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Speakers in Pin Rooms?

JustLikeMe

JustLikeMe

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Joined
Aug 29, 2011
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Is it worth installing speakers in pin rooms? Work is finally due to start on the outbuilding conversion I posted about a few months ago, but I can’t for the life of me decide if speakers are a good idea.

I had planned on getting Sonos One SLs mounted in each corner of the room but the more I think about it the less convinced I am I’d actually use them. Part of me thinks it would be a good idea for when guests are over, but I just don’t know.

Has anyone gone with speakers? Good idea or bad idea?
 
I have speakers but your hunch is right, hardly use them. Only have sound on through the TV when I got F1 or something on or watching someone stream pinball whilst I mess about.
 
Jukebox in my pin room, party time when people around and great for when I’m working on pins or just fancy some music while playing.
Can also stream to it.
So yes good idea👍
 
JustLikeMe said:
Is it worth installing speakers in pin rooms? Work is finally due to start on the outbuilding conversion I posted about a few months ago, but I can’t for the life of me decide if speakers are a good idea.

I had planned on getting Sonos One SLs mounted in each corner of the room but the more I think about it the less convinced I am I’d actually use them. Part of me thinks it would be a good idea for when guests are over, but I just don’t know.

Has anyone gone with speakers? Good idea or bad idea?
Click to expand...

Sure is, Sonos 1 as a minimum, consider 3's or 5's depending on your budget / room size / output level & sound quality wanted - my Mrs loves the 5's in our kitchen (not) :)

If you wonder about usage you could get a Sonos Move and also use it outdoors at a BBQ, gardening etc, etc
 
Thanks all, sounds like it’s worth getting done.

AlanJ said:
yes deffo. put any wiring in anyway. in the days of wireless i would just put in mains supply outlets - in the ceiling is often forgotten
Click to expand...

The outbuilding has a pitched ceiling so I’m going for plenty of outlets above head height anyway. I was going to put some in for speakers either way in case I wanted to fit in the future but easier to mount them on the walls without pins in the way so might as well bite the bullet and do it all now.
 
I have a Marshall Bluetooth speaker which David now borrows to listen to while in the pinball room, usually while fixing or tinkering with pins :)
 
We have all sorts of Jukeboxes etc….
We prefer the Nostalgia of firing up the music videos on TV/display hooked up to the internet… YouTube etc….
Nothing like playing those music vids … “remember when”
Great for playing pins, peeps round, everyone fighting over the remote..lol
 
Might as well add speakers while your doing the build, I plan on adding flush mounted speakers into my ceiling, probably won’t use them loads but they are there if I ever want to put some tunes on.
 
I bought loads of sonos around 2015. Wouldn't buy it again. Sounds great but software was always problematic particularly for wife who uses apple products. She gave up using it a few years ago. We had loads of music stored on pc which we used as a jukebox. Used to be able to play from that now sonos insists on Spotify or iTunes so we now have to subscribe and pay again for music we legally bought years ago. Spotify annoys me with compilation albums that we like as they substitute pub singers for the tracks they don't have the rights for. And if you want to link hifi or tvs to a sonos system connection is very expensive. Would never buy another songs product. Too much faff. Just install speakers instead.
 
All the music services seem to push or recommend cover songs by some unknown bands, I am told it is due to algorithm matching but I suspect it is part of the business model. I once was suggested a new playlist made up of 80% cover songs, of songs I had in personal playlist. 2 copies of Paint It, Black.

And with the rising cost of electricity, my NAS and back up NAS' cost me more to run than Spotify subscription.
 
100% yes. Every room in a house should have the ability to play music.

Maybe less necessary if you are playing games but great when you are mending stuff etc.

I’ve never understood people that don’t get music. It’s like a huge passion is missing from their life. I’d sell my tv etc in a heart beat before losing the ability to listen to music.

I’ve not had any issues with Spotify using “cover bands/versions”. I’m wondering where it pulls that data in from. In contrast using YouTube at work for background music is a hideous experience of badly recorded covers passing themselves off as originals. “Greatest hits of the Vietnam war” apparently includes middle of the road guns n roses covers 😱

Spotify is always on in our house and the personalised playlists go down some pretty weird routes. Perhaps the covers happen if you ask for “pop hits” etc.
 
We have gigged together, how dare you suggest I listen to pop music 🔥 🔥 🔥
I have had obscure covers of Sisters of Mercy songs, such as a cover of This Corrosion by Maryslim that keeps popping up.

At work, we use to rely on Youtube for all our music needs (no person digital devices were allowed). Sometimes, you would leave it playing at night by accident and be frightened by how far it could go by the time you got back the next morning. There are some sick content makers on YouTube.
 
Asiapinball said:
I bought loads of sonos around 2015. Wouldn't buy it again. Sounds great but software was always problematic particularly for wife who uses apple products. She gave up using it a few years ago. We had loads of music stored on pc which we used as a jukebox. Used to be able to play from that now sonos insists on Spotify or iTunes so we now have to subscribe and pay again for music we legally bought years ago. Spotify annoys me with compilation albums that we like as they substitute pub singers for the tracks they don't have the rights for. And if you want to link hifi or tvs to a sonos system connection is very expensive. Would never buy another songs product. Too much faff. Just install speakers instead.
Click to expand...

However Sonos app has moved on massively now we are in 2022 - I use on Iphone, iPad, MacBook and it's great now. (worst bit is the wife uses it and pollutes my spotify playlists / recommendations......)
I also have it streaming many gigs of songs from my NAS drive so you dont need any subscription service.
Linking hifi / tv is cheap and simple; TV via the cheapest sounder is £279; £399 for hifi and getting discounted from these rrp's is achievable - so for people into pinball can hardly be considered expensive.

I did start the wireless journey with Bose but found the Sonos app far better.
 
I'd like speakers in my PinRoom but have no idea what will fit and be minimalistic.

It's close to the dimensions of a single garage but longer, 7 pins in a row on one side.

Could I put a Bluetooth soundbar up behind the backboxes or the opposite wall and it be controlled via a remote?
🤔
I can't think of any other way.

In ceiling speakers sound nice but you need an amp also and as the ceiling is already plastered I imagine it'll be a faff and need redoing once stuffs routed through it.
 
David_Vi said:
I'd like speakers in my PinRoom but have no idea what will fit and be minimalistic.

It's close to the dimensions of a single garage but longer, 7 pins in a row on one side.

Could I put a Bluetooth soundbar up behind the backboxes or the opposite wall and it be controlled via a remote?
🤔
I can't think of any other way.

In ceiling speakers sound nice but you need an amp also and as the ceiling is already plastered I imagine it'll be a faff and need redoing once stuffs routed through it.
Click to expand...

I’m going with Sonos One SLs mounted in each corner on these:

Wall Mount Pair for Sonos One/One SL/Play:1 | Sonos

Securely affix your Sonos Ones to any wall with this pair of mounts designed and made by Sonos. Featuring the same colour and finish as One, the mounts won't hinder the style of your Sonos speakers. They comfortably swivel up to 45 degrees in multiple directions and allow access to all ports.
www.sonos.com www.sonos.com

They’re quite small so should look fairly minimalistic.

I‘m essentially starting the interior of the building from scratch though so can have plug sockets in the corners near the ceiling so no wires up the wall etc.
 
JustLikeMe said:
I’m going with Sonos One SLs mounted in each corner on these:

Wall Mount Pair for Sonos One/One SL/Play:1 | Sonos

Securely affix your Sonos Ones to any wall with this pair of mounts designed and made by Sonos. Featuring the same colour and finish as One, the mounts won't hinder the style of your Sonos speakers. They comfortably swivel up to 45 degrees in multiple directions and allow access to all ports.
www.sonos.com www.sonos.com

They’re quite small so should look fairly minimalistic.

I‘m essentially starting the interior of the building from scratch though so can have plug sockets in the corners near the ceiling so no wires up the wall etc.
Click to expand...

I'll take a look.
My pin room is finished and still needs plastering so I'm sure I could get more power put in.

Never used Sonos though, can you pair them so they can be left and right?
 
David_Vi said:
I'll take a look.
My pin room is finished and still needs plastering so I'm sure I could get more power put in.

Never used Sonos though, can you pair them so they can be left and right?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can run them as either mono speakers or stereo pairs. The Sonos Ones have Alexa / Google Assistant built in, but as I already have countless Echo devices I’ve going with the One SLs which don’t have either and will move an Echo Show or similar in for voice control / streaming to the speakers.
 
Note - I'm more concerned with sound quality than aesthetics, and fortunately, so is my wife! 🙂

We have old Sonos kit (all Sonos S1 - Sonos Connect devices) as a source for music in 4 rooms. The one that gets used the most is in the games room which gets used daily whilst playing pinball and darts. Despite the pins having good sound, I'll often turn the pin volume down and crank up the hifi with New Order, Def Leppard, Shamen, or whatever.

Having listened to Sonos speakers (Play 1, Play 5 etc.. ) in various places, I'd personally rate them as worse than rubbish from a sound quality perspective. As an example, once my wife and I had a listen to a Play 5 in John Lewis, and her first reaction was, "that sounds cr*p".

Having loved what I'd term as good quality sound since I first heard a decent system in my teens (a friend's Mission Cyrus amp and speakers), I'd personally always go for a separate quality amp and speakers. What Sonos IS good at is the ease of use in accesing music - both streaming services such as Spotify, and playing music I've ripped to FLAC files from 2000 or so CDs I've bought, now stored on a networked NAS. In a couple of rooms, I don't even use the Sonos line out connectors, instead taking the digital signal (so bypassing the Sonos DAC section of the Connect), and feed that to a separate (better) DAC, then on to the amp.

Yes, there is the issue of wiring speaker cables etc.. but it's totally worth it for the improved sound which is possible.

Also decent stuff tends to last - the system in my games room (Sugden pre and 2 x monoblock power amps into Rogers LS6 speakers), I bought in 1988, and it still sounds superb.

You can get some pretty good bargains as far as amplifiers and speakers buying second hand kit from eBay, HiFi forum classifieds etc.. Also Sonos Connects are readily available from eBay for well under £100.

Even for the kitchen we fairly recently (about 4 years ago) put in a Sonos Connect with a couple of B&W LM1 wall mounted speakers (£43 from eBay), Marantz amp, and REL T3 sub (£100 locally from Gumtree).

Obviously this is just my take on it and different people have different priorities and opinions...
 
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