The Home Audio Thread.

[BtownVolvo]

My father's setup that never gets used, unfortunately.

Those Marantz speakers?

Looks like one of those receivers might be, too?

[mattsk8]

.......

Digging around I found another cabinet option. It's a ported bookshelf that uses that Alpair 10 and ends up being 9" wide x 16" tall when it's finished. Wouldn't have quite the lower bass as the tower cabinet, but I think it would sound great too and the cabinet would be a fairly simple build. You could always add a sub later down the road. Here's a link to the bookshelf cabinet dims... https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/pdf/markaudio-enclosure-plans/Alpair10-BR-cover.pdf

Now I want to do a build using the Mark Audio Alpair 10 (or maybe the Alpair 7??) as the mids. I'm thinking a 3-way with 2- 8" woofers, those Mark Audio mids, and a ribbon tweeter. Won't be cheap, but it would probably sound amazing.

But yea, If I could get a set of bookshelf speakers with cherry wood cabinets that would be pretty epic....love cherry wood cabinets

I'd love to, here's the only issue. Obviously if we could get more people on board that would be WAY better, mainly because doing one pair of cabinets takes forever. If I was building 4 or more pair, obviously things get cheaper.

The bookshelf speakers I posted pics of (gray kevlar woofers) sound phenomenal, but they are 4 ohm speakers (mainly just make sure your amp could drive them). They handle power really well, they're very detailed, and for a bookshelf monitor they're fairly full range- very respectable bass for a bookshelf monitor. I would describe the mids and highs as milky warm and very detailed. That said, if you like a lot of rap you'll want a sub, but you would with any bookshelf speaker. Or for movies, you'll also want a sub.

Another hurdle would be shipping, I imagine shipping on 2- 16" tall x 9" wide cabinets would run about $50.

Edited October 28, 2014 by mattsk8

[Fudge_Brownie]

Are there reliable ways to transmit digital signals from a source wirelessly? I'm assuming doing the processing with the receiver would cut most distortion concerns, and there wouldn't be any hum. I would think there'd be some bluetooth devices to do that, but I wonder how far they could reasonably go. I had one from logitech several years ago but it pretty unreliable.

I have a computer in my living room, and a HT setup on the other end. I have a cable run to it right now, but it creates a ground loop. And I moved my computer, which means I have to move my cable run too.

[Piston Slapper]

You can do it pretty much any way you want, digital signals either get there or they don't, you can't get distortion like analog signals. As for a specific device recommendation, you'd need to be more specific on what you're trying to send and to what, but the Audioengine D2 may do what you want.

[Stormtrooper1]

Ok home audio peeps.

Here's a tough one for you:

My house was the model home for the neighborhood. And as such it has speakers in the ceiling, and volume control on the walls. And a bunch or wires and plugs sticking out in a closet. There is no receiver or stereo or anything. Before I pay some local audio guy to come look at it, if I posted up some pics of what I have does anyone think they could offer me some direction on what I need to use this system?

Also, the builder has been bought out since the home was built, and they have no info on it. I am not the original owner. I have no access to any information they may have had on it either.

Thanks!

[v4lve]

Yes, from what you've described some good pics would let us spec an audio system for you.

[mattsk8]

Stormtrooper, def post pics. I'll be glad to give some direction. Don't call an audio guy until you post pics of what's there.

[Stormtrooper1]

awesome. That would be great.

Ok, so here's the speakers and the volume switch. I'm sure that's no help but I'll post it anyway.

Where the wires come in the wall, and one of them

The other wires, some with these plugs

And the connectors attached

I've got speakers upstairs in the kitchen, living room, dining room, and one bedroom. Then to throw in even more difficulty I have the spaces in my basement family room where 2 speakers should go, and some wires near where the TV would go. I'm not sure if those are tied into the upstairs system or not.

[mattsk8]

How many total in ceiling speakers are there? That Niles black box is designed so you can get one 2-channel amp and use it to run up to 8 pairs of speakers. I'm not overly familiar with how that works, so I need to research it a bit. Seems to me like you would put an insane impedance load on your amp running 16 speakers, but I need to research how that box works.

Regarding your basement, do you want a home theater system in there or just a 2 channel stereo system? Or if not the basement, do you plan on putting a home theater system in your house anywhere?

First thing I would do is test all the speakers to make sure they aren't blown. Then go thru the process of figuring out which wires go where. That's not as difficult as you might think, with 2 people and a volt meter it's actually pretty simple but you'll need to pull each individual speaker while you're testing wires; would be a good time to test the speakers to make sure they aren't blown while you do that.

Also, do you have a stereo you can use to test any of the speakers right now? Actually, what stereo equipment do you currently have (in addition to what came with the house you just purchased)?

Edited October 29, 2014 by mattsk8

[mattsk8]

I also need to know what kind of speakers are in the house (make and model #), so I can figure out how many ohms they are. Then I can figure out how that Niles box gets wired (guessing series/parallel, but not sure).

[Stormtrooper1]

On speakers, I have 2 in the kitchen, 2 in the living/dining room and 2 in the master bedroom. All 3 of those sets have a volume control on the wall. In the basement I have the space for 2 ceiling speakers, but the speakers are missing.

For stereo equipment I have an older technics shelf system. (Sa-ch455)

For the basement a sound system would be nice. I'm not really sure what the plan is down there. We currently have a Samsung sound bar for the TV and it works fine. So if the basement isn't directly linked with the upstairs system, that could be a future project. That is where the TV is located so it would be the place a home theater system would go.

Thanks!

Mike

[mattsk8]

Short version is you'll need an amp (or possibly just a receiver) to drive those ceiling speakers, but you'll need to figure out what ohms the ceiling speakers are first.

How much do you know about stereos? Only asking because that'll help me help you without giving you too much info.

Here's the manual for that Niles hub... http://www.nilesaudio.com/images/PDF/VCSHUB8_manual.pdf

My only concern is how the ohms work with it, or how it wires all those speakers to the amp's input; you'll need to know the impedance (ohms) of the speakers you have there now so we can make sure you won't put too much load on whatever amp you use to drive them and potentially burn it up. For instance, it'll get wired differently if they're 16 ohm speakers vs if they're 8 or 4 ohm speakers.

Edit: After some reading, it somehow does something using the volume controls with the impedance. Here's a link for (what I think is) the volume control you have, there's another link on that webpage for the volume control's manual... http://www.nilesaudio.com/product.php?prodID=LVW-1&recordID=High%20Power%20Stereo%20Volume%20Controls&categoryID=Volume%20Controls&catcdID=6&prdcdID=FG00106

Edited October 29, 2014 by mattsk8

[Stormtrooper1]

Well, I'll say indent know much about home audio really.

That makes sense in the volume controls and the box in the closet.

So first I need to find out the ohms of the speakers, then we can figure out what kind of amp/receiver is needed to run them, right?

Would the speakers just pull down from the ceiling? I wonder if there would be anything to identify a brand or model of the speakers on the back?

[mattsk8]

Hopefully something would be either printed or stuck to the speaker's magnet. If not, you can (generically) tell the ohms using a volt meter. This might get tricky too because some ceiling speakers have switchable resistance, you can switch between 16, 8 or 4 ohms. I think it would be obvious if you pulled one out and looked, there will be a switch somewhere near one of the 2 input leads on the speaker. As far as how to get them out... I'm guessing the grill snaps on, and the speaker is mounted in some sort of box; you can probably access the speaker after you pull the grill off. If you can't see screws in the grills, the grill probably just snaps on (and off) somehow.

[mattsk8]

Well, I'll say indent know much about home audio really. So first I need to find out the ohms of the speakers, then we can figure out what kind of amp/receiver is needed to run them, right?

Here's some options and I'll do my best to explain what I think you have there...

The good- Your whole house is wired to one location for speakers.

The bad- I'm guessing those speakers aren't very good. I could definitely be wrong, but before I invested any money I would look into what kind of speakers they are. Another issue I personally have is that its tough to get sound quality out of ceiling speakers simply because of the axis they play at, and the surroundings. So, it depends entirely on what you're looking for out of it (don't expect them to "rock the joint" in terms of volume and sound quality).

That said, you basically have 2 options. If sound quality isn't your main concern, then move forward and figure out what you need to feed that Niles box (an amp or receiver and what kind of power it should have). To figure that out I would call Niles, there's a phone # on their website that I linked up above. Another option would be too eliminate that Niles box and get something like this http://www.parts-express.com/pyle-pt8000ch-19-rack-mount-8000-watt-8-ch-amplifier--310-2560