Shop Electronics...

[David Hostetler]

After utterly destroying a cheapo boom box I am wondering about the best solution for bringing radio / mp3 into my shop, short of sharing my audio selections with the entire neighborhood that is... Any good rugged dust proof suggestions?

My requirements are...
Good AM / FM receiver.
Clean sound.
Must play back MP3 format files, if it plays .ogg too all the better that way I don't have to convert my files. (Yes I am one of those Linux geeks.)
Must be able to stand up to hot / cold and HUMID...

[Dewey Torres]

Not sure if you have seen the Peltor work tunes but I think the digital ones will do all of this.

http://www.amazon.com/Peltor-90541-W.../dp/B0013092CS

[Keith Outten]

I use an old hand me down MP3 player hooked to a set of amplified computer speakers.
.

[David G Baker]

Satellite radio that will work in your vehicles and can be moved to your shop in a couple of seconds. Add a couple speakers like Keith suggested and you have your choice of music that isn't really too expensive, except for the monthly charge.

[Steven Herbin]

Hi-

I have the Milwaukee work place (?) radio and I hook my IPod into it. The radio is as tough as can be and the IPod sits in a builtin pouch on the radio.

Works for me.

--Steve.

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm a big fan of the networked audio. I use slim devices (www.slimdevices.com) thin clients all over my house--squeezeboxes in my shop, office, and bedroom, and a Duet hooked up to my main audiophile rig in the living room. All my music is ripped to Apple Lossless format and stored on a 6TB RAID6 NAS on the network accessible to all of the thin clients, plus the NAS runs the backend software for the slim devices--squeezecenter. So, in all the rooms I've got access to over 20,000 ripped tunes, all indexed and classified. The Duet is particularly cool--its basically a remote that is somewhat iPod-ish, which album art displayed, only when you hit "play," it comes out of the main stereo with virtually no lag. For that one, I run digital coax out into an upsampler and a DAC, but all of the devices also support analog coax L/R at line level. Most will also run wirelessly using 802.11, but I have 'em all hard wired using ethernet.

In the shop I've got it hooked up to an old receiver and a pair of NHT indoor/outdoor speakers. Works great, sounds great.

BTW, if anyone is shopping for speakers, NHT is closing its doors and there are some really great blow out deals on their gear. Google "audio video logic," for example. I've always found NHT was good bang for the buck, and right now its even better.

[Chris Kennedy]

I have a Bosch power box. I've only had an Ipod for a couple of months and so I have never tried to hook it up. It has good reception, and very directional speakers, so I can listen to it if I am in the shop or outside without subjecting my neighbors to my choice of music.

One of the reasons I like it is that it has a GCFI in it, and when I working outside, I can run one extension cord to it, and then run all of my tools off of it. It also acts as a trickle charger for Bosch batteries if you happen to have any Bosch tools.

Cheers,

Chris

[Tony Cox]

I use my old Pioneer receiver and plug my computer into it. Then I can run my XM radio online or play my MP3 library. The computer also has a TV tuner in it so I can watch TV if i so choose. The receiver has been in the shop for several years. I'm in central Indiana so it gets the extreme temperature swings. So far so good. I do take my LCD monitor in the house when it gets too cold out.

[Geoff Potter]

I'm a big fan of the networked audio. I use slim devices (www.slimdevices.com) thin clients all over my house--squeezeboxes in my shop, office, and bedroom, and a Duet hooked up to my main audiophile rig in the living room. All my music is ripped to Apple Lossless format and stored on a 6TB RAID6 NAS on the network accessible to all of the thin clients, plus the NAS runs the backend software for the slim devices--squeezecenter. So, in all the rooms I've got access to over 20,000 ripped tunes, all indexed and classified. The Duet is particularly cool--its basically a remote that is somewhat iPod-ish, which album art displayed, only when you hit "play," it comes out of the main stereo with virtually no lag. For that one, I run digital coax out into an upsampler and a DAC, but all of the devices also support analog coax L/R at line level. Most will also run wirelessly using 802.11, but I have 'em all hard wired using ethernet.

In the shop I've got it hooked up to an old receiver and a pair of NHT indoor/outdoor speakers. Works great, sounds great.

BTW, if anyone is shopping for speakers, NHT is closing its doors and there are some really great blow out deals on their gear. Google "audio video logic," for example. I've always found NHT was good bang for the buck, and right now its even better.

Just a guess but I'm thinking the OP, like myself, is probably looking for an answer a little less technical in nature.

I use a Delphi sound box with an INNO XM radio attached and a Sandisk FUZE for when I want my music. I cover the whole set up with a towel to keep out the dust.

[Jim O'Dell]

Mine is about as low tech as they come. I use an old radio/separate amp set up out of a Mazda RX-7, and a couple old 2 way bookshelf speakers from my stereo installing days. Sounds pretty good, and was as cheap as it could be. (Free when the store I worked for went out of business back in the late 80's )
I'm needing a couple 4.7mh coils to hook up my sub woofer to the unit. Won't put out much volume, but might add a little bass to the bookshelf speakers that have 4" woofers.

[David Hostetler]

Just a guess but I'm thinking the OP, like myself, is probably looking for an answer a little less technical in nature.

I use a Delphi sound box with an INNO XM radio attached and a Sandisk FUZE for when I want my music. I cover the whole set up with a towel to keep out the dust.

Uh, no, hi tech is NOT a problem for me... However wireless is not an option. I'm security paranoid...

Actually, I have a Sony Ericcson w510 Walkman slider phone with an 8g chip that I stash a lot of MP3s on, it wil receive FM radio no problem, but I like several shows on AM radio as well... And I am limited to mp3 playback, I would like .ogg as well...

[Duncan Horner]

I have an old (AMD 2400+) computer in the shop, linked with the house network over WiFi.

I just took an old bookshelf system, and connected it to the audio out jack on the PC. This way I get AM/FM, MP3 (and any other formats I can get a player for), and I can look up stuff on SMC in the shop

EDIT WiFi isn't an option? How about using an external HDD to move the tunes to the shop computer?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Uh, no, hi tech is NOT a problem for me... However wireless is not an option. I'm security paranoid...

Actually, I have a Sony Ericcson w510 Walkman slider phone with an 8g chip that I stash a lot of MP3s on, it wil receive FM radio no problem, but I like several shows on AM radio as well... And I am limited to mp3 playback, I would like .ogg as well...

I'm not tech guru, and I'll prove it, how does wireless transfer of music constitute a security risk? Guess I've never really thought about it, but now I'm curious.

I just have a reciever, XM and some indoor/outdoor speakers. Thinking about hooking it up so that I can listen to pod casts though.

[Duncan Horner]

I'm not tech guru, and I'll prove it, how does wireless transfer of music constitute a security risk? Guess I've never really thought about it, but now I'm curious.

I just have a reciever, XM and some indoor/outdoor speakers. Thinking about hooking it up so that I can listen to pod casts though.

Depends on what kind of wireless you're talking about. Over WiFi (802.11b, 802.11g et al), you theoretically open up your network to allow communication between your computer and anyone with an adapter. Opinions differ as to the security of such connections, hence OP's concern.

I believe there are wireless speakers, but these are very much innocuous. Hard to hack a CD player

[David Hostetler]

I'm not tech guru, and I'll prove it, how does wireless transfer of music constitute a security risk? Guess I've never really thought about it, but now I'm curious.

I just have a reciever, XM and some indoor/outdoor speakers. Thinking about hooking it up so that I can listen to pod casts though.

The wireless transfer of music FILES is what I am concerned with. 802.11 is the basic framework for wireless networking. There are various revisions. A.B.G. etc... I can show you with software that can run on any Windows Mobile phone that will crack just about any WiFi access point in less than 2 minutes... Once they are in your bandwidth, they are in your network... It's just a weak spot I will do all I can to avoid... I am willing to string a network cable to my laptop...

Your setup, isn't what I was referring to I believe, there was a poster that was talking about using 802.11 access point to some network device to a NAS box to basically stream audio to his shop...

The poster I was replying to was Eric DeSilva...

And I am not saying that WiFi is a bad thing, but due to my professional background (UNIX System Adminstrator) I have a serious case of the I.T. security paranoids...