own cabinet. :D

I think that would make a great thread, on making speaker cabinets. Mike Seals mentioned that he builds them.

I built two cabinets a long time ago. They housed 2 12's each. Built them out of heavy flakeboard. Unfortunately, I covered them with wood grain contact paper.

Heavy compressed board seems to be what a lot of speaker manufactures use. Seems to be a great help with getting a lot of bass. A friend of mine built cabinets similar to mine, but he was able to get the Fender style black vinyl, and metal rounded corner protectors. With the same silver grille cloth, it was a true Fender 60 series clone.

Another friend of mine was working at a high end stereo store, and managed to get a set of Vienna Acoustic Beethovens. I noticed that the wood on them was beautiful. They did veneering, and used compressed board, judging by the weight of them.

So what is the best way to make them? Will solid woods give you a hollow sound? Will sound deadening inside offset that? What is a good source for the actual speakers themselves? What about shape, or size preferences?

When I was thinking about a stereo system, a long time ago, in addition to the 2 cabinets I mentioned with 2 12's, I also built a total of 8 cabinets out of mahogany; 4 for the mid range speakers, and 4 for the tweeters. I didn't use high end speakers though. I figured by having individual mid and tweete cabinets, I could angle them whatever way would sound the best. It eliminated the need to try and figure out the best cabinet angle design. I still have those old mahogany cabinets. They were made in shop class in high school, cutting 45's for the corners.

Anyhow, a speaker thread, would be great.

[Wilbur Pan]

Hi Bob,

I think that for 50-60's Fender amps, the cabinets were usually made with pine. For stereo speakers, cabinets are almost universally made with MDF which is then veneered.

In a stereo speaker, MDF is usually used to construct the cabinet since the goal is to make the cabinet as rigid and neutral as possible. In addition, MDF is a much more predictable material than solid wood. On the other hand, for a guitar amp, the cabinet contributes to the sound of the amp, and so cabinet vibration is not necessarily a bad thing. One of the reasons why the old amps sound so good is that the pine cabinets vibrate a little, adding natural reverb.

[Randy Redding]

I have an FM transmitter at the house hooked up to an A/V receiver and I mainly listen to a CD changer (or tuned to the game or to some other source). I wear the big yellow headphone/FM receiver ear-muffs when using the craftsman vacuum or other deafening tool. And I have a retired stereo tuned to the proper FM channel and a remote control in my pocket.

The ear-muffs are pretty good hearing protection too but a bit bulky / hot in the summer.

[David DeCristoforo]

"A car stereo is a good way to go..."

I used to have a '47 Chevy 1 ton panel truck. I bought a car stereo head unit and a set of speakers and built them into a box that sat in the back of the truck. I also got power inverter for the shop so I could just bring the box into the shop and plug it in. Worked out OK but that was before we had iPods!

[Mike Seals]

You have a Hafler that relegated to the shop?????:eek: :eek: :D Pray tell, what is the "GOOD" stereo inside??? Jim.

Inside the house is an Onkyo blah blah THX AV receiver, wife wanted something that had a remote and didn't take up all the shelf space. So I moved my settup into the shop. It was tough, but when the going gets tough, you do what the wife says. I did let her keep the speakers for now. Front set some AR 610's rear AR18's and the center channel are some Vifa's I slapped together. It sounds good, but the shop sounds even better:D .

Funny thing about these wives, she was the one that wanted the 7.1 certified THX, I said all we need for watching TV is 5.1. We have the 7.1 system and she won't let me hang the side speakers, so it's a 5.1 for an elevated price.

I guess I need to post pictures some day, I've got the sound system, a TV and a pinball machine in the shop and looking at putting a pool table in. Sometimes it's hard to get any work done.

[Rob Will]

A car stereo is a good way to go. A little power inverter and your good to go.:D (That's the business I'm in so it was a natural for me.)

Bill,

I bought a receiver for the shop but I think your car stereo idea is a very good one.
Care to share with us what car stereos would be well suited to making a shop sound system? In other words what must one look for in a car radio for indoor use? Any particular brand have good power and simple / durable features?

Rob

[Bruce Wrenn]

Car stereo with CD player. You could put in an old car battery (vented to the outside) with a float charger from HF on it. Burn CD's from music on satallite TV. Either XM from Direct, or Cirrus from Dish Network. Used to have Direct TV, but they were at best a bunch of jerks on CS. That is being polite. Love my Dish Network! Cheaper and two receivers for the price of one. Actually one box that feeds two TV's, allowing for different programing in two rooms.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...old car battery (vented to the outside) with a float charger ..."

Or just get something like this:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200326263_200326263

[Bill Wyko]

You could use pretty much any AM FM CD player. You could even get one with Satellite radio capability. When you mount it, use a marine radio cover so it will keep the dust off of it. If you don't use any external amplifiers, you shouldn't need to add a car battery. It should run fine on a 500 watt power inverter(under 50 bucks at HF) Then you could go to the swapmeet and get some cheap 6x9 speaker boxes and screw them anywhere you want or leave them portable. Or if you need more you could do batteries, Amplifiers, component speakers, video system. etc, etc, etc. Here's an idea for ya.:D This is an example of some of my woodwork. BTW you can win this too.:)

[Rick Hubbard]

I was fortunate to find a very nice Sony STR DE197 Tuner on E-Bay for 40 bucks. The tuner actually lives in the house, but I have a three way speaker control so I can direct music to my shop, my study and the family room. It's hooked up to XM Satellite Radio and a CD player so whatever I'm in the mood for, I can hear- where-ever I happen to be.

[Don Taylor]

Hi Rob,

I just picked up this unit for the shop the day before yesterday. I've been looking for quite a while.

http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/en-US/modeldetail.html?ProductID=RS2130i

Not only will this one charge, use and dock an iPOD, it will convert and copy music to it from CD's or the radio.
I am a total Mac computer user but I just can't see the expense involved in an iPOD.

This unit has a USB port on the front that I just plug a 4 gig pocket hard drive into and it gives me complete control of what it plays. I could use a 500 gig external hard drive if I wanted to. :eek:

Everything can be controlled with the remote. The equalizer easily adjusts the sound quality of each song if that's what you want to do and it does make a big difference in the sound.

I found it at a Super Wal-Mart for $129.00.
I just sit here at the computer, select and add songs to my mini hard drive/flash stick and listen to exactly what I like.

Hope this helps

DT

[Bob Feeser]

This is an example of some of my woodwork. BTW you can win this too.:)

Bill,
I have to say, that clear cabinet with the 4 speakers, sporting humungus magnets, that you can fortunately see due to the clear box, has got to be the hands down, coolest setup I have every seen. You have to be getting comments, all of the time, similar to what I said, when I first laid my eyes on it, and that was "wow!"
Hats off to that creation. If it sounds half as good as it looks, I'm sure it rocks.
On the other hand is that a factory setup that you created the surrounding structure, or did you make the whole thing?

[Rob Will]

Anybody been around one of these Tree Stump Subwoofers?
Should be good for a couple of laughs in the woodshop.

Passerby: What's that stump over there by the jointer???

Answer: I got tired of "rock" music and started listening to "tree stump" music ;) .

Rob

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, you've heard of the Wood Whisperer, let me introduce you to the Wood Thumper!!! :D Those things are great for an outdoor system for the back yard, but should be fine in the shop as well. Jim.

[Tyler Howell]

David Hafler Pre Drives an old SAE 250 /per and David Hafler/ 200 per bi amped system with and Ipod and Pioneer tuner. I am very fond of XM lately and plug her in for Water colors.
Have a 60s Fenber Bandmaster stack in storage coming out soon for the migration north.
Looking forward to see that bad boy again. Been almost eight years now.:D

[Dick Sylvan]

David ...I have a nice old Onkyo receiver. Can I hook this Ipod thing to it and run a couple of old speakers from the receiver? I have a home theater setup but still a few years behing in the electronic field. I-pod? I heard about them but never seen one.
Gary K.:confused:

Gary,
I don't mean to be rude, but if you have never seen an iPod you must be living at the bottom of a well!!

[Mike Seals]

David Hafler Pre Drives an old SAE 250 /per and David Hafler/ 200 per bi amped system with and Ipod and Pioneer tuner. I am very fond of XM lately and plug her in for Water colors.
Have a 60s Fenber Bandmaster stack in storage coming out soon for the migration north.
Looking forward to see that bad boy again. Been almost eight years now.:D

Youv'e got some power with those bad boys Tyler, what speakers are you driving? It's funny how our old gear has found some new places. I'm still looking for a couple of Phase Linears, but not at ebay prices, not because I like them that much, but just because they rack mount and I need some more "old" gear.

[Gary Keedwell]

Gary,
I don't mean to be rude, but if you have never seen an iPod you must be living at the bottom of a well!!

Dick, You make that sound bad.:) Had a Walkman once, long time ago. Didn't care for it. Used it for jogging a couple times, but prefer the sights and sounds of what I'm doing.;)
Gary K.

[Dick Sylvan]

Well, you said you had not seen one. Here in Houston, you see them all the time, so, in order not to see them, you truly would have to be a total shut-in. That's not a value judgement, merely a statement of reality.

[Bill Wyko]

Bill,
I have to say, that clear cabinet with the 4 speakers, sporting humungus magnets, that you can fortunately see due to the clear box, has got to be the hands down, coolest setup I have every seen. You have to be getting comments, all of the time, similar to what I said, when I first laid my eyes on it, and that was "wow!"
Hats off to that creation. If it sounds half as good as it looks, I'm sure it rocks.
On the other hand is that a factory setup that you created the surrounding structure, or did you make the whole thing?

It's all custom built with fiberglass and fillers. we also bend the 1" acrilic for the box and create the port too. Thanks for the compliment. Did mention you can win this Hummer? Contact the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The proceeds go for scollarships so it's a good cause.

[Gary Keedwell]

Well, you said you had not seen one. Here in Houston, you see them all the time, so, in order not to see them, you truly would have to be a total shut-in. That's not a value judgement, merely a statement of reality.
..:cool: I think your starting to get rude. Reality is recognizing what you see. I look at every day surroundings and not know what they are. To actually "see" something, don't you have to recognize it?
Respectfully,
Gary K.

[Chuck Rayborn]

Mine is very simple, 30gig Ipod and a Klipsch iGroove. I really wonder how I ever lived not having a Ipod

[Brian Jessup]

I have ethernet out in the shop so I use winamp and my PC attached to a receiver. Also handy to look up stuff and order things.

Brian

[Randy Denby]

I guess I've been out of the loop for a few years as well. I am not familiar with IPOD...I also dont have a clue as to ethernet or winamp. I do have a GPS (Zumo by Garmin) :D

[David DeCristoforo]

OK, now I'm feeling inadequate. So here's what I'm going to do. I am ordering a pair of conrad johnson LP140 monoblock tube amps and a CT5 tube preamp. I'll hook them up to a pair of Anthony Gallo Nucleus® Reference 3.1 speakers and front it with a Moon Andromeda CD Player and I might even add a Transrotor Turntable. Eat yer hearts out.....

BTW anyone wanna buy a house?

[Rob Will]

Well, this is not a very "glamorous" solution but I was able to clean the controls in a nice circa 1982 receiver that I already had. Lots to be said for a $5 can of TV tuner cleaner. It now sounds pretty good.

The main thing I was after was digital synthesized FM tuning (to avoid drifting off channel). Other than that, I just wanted something simple and very straight forward. This one has 30 watts / channel and actually looks like a stereo receiver.

After shopping for something "new", I realized that most everything today is made cheaper and has complex features I don't want. (probably made by the same people who made my cell phone).

As it goes:
Told SWMBO that I was playing "classical" music in the shop but when she came out there I was blowing the cobwebs out with Radar Love (Golden Earring). I tried to make the case.....well, at least it's a "classic"**:o The air guitar did nothing but make it worse.

** Golden Earring has kept the same line-up since 1970. The band is the longest existing rock band in the world, as they were founded in 1961, one year before the Rolling Stones. (Wikipedia)

She's not buying it.

Thanks for sharing your shop tunes ideas.

Rob

[Mike Seals]

And the radio played that forgotten song :D

30 watts is plenty for the shop. Infact this thread has got me chomping on some new ideas for some "shop oriented speakers", Something that looks like it belongs in a shop.

[Rob Will]

Here are a few late additions to this thread that you might find interesting.

As many suggested here, I bought my first iPod, a 30gig iVideo version.
(I like the bigger screen on the iVideo).
The pod was easy to set up..... mostly because I handed it to my 13 yr old and said "here, set this up" :o !!
It holds more songs than I'll ever need (7500) (the 80gig version holds 20,000!).
No need to fuss with changing CD's, and no CD's to get damaged in a dusty wood shop. The sound quality is EXCELLENT and really brings new life to old stero equipment :D. In short, the iPod works very well in a shop environment.

Downloading songs was easy but most of what I have on my iPod we transferred from CD's.

I'll close with a couple of interesting things related to putting music on your iPod.

Wikipedia (online encyclopedia) has extensive articles about any of your favorite musical groups. I found this to be a very historical and interesting read.
Rolling Stone magazine once published a list of the top 500 songs of all time. This could come in real handy if you want to download a few "classic tunes" to your iPod. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11028260/the_rs_500_greatest_songs_of_all_timeThanks for steering me in this direction.

Rob

[Al Willits]

"""""""""
I think that would make a great thread, on making speaker cabinets. Mike Seals mentioned that he builds them.
""""""""""

It was in fact the time I spent on a HT/Audio forum that got me interested in building the speakers I have in my garage now, which led to thinking a skill saw may work, but more woodworking tools were needed to build a nicer cabinet, which led to me finding this forum and starting a new hobby.
DIY speakers can be a way to get great sound for about a quarter the cost of retail speakers, but more than a bit of research is needed to match components and cabinet design.

Also going to active crossovers and bi/tri amping will do wonders for a system, all depends on how "Audiophile" ya are...and how much disposable income ya have.

Al

[Mark Pruitt]

I'm a little surprised that no one has said this in six pages of postings to this thread........

By bringing music into the shop and (I assume) playing it at a level that will override the sound of your tools, are you not setting yourself up? In other words, I want to hear the sound of the wood talking to me, alerting me to things that might require more finesse.

But then that's just me. Besides, I'm the kind of guy who will stop what I'm doing to listen to certain songs. Music to me has always been an end to itself; bringing it into the shop makes it compete with what I'm trying to accomplish.

[Sam Shank]

HOWARD STERN recorded to mp3 and piped to a receiver (an older but still excellent) yamaha with PSB Alpha One speakers.

[Al Willits]

I'm a little surprised that no one has said this in six pages of postings to this thread........

By bringing music into the shop and (I assume) playing it at a level that will override the sound of your tools, are you not setting yourself up? In other words, I want to hear the sound of the wood talking to me, alerting me to things that might require more finesse.

But then that's just me. Besides, I'm the kind of guy who will stop what I'm doing to listen to certain songs. Music to me has always been an end to itself; bringing it into the shop makes it compete with what I'm trying to accomplish.


I think if your running some of the power equipt like a planer/jointer/router they are noisey enough that to play music loud enough to hear your dealing with major hearing loss injuries, and that most, least I do, forgo listening while these types of tools are running.

But good point.

Al

[Randal Stevenson]

I'm a little surprised that no one has said this in six pages of postings to this thread........

By bringing music into the shop and (I assume) playing it at a level that will override the sound of your tools, are you not setting yourself up? In other words, I want to hear the sound of the wood talking to me, alerting me to things that might require more finesse.

But then that's just me. Besides, I'm the kind of guy who will stop what I'm doing to listen to certain songs. Music to me has always been an end to itself; bringing it into the shop makes it compete with what I'm trying to accomplish.


While I enjoy my music (my tastes anyway), I prefer to keep it low. When I turn on a powertool, I want my attention there. It is more for the in between times of marking, measuring, layout and hand tool work.
That said, I still have wanted to buy the headsets that block noise but allow an Ogg player to hook up to them, but it kinda goes against what I just posted (battling with myself on that one).

[Steven Wilson]

Rob,

Craigslist and Ebay are great sources of receivers, preamp/poweramp, speakers that were once fairly high end and now just old. I have a preference for NAD gear and I picked up a receiver on Craigslist that works well, sounds, nice and was $50. I pair that with a set of Infinity Quantum 5's that I've had since high school (they still sound good after all these years) and it sounds very decent in the shop. As for the other toys, I finally got around to installing a new power supply in the tweed Fender amp I bought in Saudi (blues delux IIRC, was wired for 220V). I also decided to put my bass stack together for some fun (two SWR SM900 heads and 4 4x10 cabinets, 900wrms/ch)

[Rob Will]

I'm a little surprised that no one has said this in six pages of postings to this thread........

By bringing music into the shop and (I assume) playing it at a level that will override the sound of your tools, are you not setting yourself up? In other words, I want to hear the sound of the wood talking to me, alerting me to things that might require more finesse.

But then that's just me. Besides, I'm the kind of guy who will stop what I'm doing to listen to certain songs. Music to me has always been an end to itself; bringing it into the shop makes it compete with what I'm trying to accomplish.

For me, it is probably the other way around. (Music played at a low level). I doubt that I'll ever try to drown out power tools with a stero:eek:.
Also, the shop gets used for a lot of things besides woodworking. You know the routine........work on a project for a half hour, spend the next three days picking up the shop.

Rob