Thread: A sound system for the shed ideas?

Hang 10 for 11 days and get a cheap (under a hundred bucks) digital radio. I cant wait.

Originally Posted by Scally

Soundman, I want one!!!

Can you put that is simple terms for me?

In simple terms....speakers as big as a fridge and an amplifier that weighs as much as a small saw bench...a good way of getting the dust off the rafters.

cheers

Many thanks for the suggestions

I dont think the laptop sitting in my workshop is going to happen but will run a lead to the amp from it.

Will continue down the road of finding a cheap amp with radio and see how we go.

I just had a week off working in my shed and around the abode.

Not only do have no radio or sound system in the shed my car radio stopped working.

Just the birds singing in the back ground.

I would reccomend a cheap second hand pc and a free crt moniter. You can get boxes from online auctions in capital cities for around $50 with a windows licence and crt (tube style) moniters are everywhere for free or near to it.

Run a system with just windows and winamp and even a 40 - 80 gig drive will take a ton of music in MP3 format or plays discs in the drive. Alternatively you can network it back to the house and just access what you have inside. If you can get semi fast net access then the world of internet radio is your oyster. Stations from up the street or around the world. My preffered station plays non stop music with one ad per hour (usually the price of tomatoes at home depot lately). If you want to get really flash you could run Mediaportal and have tv, radio and all the rest.

Having had a lot of different speakers over the years the best bang for buck would have to be a 2.1 Logitech set available at Big W for $70 - $80 - not sure of the model number. Supprisignly big and clear sound + very cheap and ready to go straight out of the box. Tiny and easy to mount on the wall (1 screw or a big dab of silicone or blue tack) and put the sub under a bench. No other amp required.

$120 dollar solution in total and no fear of losing discs or needing to find them in the first place. A bit of stocking over the fan inlets with a knot in the middle keeps the dust out. Every so often just flick it and your super sensitive wiz bang Hepa filter is cleaned.

I wouldn' t bother with a laptop. In a dusty shed this offers a disposable and replaceable solution.

two big problems with running an old PC..... very hungry on the power... and they pump them selves full of dunt in no time.

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

two big problems with running an old PC..... very hungry on the power... and they pump them selves full of dunt in no time.

cheers

And they sound crap!

Cheers

Graeme

Dunt

Hence the stocking filter. It really isn't hard to tie a stocking in a knot and flick the knot once in a while....and i am sure you have a compressor somewhere soundman for a gentle de-dusting.

Power

In a shed full of major machinery you are worried about the pc??

Sound

Yes most pc speakers sound crap but the ones I have aren't too bad. Massively improved by locking them down so they don't vibrate with something like blue tack to the desk (microwave it first) and are we really going for studio moniters in the shed? Other post here were about landfill and cheapies from K Mart. Parity people.

It's only my suggestion and a solution i like. No discs, no tapes and an infinite amount of music and choice for very little $$$. Plus the other benifits like plans and news on the web or the TV I stream out to it over the network (a bit more flash). If box dies I replace for peanuts and reaccess same files accross the network. Nothing lost.

I went the car stereo route in my last shed. To get past the dust issue I put it in a marine enclosure. Looked a bit like this one: http://www.ryda.com.au/Fusion-F-MCH-...sing-p/fmh.htm

You can also get covers for just the front if you want to make your own housing. I just mounted it under a bench. It still plays CDs just fine.

Hi Pulpo,
I bought a $60 sound system (cd and radio) and made an inlayed dust proof box for it, then ran cables to the speakers mounted at optimum points high in the shed. The speakers are mounted onto inlayed supports which angle down to where I am most when playing with wood.

These items impress people who come in to discuss commissions with me. BTW, I have inlay disease.

I will post some pics next few days or so.

cheers
conwood

Bloke

I had one of them cheap radios too, took the back off and soldered on a car ariel extension then fixed a car ariel to the tin roof to get a better reception. Was ok but I wanted more noise, louder, louder as when machining I cant hear the music.

I bought a car radio/cd player with a cable for an iPod out the back, made a case for it then hooked up some big car speakers. Made special boxes for them too, mounted the speakers on scrap steel frames I welded up. Hooked the car radio up to a car battery that is connected to a solar cell and I have sweet music, radio or just plain CD's. Works a treat, I am very happy.

DD

I once hooked up a car stereo to a 12 volt supply - only to blow the crap out of it - one puff of smoke is all I got and my beautiful alpine system was gone.

So if anyone else is thinking of using a car stereo system, please make sure that you use a DC supply and not AC.

Denn

Get and old car radio. If you have a MP3/MP4 player get the accessory that allows you to plug the MP into it and produce a radio frequency you can tune to and away you go.

My BOSE Lifestyle 3 system works well.CDs, AM or FM (usually on 3LO)

Actually i must say the tune in to an mp3 player would be my next choice after an old PC. MP3 is just so conveinient.