Official Luthiers Forum!

Well my CD player died so I am researching music alternatives for the shop. I have a radio but the reception is horrible and I am quickly tiring of listening to opera. I prefer to listen to fingerstyle music but it is a hassle to change discs every half hour. I asked for a multi disc CD player for Christmas but I have another thought ... What about using an ipod or something similar and external speakers? I don't have an ipod or speakers so ... I am looking for suggestions.

I assume if I go the ipod route I would need powered speakers with a built in amp to drive them. I assume the ipod doesn't have enough power to drive large speakers for the shop. I need something powerful enough for about 1500 square feet BUT I don't need ear drum shattering power ... just enough for some nice background music while I work.

Any ideas?

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

get an mp3 player (even a 1 gig for $30), and a set of computer monitors borrowed from a computer buddy. Then go to wwww.acousticmusicresource.com and get one of thier samplers for $5.00, each having 70 minutes of instrumental acoustic music. It's a GREAT deal.

Happy listening Tim!

Tim-
MP3 players are pretty cheap these days- I don't have an iPod but I understand folks like the user interface.
I've got a 1GB ($40) USB-type MP3 player that I plug into an old stereo (AUX or CD jack) in the shop- it works fine and I can just load it up with music from the computer- I've got a lot of my CD collection in the computer these days.
If you check out thrift shops/auctions, stereo equipment goes for peanuts. Otherwise, a computer sound system will work fine.
If you have a 'clean' shop (no dust) , a CD player should work fine as well, and if most of your music is on CD, that would be best.
You'll probably have to pick up an adapter cable to go from RCA to 1/8" (or metric equivalent) stereo phone jack- They're pretty common items.

Cheers
John

BTW, I'd recommend Jim Earp. Here's his sample clip page. http://www.guitar9.com/rosewood.html 

Hi Tim,

I went with these speakers in my shop for just that purpose and I love them.

Klipsch Promedia

I already had a nice Pioneer amp and some big speakers, so I bought a 300 disk cd changer ( sony, I think ). It works well for the shop because you only have open it when you put in a new cd and that helps keep the dust out. Also, it will shuffle cds for days..... I never have to stop and change the music.

Mark

I combine pleasure and safety. When I work these days I listen to music or audiobooks on my iPod. That's nothing revolutionary. But listening to it through a pair of these is pure magic: Etymotic 6isolator headphones

They block more external noise than any earmuff-style ear protection and, as a bonus, they're some of the best sounding headphones I've ever owned (including the very expensive ones) and you can grab 'em on eBay for around $70.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I had a fairly large stereo in my shop at first but nixed it for a bunch of reasons. 

First - IPods are wonderful in all respects and ITunes is even more wonderful and available free for your PC or Mac.

Second - there are no moving parts on an IPod unlike a conventional stereo and CD player so dust will never be an issue.

Third an IPod takes up the same space as a large finger plane.......

Instead of going the route of IPod speakers with a dock to plug it into the very same performance, if not better can be obtained with good, small, self powered computer speakers for about 1/3 the cost.

I went the route that Dave did, powered computer speakers, in my case Creative is the brand, and an IPod and it works great.

When running machines that the cords are not a danger around I use noise canceling ear buds with my IPod and this not only cancels out nearly half or more of the dangerous machine noise I have excellent sound too..  I do hate cords though and hope to see blue tooth, noise canceling ear buds/phones soon.

Lastly - I hate Bose mostly because of their commercials.......  that guy that says that if you compare the Bose acoustamass system to an ordinary TV you will be blown away is an idiot......

I just recently bought a 2 gig Ipod and also bought a docking station that has speakers and doubles as a charger for the Ipod. I am extremely happy with it so far. I got both of these items on ebay for about $150 for the pair.

I agree with Hesh on the bluetooth wireless headphone idea... it would be a good improvement.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Why stop at music?  Hesh has a TV in his shop.  And he still has all his fingers, I think?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

You could hire a mariachi band. Just joking. I prefer a radio because if you put on a cd or tape it will run out and I see that as another distraction because you'll have to stop what your doing to change. And anything with headphones is dangerious in my opinion. Can get snaged in machinery and you can't hear someone walk up on you in the shop and being startled like that while using power tools can be dangerious.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

I'll throw in a vote for the iPod. I've got a 40GB and it holds almost all of
my music. And it would easily hold all my music if I used a higher
compression rate.

Check out the refurb section on apple's site:
AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=44BD9AA2&nclm=Certified">here

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I have a Hitachi radio/CD player, that also plays MP3 discs. I can listen to the radio if there is something good, play any CD from my collection and write MP3 discs on the computer of all my favourite tracks. Best of all worlds. I also keep a little set of Nokia speakers for my mobile phone which is also an MP3 player. Generally though I just have BBC Radio 4 playing, radio for people with a brain.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I have an IPOD shuffle, cheap, change the music occasionally.

Computer speakers plug right in instead of the ear buds, $20.

I also have a seperate CD player with a radio for a change of pace.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I love my ipod, I have a charger base for it that sits next to my sterio and keeps it charged. I just put it on shuffle and go to work. The cd player sits idle collecting dust.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Low tech here, I whistle and hum.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Check out pandora.com. You can create up to 100 custom "radio stations" for free. Choose artists and styles you like and it'll play them all day along with others that fit the same genre. They even have a speaker like device that works in conjunction w/ your computer that you can move from one room to another. I don't know how much that costs, but it may be worth looking into.

In my shop I listen to a 25 year old boom box that's been mummified in duct tape and saw dust. Which somehow seems appropriate for the only station I can get on it: a country music station 

[QUOTE=old man] Low tech here, I whistle and hum.

Ron[/QUOTE]

That's funny.

Okay, last evening I see my computer speakers from my shop in my son's bathroom. When "called on the apparent thievery", he sez, "Well Dad, I knew you weren't using them, they had dust all over 'em."   

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

For the headphones I run the cord behind my head instead of in front, under my shirt, one loop around the belt and then into the iPod in my pocket. No hanging cord to get snagged on anything. I've got a sign on the shop door so nobody startles me. Not much use protecting my ears if I lose a finger because of it

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

iPod user here as well; the user interface simplicity of the thing sold me on it, and it's in-line, price-wise, with other MP3 players. The touch is idiotic, though; the classic is by far the best deal and lets you carry around all your music.

I use high-end earbuds to listen to it most of the time (Shure e2Cs, now discontinued and replaced with a similar-but-slightly-different model), look quite similar to the Etymotic ones Bob linked to, and also block out a hell of a lot of sound. They loop behind the ears by design (look and feel unconfortable if you loop them around the front), are the only buds I can wear for hours on end, and put over the ear protectors on over the top of them for extra insurance. They're great, because besides the comfort and fantastic sound, the insulation means I rarely if ever run the volume on my (non-volume limited) iPod past the 33% mark or so. Only time I boost it to about half to two-thirds is if I'm listening to bootlegs, which tend not to be compressed quite as much as commercial recordings ;)

I got an extra XM satellite radio just for the shop. I like the variety I get with radio and it is commercial free. Should solve your reception problems easily.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Do you need an exterior outside antenna? What do the radios cost? What does a subscription cost?
Thanks...

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Tim I don't think that you need an external antenna for the radios but I don't own one either.  For my car the annual subscription is something like $125.

I used an iPod for awhile. I also have an old Pioneer receiver and some PA speakers hooked up to my little shop iBook with signal generator SW to feed frequencies to the tops and backs for tuning using glitter ala Alan Carruth. I added a little radio transmitter ($16, IIRC) to the iPod so I could tune in the reciever to the transmitter. Worked pretty good. But then I realized that listening to music took my attention away from the building, since I listen a lot to the sounds the work makes, like how the bandsaw sounds while cutting, or the sound of the plane. Turned out I was missing feedback from my tools, so I stopped the music, except when I'm cleaning up.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com