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Advice Needed - Shop Sound

David Paule

Well Known Member
I?ve already got a decent enough radio. Good speakers, good reception, etc. But it?s vintage 1991 and doesn?t read from a USB thumb drive.

So what I?m looking for is something that will accept Doug?s podcasts and some music on a USB thumb drive, and play it well at old guy volumes. You know, a bit loud. I?d like to hear it over the shop tools. I?ll want decent speakers, certainly not the toy-sized ones that so many devices have these days. Real ones.

I figure pushing those requires power from the wall, so having a battery doesn?t really do much for me.

Don?t really need on-board memory either since the thumb drive works and I use it for other things too. Don?t need blue tooth or wi-fi, since I won?t be streaming anything or transferring sound that way.

What would you recommend?

Oh - almost forgot. Price matters.

Thanks,
Dave
 
Look around on Amazon, Newegg, Tiger Direct or other electronic online sites for a cheap home theater system. These typically come with a 5 or 7 speaker setup, depending on model, and will do everything you want and more. You can find sales on last years models as they bring out the newer offerings, and a decent system can often be purchased for not a lot of money.
 
If you're happy with your current sound, just pull your old phone out of storage and get a miniature phone plug to stereo RCA adapter cable. Plug the cable into a spare input on the stereo (tape in, aux, etc). Load any audio program you want on the phone, instead of on a thumb drive. Now you have a player that'll work with almost any format, and send the audio to almost any destination.
 
I use RV7Charlie’s technique in my hangar.

I’ve got an old NAD tuner/amplifier and some old Boston Acoustic A70 speakers. 15 years ago when I started using this system, I used an off-brand iPod thing to play my music. In modern times, I found a Bluetooth receiver that plugs into the RCA cassette player input.

I stream podcasts and Amazon Prime music through the Bluetooth adapter through my otherwise acceptable old fashioned stereo. The Bluetooth adapter cost me $20-ish. An added benefit is that when my phone rings, it interrupts the music or podcast so I don’t miss the call.

Even if you don’t have an i-device, I would think you could find a used device for less than the cost of replacing an otherwise perfectly good stereo system.

Edited to add a link to the Bluetooth adapter I purchased from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IQBSW28/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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I'll second the vote for a cheap home theatre system.

Our system quit reading DVDs. Don't know why. It still reads CDs and takes an "AUX" input. Sounds fantastic, fills the hangar, with a net cost of zero since it was going to be chucked out in favor of a new system that would read DVD and Blue Ray.

Keep an eye on garage sales and similar - some good bargains can be had if you don't opt to go with the suggestion of rv7charlie to continue using your existing system.
 
What I'm looking for is a one-box thing that I can plug into a wall and push a thumb drive into and play.

That's all. Not a whole sound system, not a collection of adapters. I don't use a phone for music so a phone connection isn't what I'm looking for.

Just something simple.

But I recognize that for a lot of you, the alternatives so far mentioned are excellent ones for the general case of how to get sound in the shop. This is a specific case.

Thanks!
Dave
 
I've got a set JBL speakers in the hangar. I tried cheap speakers, but they just didn't quite cut it. I used an old receiver and my ipad, so I can listen to just about any content I want. I've also got a cheap 42" LED TV that we got free with some furniture several years.

In a former life, I was an audio engineer in Nashville. I have plenty of gear lying around the house. In the summer is the only problem is my eclectic task in music. I listen to some of my old clients, which weren't necessarily in the main stream pop or rock markets. :D
 
oooh, a (at least remotely) kindred spirit! I did location sound work & built location sound systems in a former life. If you're still in Nashville, tell J. Fred Knobloch I said Hi.

Charlie
 
Hey Dave... an idea just came to me...

You might try one of those all-in-one speaker/PA systems they sell at Sam?s and Costco. I?m pretty sure they have every input known to man. I would think it?d be capable of reasonably loud because it?s designed to be an outdoor system.

I can check for you next time I?m in Costco and/or Sam?s since I?m not sure Boulder has either.
 
oooh, a (at least remotely) kindred spirit! I did location sound work & built location sound systems in a former life. If you're still in Nashville, tell J. Fred Knobloch I said Hi.

Charlie

I left the business and Nashville in the mid eighties. I don?t know Fred. Although I try to stay in touch with some of the bands I worked with as they come through town.
 
That's around the time he arrived on the scene. Had one pretty big hit in his name, but has gone on to write for a lot of other artists, and still shows up at the Bluebird, etc fairly often. I knew him from his earlier years in a couple of local bands down in Jackson MS.
 
I finally got the radio that Carl N recommended, and Carl, that was a good suggestion - thanks!

It works fine with the various flash drives I tried, up to 128 gig. The only thing I don't care for with it, is that its available formats are limited. For example, it reads MP3 files but not MP4 files. Unfortunately most of my music is in MP4. Fortunately, I hardly ever want to play music in the shop, preferring voice - I got the radio for Doug's podcasts - so that's not a great burden.

I played the Danny King podcast on it and was impressed. DR, you're getting pretty good at this - another, please! Danny, someday I'd like to meet you and the Doll.

Anyway, Carl, thanks for the rec and DR, thanks for the podcast.

Dave
 
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So...

So listening to music or talk shows in your shop is disturbing to the neighbors?

I would have thought the bbrrrtttt...bbrrrtttt of the rivet gun would have been more annoying...

Especially 40,000 times!:eek:
 
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