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Tony Sade
06-05-2004, 11:14 AM
This is woodworking and power tools related, right? It involves power and my shop so I figure it qualifies.

I want to upgrade my music system in the shop from the cheesy undercabinet-mounted pos radio that loses its signal everytime I move to something a little more sophisticated and powerful. I'd like to have a multi cd changer and FM radio combination, and I'd like to be able to crank it up. (Mostly to drown out the systems of my kids, who subject me to a lovely combination of hip-hop and head banger stuff-their bedrooms are right over the shop.)

Because space is seriously limited and to avoid the problems I hear dust presents for the operation of a CD player. I'm thinking of putting the system (except for the speakers of course) in another room and using a RF remote that I'll probably keep in a plastic bag.

Any suggestions/recommendations? I assume that an RF remote will work-do systems come with these? Any problems involved in running about 25' of speaker wire? Will the dust cause any problems for the speakers? Other than buying the occasional boom box, it's been twenty years since I've purchased any serious music equipment. I'd like to keep things under $400 total if possible.

Thanks for any help you folks can offer. :)

Ed Marks
06-05-2004, 12:02 PM
I settled on a personal MP3 player rather than going the route of trying to install some old stereo equipment in the shop. Stereo equipment and the shop environment just don't seem to be a good thing to mix unless you want to spend lots of time enclosing everything. In addition, trying to listen to music over the goan of dust collectors and other tools seems to defeat the purpose of having the music in the first place ... plus you have to contend with the kid's music :(

I've used an iPod in the shop for a long time. The small ear peices fit under a set of ear protectors quite nice or you can splurge for a set of noise cancelling headsets. There are less expensive solutions that render sound just as well. Plus, I don't have t contend with the kids stuff ;)

BTW, I find it is pretty easy to adjust the volume such that I don't miss any odd sounds, etc. that usually mean something is amiss.

Tony Sade
06-05-2004, 12:18 PM
I've been trying to justify the purchase of an IPOD for awhile now (whatta cool toy), but I just don't do enough listening away from the car and house for it to be worthwhile. (If I was still in-line skating for exercise, I'd have one, but after I broke my collarbone in a skating accident, my wife threatened to leave if I got back on skates at age 50.)

As for the shop, if it had an FM tuner, I'd be on it in a heartbeat, but it doesn't. I like to listen to NPR-news and other programming, such as jazz shows, PHC, and Mt. Stage, so I view a tuner as a must. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Jim Becker
06-05-2004, 12:20 PM
I bought a nice Sherwood receiver online last year (for a very good under $100 price...) and mounted it up on a couple of heavy shelf brackets near the ceiling. Two wall-hung compact metal speakers that I've had for years (Radio Shack Minimus 7s) are also mounted on the walls up high to provide the sound. The remote control that came with the receiver makes for easy station changes (between the two I listen to) as well as volume control and on/off. I keep the remote on a small shelf next to the A/C remote and cordless phone near the door for easy access. This setup works well for me since I only use the radio, but if I wanted to listen to recorded tunes, I'd definitely go for the MP3 setup. Blowing off the receiver with compressed air every once in awhile works fine, but I'd not want to have to deal with cleaning out a CD player...

Mike Stanton
06-05-2004, 12:23 PM
I got an old sansui amp and speakers at a gar. sale it works great. I use a portable cd player with no problems.You can run lots of speaker wire with no problem.I am going to inclose my amp one of these days when I get time but so far had no problem. I use mine every day. Mike :D

Bruce Page
06-05-2004, 1:44 PM
Tony,

I have posted these pictures before so you may have already seen them. This was a fun project to build. It's basically a sealed box with an automotive air filter mounted on the bottom, and an old pc cooling fan mounted at the top. The fan draws filtered air through the unit keeping it cool. About every six months, I remove the filter and blow it out with compressed air. I have been using this system for several years without any problems.

I went the mp3 route a few months ago and bought the iRiver 512mb player. These things are sooooo cool! I plug it into my pc and download about 12 hours of music, and then I plug it into my shop stereo and rock. The neat thing about the software I bought (MUSICMATCH Jukebox) is it will randomly select music from your library, so it never gets boring.

Tyler Howell
06-05-2004, 2:19 PM
Tony
Just about all the new stuff has no real moving parts. They are all sealed pots, switches, and the tuners are digital. Dust will attack anything, but preventing airflow would be the biggest concern.
It hasn’t phased the 33 year old Sansui discretes I bought when I graduated from High School. They've been in the shop for the last 15 years.
Just for giggles I bench tested it to tune up a new com test set we bought. Still meets manufactures parameters. I piped in line level audio from the home theater unit if I want what's playing up stairs or run the little Sony Disc Man. It's been in the shop about 4 years now and still grindin.. I make sure to clean the disks after they leave the shop and the CD player, as Jim says gets hit with the air hose now and then. .

If you're still concerned about dust, a car Stereo is built to withstand a hostile environment. 6&12 CD changers are available. It requires a hefty 12 VDC power Supply and the speaker wiring is not always straight forward.

Also the Sport Boom boxes are build to take to the beach, roll in the sand take a little wind and waves.
I like the idea of a remote. Have one for the Shop TV. Hangs next to the remote for the Air filter and DC.
Toshiba, Sony Aiwa....... They say "buy for features because they all meet Spec".
Good luck;)

Tyler Howell
06-05-2004, 2:27 PM
Nice set up Bruce.

Dean Baumgartner
06-05-2004, 7:21 PM
Can't help with the high volume but I have a cd/digital tuner boom box in my shop. The nice thing with the cd player is that it also plays MP3's so by copying them on my computer and then burning them onto a cd as MP3's I can easily get 10 regular cd's worth of music on a disc. Pop one in and it's usually good for the entire session without repeating.


Dean