Thanks Thanks:  0
Likes Likes:  0
Needs Pictures Needs Pictures:  0
Picture(s) thanks Picture(s) thanks:  0
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 32
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Sydney, NSW
    Posts
    302

    Default A sound system for the shed ideas?

    I would like to hook a sound system of sorts to listen to some tunes in the shed.

    I have small radio which is crap.

    I want a tuner / radio which I can attach external aerial.

    I listen to classical or talk radio.

    I would like to be able to have some speakers outside as well as inside the shed.

    I'm building a house in front of the shed so not sure if I turn up the radio in the shed or have some portable speakers.

    I'm in the bush so reception is an issue but no neighbours to worry about sound.

    Wish list would be to hook up my pc so I could play some of the songs.

    I want nothing fancy or expensive.

    Something cheap off ebay I was thinking not sure if new or old but good.

    I did get an old amp from a school fete that worked for a week but stopped.

    Also picked up some very cheap speakers.

    I still have the speakers but no amp.

    This is something I have no idea about but need to do something NOW.

    Your suggestions and ideas would be welcomed.

    Budget was not that a big of a deal but thinking around $200 - $300 to get some noise happening.

    Cheers

    Pulpo

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Oberon, NSW
    Age
    63
    Posts
    13,354

    Default

    What's the radio reception like in your car?

    If it's acceptable, then why not fit a cheap car radio in your shed, running off a small 12VDC transformer? If the shed roof is gal/colourbond, then you can simply fit a car aerial to it without needing to worry about a groundplane.
    I may be weird, but I'm saving up to become eccentric.

    - Andy Mc

  4. #3
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    58
    Posts
    832

    Default

    What a great idea Skew.
    Common sense prevails again.
    Kevin

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Hobart
    Posts
    5,105

    Default

    Good Morning Pulpo

    My wife is deaf and gets sick of wearing hearing aids all the time - she says they make her ears sweat - so she uses Sennheiser cordless headphones when listening to the stereo or TV. Sound quality is better than quite expensive stereo speakers and much better than TV speakers.

    The headphones have a range of up to 100 metres so I often use them when working in the shed or garden. They are great. Cost about $300 each.

    More expensive model includes a noise suppression option that will literally cancel out the noise of saws, planers, etc.

    Cheers

    Graeme

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    47
    Posts
    978

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!! View Post
    If it's acceptable, then why not fit a cheap car radio in your shed, running off a small 12VDC transformer?
    That's what I did originally. I used a spare car battery and charger so that it would remember my radio presets, and drove two pairs of speakers, inside and outside.
    "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
    - Douglas Adams

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Pambula
    Age
    58
    Posts
    12,779

    Default

    If you hunt around in op shops or Saint Vinnies or places like that you should be able to pick up an old tape deck/radio or similar for next to nothing. Doesn't matter if the tape player works, all you want is the radio.

    That's what I use. Mine is one of those 3 in 1 units - it has a record player as well. It has a terminal on the back for attaching an antenna, so I just hooked up a bit of coax and stuck it up on the end of some plastic conduit. It also has an Aux input, so I connected the line out from my sound card to it and I can play tunes from my PC as well. Or I could hook up an MP3 player to it.

    Total cost: $0.

    Shame you're not local because I've got another one the same that you could have had. But I bet if you ask around, someone you know will have one in their spare room or under the house.
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Port Pirie SA
    Age
    52
    Posts
    6,908

    Default

    Most midi hifi's have mp3 capability, I have a LG midi which plays DVD's... 4.5gb of mp3's put your music collection on one disc!
    Many of them have a Ipod dock too, the only disadvantage is none of them will run 2 sets of speakers but that can be got around very easily/cheaply.

    I've even have a subwoofer connected to mine... neighbors must hate me!
    ....................................................................

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    47
    Posts
    978

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Harry72 View Post
    4.5gb of mp3's put your music collection on one disc!
    *cough* 9 DVDs *cough*
    "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
    - Douglas Adams

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Behind that little door under the thicknesser...
    Posts
    644

    Default

    My current shed system set me back just $38. All from the local tip shop. Set-up is a Pioneer am/fm tuner, Hitachi integrated amp and a couple of LG surround sound speakers. I have a spare DVD player if I'm inclined to play CDs and the like but mostly couldn't be stuffed....so I don't.

    Huge quality and practical improvement on the previous car radio/battery/charger setup I had previously.

    And highly recommended...
    Ours is not to reason why.....only to point and giggle.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Coffs Harbour
    Posts
    2,015

    Default

    I bought a $50 music box from K Mart last year because it had an iPod dock and a radio.

    Now I can play more than 60 Gigs a music.

    Mostly I just like background noise or keep up with a some sport.

    Volume isn't good enough to out do the machines and power tools.

    I would like to be able to shake the shed occasionally!!
    Scally
    __________________________________________
    The ark was built by an amateur
    the titanic was built by professionals

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Mornington Peninsula
    Age
    48
    Posts
    2,825

    Default

    This one cost me $50. It didn't look like that when I picked it up but the hot summer didn't agree with it. No CD's in the shed for now... but the radio still works. If I want to listen to it outside the shed I just turn it up louder
    It's only a mistake if you don't learn from it.

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Perth - SOR
    Age
    77
    Posts
    482

    Default

    Yeh! I reckon any old thing from the kerbside pickup or the local op shop together with some equally cheap speakers. After all how can you judge quality when you have a compressor on one side and a saw at the other?

    Even in one of my old four wheel drives I found that the best improvement to the quality of my sound system (again a cheapie), was when a friend in the business decided to soundproof the vehicle with some of the most impressive lead and foam soundproofing imaginable; ghetting rid of roadnoise I reckon was better than installing a $1000.oo sound system.


    Denn

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    10

    Default

    If there was ever an ideal speaker design for a shed it must be the array or column speaker,



    line arrays have been around for 50 years but for reasons of fashion have never been popular except for the last 5-10 years in public address situations, and now pretty well every sound reinforcement company make them, the principle is that you have many speaker drivers of the same type producing the same frequencies, the benefit is that each driver has to do a lot less work than if there was only one driver for the same volume and the resultant sound is amazingly clear, no really it's stunning,
    the drawback is that there will be a frequency where these drivers will interfere with each other, in an effect called combfiltering, but it can be mitigated by keeping the drivers small and mounting thems as close as possible to each other,
    another benefit is that they have a very narrow vertical projection, that means that they firstly don't waste energy going to the ceiling or floor, but the reflections from the floor or ceiling also can't interfere with the original signal, another reason why they sound cleaner,
    and the third big reason and why they are so popular with PA companies is that the sound carries further than a normal speaker, ie there is much less diffference in the sound volume when you are close or far away, there is a difference of course but much less than with a normal speaker. All this really helps in cutting through power tool noise, I have a single column of 4 really cheap paper 4" drivers (without tweeters) to listen to ABC AM in my 15x12m workshop and they are just superb.

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    bulimba QLD
    Age
    52
    Posts
    185

    Default

    My shed is the downstairs under a raised Queenslander that has slats around it, so its somewhat exposed.

    I run an old Yamaha amp stored in an old office cabinet to protect it from dust etc. I sit my laptop onto of the cabinet and hook it up to the amp using a 1/4" single socket from the headphone jack, and the other end are left/right stereo jacks that plug into one of the component inputs.

    The speakers are a set of outdoor speakers I picked up from Dick Smiths. I have a bit of length in the speaker cords so I can either have them hanging from the beams above the cabinet and under the house, which is lockable and secure, or i can quickly reposition them on a couple of screws outside under the upstairs deck. I use them this way for backyard BBQ's or when doing a day in the yard.

    I also have a wireless router set-up upstairs.

    With this i can access my full itunes catelogue on my laptop, and also stream live radio via teh internet. The ABC are good for that.... Triple J, Classic FM, Grandstand local radio etc.

    It also has the added advantage that I can look up this site or any other woodie site to look at plans, tips, techniques etc.

    Tom

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    5,773

    Default

    There are three popular approaches to shed sound.

    1. power up any old carp you can lay your hands on, something retired from the house, off the tip or the council clean up or garage sale.

    2. go and buy something..book shelf systems are cheap... But I have to agree that a car CD radio has to be the best option and some 30 watt 8" twincones in boxes made from scrap .

    3. have heaps of sound gear and leave something set up between shows....most of my mates do this.....I used to but havn't bothered for ages.

    Believe me you have no problem getting over the saw bench ( even with muffs on) when you have 4 x 15 & horn boxes powered up of 1200 watts (real ones).

    I was doing some work in a mates shed once...a couple of days of wiring.....was comming down with a flu...so right behind my stool, I set up a pait of 18" subs & a pair of 15& horn boxes powred up of a 1000watt amp (crown psa2)( biggest amp we had at the time)......put my best peltor muffs on.....that shifted the flem off my chest......one of the other boys ended up in hospital for week with pneumonia

    cheers
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Shed ideas please
    By hol in forum THE GARDEN SHED
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 25th April 2008, 04:38 PM
  2. Mounting new points in colorbond shed- ideas?
    By JDub in forum PLUMBING, ELECTRICAL, HEATING, COOLING, etc
    Replies: 23
    Last Post: 13th February 2007, 02:36 PM
  3. Wanted - Ideas for 4x3m wooden shed
    By inflex in forum THE GARDEN SHED
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 15th November 2006, 11:52 PM
  4. Shed Insulation and sound proofing
    By Goldy in forum WOODWORK - GENERAL
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 13th August 2004, 08:01 PM
  5. Ideas for Storage Shed
    By barrysumpter in forum GENERAL ODDS N SODS
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 28th December 2002, 07:40 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •