Audio (amps and speakers and things)

[Cyclone 10]

Is anyone particularly interested in their audio systems?

 

I'm not a massive audiophile with bits of kit costing thousands, but I am currently adding an audio system to my bathroom, which is causing me to do some reading around.

 

I've ordered these in ceiling speakers

http://www.a1-sound.co.uk/product/proficient-audio-c605-ceiling-speakers

 

This amp

http://www.amptastic.com/

 

And a DLNA receiver (which I stumbled across after nearly giving up on finding a low priced one).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IHGMGNI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

All of which should allow me to steam music from the NAS or internet radio using a tablet or phone.

 

The amp in particular seems like a good buy, if you read any forum threads about it, it seems to have proper audiophiles raving about the quality for such a low price.

 

Has anyone else got a project to share, or some nice equipment to comment on?

[Closet Guy. 10]

Is anyone particularly interested in their audio systems?

 

I'm not a massive audiophile with bits of kit costing thousands, but I am currently adding an audio system to my bathroom, which is causing me to do some reading around.

 

I've ordered these in ceiling speakers

http://www.a1-sound.co.uk/product/proficient-audio-c605-ceiling-speakers

 

This amp

http://www.amptastic.com/

 

And a DLNA receiver (which I stumbled across after nearly giving up on finding a low priced one).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IHGMGNI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

All of which should allow me to steam music from the NAS or internet radio using a tablet or phone.

 

The amp in particular seems like a good buy, if you read any forum threads about it, it seems to have proper audiophiles raving about the quality for such a low price.

 

Has anyone else got a project to share, or some nice equipment to comment on?

Kill him. Burn him, torture him.

Hes just admitted he likes touching kids.

[donotremove 10]

Here's my sound system. It'll make the fillings in your teeth rattle.

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/suite101.com.prod/article_images/large/1028208_com_halloween_.jpg

[geared 313]

Will the ceiling speakers be ok with the damp in the bathroom, especially the foggy mist from a shower?

 

do you need to put in any extra bracing or anything around the speaker, if it's cranked up too loud could the vibrations damage the plasterboard on the ceiling?

[DeathAxe 10]

A sound system for the bathroom? wow man, you must eat a lot of bad shrimp haha. Why not just use your phone with a speaker doc, or is that too easy? :-P

 

 

(My speaker system is a Logitech z906, nice sound, and powerful enough to rattle the whole house including next doors. Good to drown out their annoying screaming hell children, and the gob on legs that is the mother!)

[dosxuk 10]

Audiophile = hifi-enthusiast with a credit card.

 

That's an awful lot of money you've spent there for what is likely to be an acoustically horrible room which will prevent you getting even 10% of the potential performance out of that system.

 

Have you considered purchasing some directional ethernet cables to link your devices together?

[Cyclone 10]

Here's my sound system. It'll make the fillings in your teeth rattle.

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/suite101.com.prod/article_images/large/1028208_com_halloween_.jpg

 

Are they cambridge audio, that's impressive kit.

 

---------- Post added 20-05-2014 at 12:31 ----------

 

Will the ceiling speakers be ok with the damp in the bathroom, especially the foggy mist from a shower?

 

do you need to put in any extra bracing or anything around the speaker, if it's cranked up too loud could the vibrations damage the plasterboard on the ceiling?

 

The company supplying the speaker (a1 sound, based in Sheffield) assure me that I don't need special water resistant speakers unless I'm putting them in a sauna or similar.

 

I won't be putting them directly over the bath/shower though, they'll be off to the side.

 

Re:vibration, a friend who fitted some in a dining room backed the cut hole with ply to spread any vibration and add extra support, so I may do that.

 

---------- Post added 20-05-2014 at 12:32 ----------

 

A sound system for the bathroom? wow man, you must eat a lot of bad shrimp haha. Why not just use your phone with a speaker doc, or is that too easy? :-P

 

 

(My speaker system is a Logitech z906, nice sound, and powerful enough to rattle the whole house including next doors. Good to drown out their annoying screaming hell children, and the gob on legs that is the mother!)

 

Bathroom, not toilet... I like to read in the bath.

 

No power to the bathroom, and the sound quality from a battery powered dock would be very poor. I currently use a wireless speaker in the bedroom next door, but a dedicated system will be better.

[Guest]

Audiophile = hifi-enthusiast with a credit card.

 

You missed the "and assumes that spending more money = better", "believes What Hi-Fi? reviews" and "will happily ignore scientific evidence for anything related to hearing"....and, well you get the picture

[Cyclone 10]

Audiophile = hifi-enthusiast with a credit card.

 

That's an awful lot of money you've spent there for what is likely to be an acoustically horrible room which will prevent you getting even 10% of the potential performance out of that system.

 

Have you considered purchasing some directional ethernet cables to link your devices together?

 

An awful lot of money? <£300 all in...

 

DIRECTIONALITY: All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. Arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For best results have the arrow pointing in the direction of the flow of music. For example, NAS to Router, Router to Network Player.

That's hilarious. They need reporting to the ASA.

 

If you're trying to suggest that the rest of the purchase, a very cheap amp, some pretty cheap speakers and a bargain basement DLNA receiver are fraudulent then I don't really understand. Do you think the amp won't actually amp, the speakers won't make noise or the DLNA receiver won't actually play music?

 

---------- Post added 20-05-2014 at 12:44 ----------

 

You missed the "and assumes that spending more money = better", "believes What Hi-Fi? reviews" and "will happily ignore scientific evidence for anything related to hearing"....and, well you get the picture

 

Luckily I started by saying that I'm not an audiophile.

 

I won't be using gold plated, oxygen free copper speaker wire. I just want to be able to wirelessly have music in the bathroom.

I already do something similar in the garden, it's great for BBQs.

 

I have one of these in a drybox (I hadn't found the much cheaper version when I set up the garden)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/StriimLINK-Stereo-Streaming-Adapter-outlet/dp/B00D6DL5JI

 

And a £10 amp

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00834RW6U/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

And a surprisingly large pair of outdoor speakers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KGY7I0/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

That look (somewhat) like rocks.

 

---------- Post added 20-05-2014 at 12:56 ----------

 

Speaking of cost, I bet a large number of you have a phone in your pocket that costs more than this setup, and many of you probably change that £500 phone every 2 or 3 years!

Edited May 20, 2014 by Cyclone

[dosxuk 10]

An awful lot of money? <£300 all in...

 

£99 is a lot of money for a 20W amplifier (which also doesn't state which impedance that rating is for, a trick favoured by car audio manufacturers, but that's besides the point), for a bathroom where the general noise and acoustics render mute any advantages an expensive amp would have.

 

ETA: Turns out it's 20W @ 4Ω, or 12W @ 8Ω (from the datasheet for the actual amplifier chip, which costs 8€ at retail). Your speakers are 75W/8Ω.

Edited May 20, 2014 by dosxuk
Found specs

[Cyclone 10]

So they'll be driven well below capacity, which is just fine. I don't need party level music in a bathroom.

 

Thanks for checking that though :-)

 

I don't think £99 is a lot of money for an amp, per se. The low capacity is ideal for the use I'm putting it to.

I could have bought another amp similar to the one I used in the garden for £10. In fact, maybe as an experiment, I'll swap them around and see if I can tell the difference.

 

PS - My bathroom doesn't suffer from a lot of noise, although the the acoustics as you point out will not be ideal, since most of the surfaces are tiled.

[DeathAxe 10]

Hmmmmm wouldn't think audio quality would be that much of an issue for bathroom shenanigans!

 

Good luck with your project though :-)