Help with shop surround music?

Audio Hardware & Software Speakers
1

I'll be completely honest in saying that I have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to audio.

I run a game shop and I play music pretty much all day everyday.
The music helps isolate each pair of players and keeps the room "quiet" and less busy than without music.
BUT
I'm using a junky little Kan bluetooth speaker which often dies on us, and/or disconnects... its a little aggravating.

So my request!

  • I want 4 speakers that I can put in each corner of the room, mounted in the upper corner.

  • I need it to be heard at lower sound levels, and hardly heard outside the shop. (in a complex with other businesses)

  • I need to be able to connect from to the corners of a 25x30 room from the center of one wall. (where my register laptop is)

I use said laptop as my POS and also for music, orders, and things like store credit etc.
It has a single audio jack in the front, and no others.

As I said, I've no idea what I'm even asking... I just want something on a budget so that it will feel a bit more "professional" when people come into the shop.

Thanks!

2

Any idea on the size of said budget?

3

From what your asking I think you would be perfectly set with a 5.1 receiver which you would connect the front left and right and then the surround left and right. You would probably want the receiver to come with ether wifi or bluetooth so you could connect your laptop wierlessley. Then just pick up 4 speakers but it would help to know your budget. Also in terms of sound that really comes from how high the volume is and how good the speakers and the source of the audio is. If you have a bad source or crummy speakers some times you have to turn the volume up so you can hear the audio clearly.

4

I was thinking that they could run a couple of pairs of second hand speakers from two cheap t-class amps, using a couple of rca splitters to input into both amps from the one jack.

5

That could probably work it would help to know his shop layout and weather or not that laptop moves from a back office to the front desk or around the shop at any time because that would make him have to disconnect is audio.

6

Is your space big enough for surround sound? If not you can get a 7.1 sound bar like JayzTwoCents. And I also hear that the pioneer atmos is good. But I also hear that their are some quirks with it.

7

Also if you really do not know just get a 200$ 300$ pair of headphones. It's about the same price as surround sound but you get the same experience maybe better.

8

heya fellas.
Thanks so far!

By budget i meant as cheap as possible to be "successful"
I'd say no more than $60-100.... less, if possible.

This isn't an important feature of the shop, just a nice commodity.
I'll attach an image of the rough layout of the shop. it is 25x30
It usually isnt very loud in the shop, card games are pretty low tone afterall.

I'll be watching the forums today, so i'll be able to get back with ya quicker today!

Thanks!


(Prolly have to open this in a new tab and zoom way in.)
The grey is my door
the lime green is my counter and retail space
the blue is some merch shelves
purple is the 6 ft card tables
light blue are my windows

and the pine green is where the laptop sits.
The red corners are where i would like to mount speakers.

9

My suggestion would be to consult with a home theatre, or similar installer. Someone who has a reputation for a good setup, not just selling you stuff than putting things wherever.

I say this because the acoustics of the room will probably come more into play in controlling noise levels, letting you be heard over the music, etc.

For speakers, from what I gather, you would want a good clean sounding set of speakers, but don't need power behind them. This is a somewhat specialized segment, but I think how the room is setup would be more important in your case.

As for equipment:

Your laptop would only send out a 2 channel signal through a jack. Generally the 3.5mm jack (headphone type jack) sends two channels. Generally you have 1 for left/right, 1 for centre/subwoofer, and 1 for surround left/right.

The setup you want would probably be fine with a '4 channel stereo' setup which essentially doubles the left and right channel. Again whether 4 channel stereo or a true surround setup would suit your needs would be best described by a professional who would come and take a look at your room in person.

If you want more detailed help before diving in try the forums at audioholics.com. They have people with all sorts of experience with audio and, hopefully, someone who has dealt with a situation like yours before.

EDIT

I see you have a fairly low budget of $200 or so. Again the forums at audioholics.com could help you more with the acoustics side of things, since a home theatre installer may be outside of your budget.

My only suggestion would be that the equipment should be as clear as possible so that it is easy to discern sounds. Bad equipment you tend to turn the volume up to overcome the noise/distortion, which in turn makes it worse to hear other sounds in the room.

You also would do this with good wiring. Cheap wires can cause problems, either from long runs of thin gauge wire, to using unshielded wire over long runs which will pick up interference.

10

With only one jack output, running 2 pairs of stereo speakers (as already suggested by Lord_Tao) seems like simplest option

Try looking for an old stereo hifi amplifier, many have connections for 2 pairs of speakers.
I would trust a well cared for second-hand Technics/NAD/Cambridge etc over a brand new no-name amplifier

Favoured speakers for commercial installations are JBL Control One - see them in so many shops,pubs etc. These are fairly small and light (and have wall brackets). work really well even at low volume

If you are really tight on budget, twin-core 6A power cable (like power cord for a table lamp) can work just as well as speaker cable and is usually a lot cheaper for a whole reel. But a good chunky speaker cable with lots more strands would be better

Don't skimp on the jack to RCA/phono cable to carry the line level signal to the amp. This is where most noise would get in to the sound

11

Ok. So I tried looking around Amazon for some decent (i think) stuff.
I know I need 80-90' cable. hoping that 100' will do it alright.
I have no idea what I am looking at for the amp, so i just chose one with decent reviews that had four stereo jacks and the rca input.
Speakers are where I am having a rough time. Wanting something beefy enough with good quality that is decently cheap.
Those things are only 3" so im not sure about the sound they can put out.

I am still under my $~100 budget.
If you have any better suggestions within my price range, please lemme hear them.

Thanks again fellas. good info.

12

You might wanna see what in the world im talking about, huh?
Forgot to add the image last post. lol

2016-03-03 22_42_48-Amazon.com Shopping Cart.png1535x695 112 KB

13

You may need higher gauge wire to prevent loss of audio quality over long runs. I assume "needing 90' " means 45' per run. You may want 12 gauge for that.

I know that you will lose some audio quality, but I do not know how much. Here is an article on the relationship between speaker wire length vs gauge http://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-cable-gauge.

You may be fine with 16 gauge, but it all depends on how much noise is already present, etc.

14

I hope you didn't get those pyle home speaker they probly give less bass and sound then my samsung 5.0 (4 speakers and a center speaker) speakers to my sound system. Not only that they gave the Peak audio in the specs and not the rms never go by peak. I use 2 subwoofers with much more powerful speakers in a smaller setting than the ones you bough 15 foot by 15 foot room.

Also you need a power supply for that amp and that amp is not that good.

Theres no power supply with the amp you have. Honestly your going to have to go at least 200 to get something decent going if you want four speakers.

15

Take everything you got back and get this.

Cheapest 4 channel receiver i could find.

Or just got 5.1 this is pretty good I have similar samsung speakers. Lost the sub and dvd player during a move but I know they can fill out a area.

16

The term surround music is snake oil. You only need a set of floor speakers. And a good receiver to amp them. And mounting speakers in the upper corner is not good for the audio quality. I recommend Klipsch as a entry level floor speaker. And make sure yo know what amp you are getting with the features you want. I recommend Marantz as a entry level high end amp since it allows you to dial in the mids for your speakers. These are the best for a budget system. But keep in mind a budget for hi-fi systems can range from 2,000 to 200,000. So this is really a good pick for a low budget system. And the Marantz is able to dial the mid's if you have different taste in sounds.

http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-PM5005-Integrated-Amplifier/dp/B00L1HN0FS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457938015&sr=8-1&keywords=marantz+amp

1 Like
17

Totals over $1000.

Wat.

18

This guy has not set a budget so I do not know what to recommend. If his budget he would be better off getting a headphone dac combo.

19

It's for a shop, and the budget is

20

In that case just hit up the good will. And look for one set of speakers that sound good together and look for another pair that sound good with that pair. If you are lucky you can spend 80$ on both pairs. Speakers are only cheap if you are willing to hunt for them and fixing them as well. I can spend over 100$ easy on a speaker for a guitar amp but that's a different story. Because guitarist are tone chasers.