I want to get a new stereo that can power 4 floor speakers and that I can bluetooth to from my phone. Looking at a $200 ish 100W Yamaha from crutchfield that will work but wondered if any of you have a lower buck option?
I want to get a new stereo that can power 4 floor speakers and that I can bluetooth to from my phone. Looking at a $200 ish 100W Yamaha from crutchfield that will work but wondered if any of you have a lower buck option?
Grab something cheap from FBM and add a Bluetooth receiver into the Aux port.
In reply to hobiercr :
I haven't really paid attention to any electronics/stereo equipment for the last 30years or so... I didn't even think about just getting an add on BT reciever!
I ordered one on Amazon to hook up to my existing system.
Thanks!
I've got my daughters old 80 disc changer AMFM shelf set up in the garage but Serious FM to a Bluetooth speakers gets the most use.
I'm lazy and go the simple route for shop audio these days. TV sound bar. Most have aux AND bluetooth capability, some have a subwoofer as well, no wires to run, and they're cheap.
Well, the cheap Amazon Bluetooth thingie works great!
Only issue with it is the sound isn't nearly as loud playing the BT through any of the AUX ports as it is when just playing a radio station.
No biggie really.
Glad I didn't spend the money on a whole new stereo.
My shop stereo is my old (pre-HDMI) home theater receiver hooked up to 4 speakers. There's an AppleTV attached to a TV mounted high on one wall and a simple two channel audio feed from the TV to the receiver. Lets me stream stuff from my own media library or YouTube or whatever. The pairs of speakers are on opposite walls of the shop so I don't have widely varying volume levels as I move around.
Other than the AppleTV, it's all the sort of stuff you could pick up cheap at Goodwill.
In reply to gsettle :
Make sure the output volume is turned up to at least 80% on your phone/streaming device. It makes a difference.
I'm using a 20-watt T amp, a Bluetooth adapter, and a set of Jensen 12" 3-way home speakers I picked up off the side of the road.
I bought a JBL Charge 5 and it does a great job, get two if you want bigger sound. Best thing is that it is portable so it can go in the race trailer.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109CHRGE5B/JBL-Charge-5-Black.html
I have a JBL Charge that the Mrs. uses in her Ghia and a Bose bluetooth for the shop. Both power a 24x24 no problem.
The low buck option i use is thrift stores, Salvation army being the best for electronics. I found a nice Yamaha receiver for like 30 bucks (missing volume knob but the one from my Sony i was throwing away fit perfect!). A pair of Canton West German speakers from the 70s that sound great for 20 bucks, and a Bose bass module for another 20
I have been actively ignoring a guy on FBMP. He sells old school stereo stuff, lots of it and fairly cheap. Goes by VINTAGE AUDIO FOREVER.
If I needed something I would see him and then get decent BT adapter, maybe even a DA converter.
JBL Charge bluetooth speaker.
Plenty loud and good sounding. Takes up no space...
Sell the traditional speakers and get most/all of your money back...
Wow. Stereo terminology has changed a lot since I bought my last stuff. I have no idea what youse guys are talking about.
one tip i'll give you is instead of using bluetooth, get a amazon echo. Amazon used to make an echo input which was very small didn't have a speaker and connected via headphone jack. Google, Roku, etc. also make comparible tools that I would consider in place of bluetooth.
There are a few reasons to do this
1. if you want to use your phone for youtube, parts diagrams, play a game while you're waiting for your buddy to get back from the hardware store with the replacement plastic clip that you didn't buy when you were there 15 min earlier because you swore you would be careful, etc.
2. most low end bluetooth adapters only work with in a small range of a few meters and that means if your phone is in your pocket it may become intermittent as you move around the garage / shop
Not trying to derail this one but...I have an older Realistic home receiver that I use in the garage but radio reception is not great. I am less than 20 miles from the stations I try to pull in and have tried several different antenna setups...is there any way to troubleshoot the wiring inside the receiver for the antenna or common issues for this??
In reply to devina :
What's your shop made of? You might need to put the antenna outside.
devina said:Not trying to derail this one but...I have an older Realistic home receiver that I use in the garage but radio reception is not great. I am less than 20 miles from the stations I try to pull in and have tried several different antenna setups...is there any way to troubleshoot the wiring inside the receiver for the antenna or common issues for this??
Similar issues here. You could look at internal wiring to see if it's intact, but other things might be affecting. I tried an amplified antenna and meh. Have simple dipole antenna mounted high on wall now and it's better. Some old receivers just don't have good tuners. I'm using cast-off and obsolete home A/V stuff so I connected an obsolete iPad to stream with because the WiFi is good. Could be the gazillion fluorescent lights causing problems in my case. Slowly converting to LED, but don't know the effect.
I just have a laptop in the shop, I go to the free radio programs on the net and it's plenty loud enough, or if I'm in the mood I play a CD....that way I still have it to look stuff up and such.
I know most of you younger guys live out of your phones, some of us still do it old(er) school! 
Some of you guys really like to crank the volume on your tunes, I find it distracting and annoying if it's too loud, especially if some song comes on that I don't like, so I keep it turned down somewhat.
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