Recommend Plug In Bluetooth Stereo Speakers for Garage?

[aigel]

I know we have talked portable bluetooth speakers before. But I'd like something larger and louder to put in the garage. A fixed installation / plug in 110V would be preferred to avoid charging and also get the proper dB mentioned.

All I seem to find are large boom box looking jobs, nothing that consists of two seperate large speakers. I know that speaker technology has come a long way, but having a physics background I do wonder if you can cheat basic laws and you don't need a LARGE speaker to get decent bass and DISTANCE between speakers to get a decent stereo effect, especially if you aren't right in front of the device.

Any input? Is there such a large bluetooth stereo with separate speakers? Even if not, any garage buying suggestions?

My alternative would be to buy a classic stereo and run a bluetooth receiver into the aux, but price will be similar and footprint much larger. I'd like to just hang self contained speakers to keep floor space.

Thanks,

George

[Shifter]

Why not something like this,

Bluetooth Audio Adapter

and pick up your choice of powered monitors?

[aigel]

Ugh - what are powered monitors? See, I am a little behind ...



G

[Shifter]

They are just amplified speakers, something like this.

Amazon.com: M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Active Studio Monitor Speakers (Pair): Musical Instruments

There are tons of options out there, I bet you could even find a good set on your local craigslist.

[imcarthur]

Just some quasi facts from the trenches . . .

Bluetooth has 2 quality levels. Standard & aptX. aptX has been creeping into high end streamers (network Internet stream/file renderers actually). Standard Bluetooth is MP3 quality, therefore highly compressed i.e. often nasty sounding. Apple have not supported aptX.

The market is NOT buying better quality Bluetooth-specific devices – at this time. Usually the customer wants more expensive network devices for computer/NAS/ portable device streaming & Bluetooth is just an available also-ran. Sonus is the beer budget of this genre. The Bluetooth devices that DO sell are the cheap & dirty computer speakers or the wireless portable devices that you are finding. The better ones are frequency-tailored with DSPs that make them sound surprisingly good . . . à la Bose.

I have Bluetooth aptX on my digital preamp & I haven’t even screwed in the antenna . . . and I sell powered monitors into the Pro marketplace. Lot's of them.

Ian

[aigel]

Thanks guys. My plan is to run pandora off an Iphone or tablet So, I guess I am stuck with the lower standard ...

Doing some reading, there appear to be Bluetooth enabled monitor speakers. That would be about perfect!

PreSonus Ceres™ C3.5 BT Powered 2-way studio monitors with Bluetooth® at Crutchfield.com

The monitor speakers that come in pairs - one speaker has the amp and the other is just a regular speaker? Or do they both have amps? I take it there is a cable connection between both?

Ian, ever have any of these pro speakers "fall off the truck"?


Thanks,

George

[Joe Bob]

I have some old desk top speakers, a 80GB iPod and a 110 outlet......IT CRANKS......I gots $50 in it.....speakers were in a junk pile and the iPod was used off of eBay.

I can play it for a week on shuffle w/o a repeat.

[rusnak]

I run QSC K-8s. Might be overkill with Allen &Heath mixer.

[porsche4life]

An apple airport express will allow you to stream via wifi from your iPhone. Will also serve as a network range extender for the garage.

[bri450sl]

I've been using this for a couple of years. A little pricy, but sounds fantastic. Not good if you want to crank it up, but very pleasant to listen to while wrenching.

Bose SoundLink® Mini BLUETOOTH® Speaker | Bose

[Googam]

I second the Bose SoundLink. I drag it everywhere w/the iPad or laptop. It has a handy docking station and fabulous sound for a unit you can pretty much slide in your pocket. Great sound for streaming movies/videos too.

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by bri450sl

I've been using this for a couple of years. A little pricy, but sounds fantastic. Not good if you want to crank it up, but very pleasant to listen to while wrenching.

Bose SoundLink® Mini BLUETOOTH® Speaker | Bose

I have an older version Bose speaker that runs off a 3.5mm jack. When it was new it was the top of the line. I put an old Android tablet that I am done with and just leave it in the garage next to the speaker, stripped everything off of it except Pandora and WiFi, works great. Puts out great sound.

[GH85Carrera]

I ended up getting an old laptop that no one wanted. It is SLOW but I have Pandora on it and it connects to the Wi-Fi from the house router with no problems. I bought a $20 computer speaker setup with two speakers and a separate sub-woofer. It is easily "good enough for rock-n-roll" and that is all I listen to. I can crank it up loud enough that my wife will stick her hard out the door and yell at me to turn it down. It sounds just fine to me.

That laptop is painful slow to try to surf the web. I looked up something on Pelican once and it took forever. It does great as a Pandora source.

[nikhlesh]

Okay, I was also looking for BT speaker for garage then I found an article and it helped me choosing best Bluetooth speakers for garage

[Garagedoorkit]

I have the Aiwa Exos-9 Portable Bluetooth Speakers. It is almost boombox type speaker. You can use these indoor and outdoor. It has breathtaking and excellent Sound. I also use this speaker for my family functions and parties. It is light weight, It supports Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, iOS, iPad, and Android devices. A 3.5mm audio jack allows you to connect it directly with the input system.

[Rloop]

I also have the Aiwa Exos-9, it is really good. Plugs in, has an internal battery so you can go portable if you want to. Works over Bluetooth or the 3.5 mm jack. If you care about sound, this is the one to buy.

[GH85Carrera]

My old laptop finally died. I replaced it with a iPad original that was free. It is old, but works great with Pandora and powered speakers. It is good enough for Rock & Roll in a garage.

[Gus Berges]

Depends on budget.... It seems as if you are looking for powered monitor/bookshelf speakers. Not sure if Elac has any, but you cannot beat the overall quality, even when compared to much higher priced speakers.

[bleucamaro]

I use a Logitech BT input for an older stereo receiver.

Pros: It was cheap, simple to get going, works with anything with a 3.5mm input or RCA
Cons: It always forgets the device and needs to be hard restarted (unplugged)

[Tidybuoy]

This is not exactly what you are looking for but is what I have in both my garage and back yard.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_022WXA50DS/Yamaha-WXA-50.html?tp=63339&awkw=199636298425&awat=pla&awnw=g&awcr=102161561185&awdv=c&awug=9031857&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI75Pm2K7-3AIVUm1-Ch03AgZPEAQYEiABEgIBAfD_BwE

It's a small receiver/amplifier that can receive either blue tooth or wi-fi and then you connect to the speakers of your choice. I went this route since most wireless speakers need to be plugged into a power source which are rarely in the place you want your speakers.

In my case, I mounted my speakers from the ceiling and then routed the speaker wire to the receiver - just like a home stereo but this thing is about the size of a car stereo and puts out plenty of power. It is connected to my home wi-fi (as is my main stereo & backyard unit) and then you can use the Yahama app to sink all three (or use separate). Perfect for partys or just working in the garage. It's not cheap but not outreagous.

My backyard unit is currently not permanently plugged in until I find/create a suitable location. Instead, I have my speakers permanently installed and wires routed to where I use this stereo. When I have party's, I hook I it up for use. My plan is to build a waterproof containment spot and then leave it out year round. My yard does not have a patio cover so I don't leave this out in the open.