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Office sound system retrofit
#411688 04/25/15 06:29 AM
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Hi all,

I am looking for advice on retrofitting my office sound system. I will be soon be in renovation mode and I want to upgrade the sound. If anyone has opinions or links to information about the pros and cons of what type of system to run in an office I would appreciate hearing them.

The office is a fairly standard doctor`s office with a main reception area that is open and about 25 X 25` and 4 treatment rooms of 10`X 10` in size. I currently run Tidal HiFi from the computer to a standard Sony receiver with speaker A going to the reception area speakers (4) and speaker B going to the treatment room speakers (4 in total so it is mono back there!). They are all 8 ohm and it sounds just okay for an office. I want a lot more oomph for when I am doing paperwork!

My main research starting point is whether to stick with 8 ohm (and consider the Axiom ceiling speaker) or go with a 70V system?

My next thought is whether to find ceiling speakers that are stereo in one speaker (two tweeters) or go with two speakers per room (which adds to the cost)?

Maybe I should just move my Axiom M100s to the reception room and party all day!

Re: Office sound system retrofit
DrBones #411691 04/25/15 10:00 AM
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in my opinion, going mono is just generating a background noise into a room. You loose so much of the sound stage experience that it hardly seems worth upgrading. All an upgrade will do is make it louder.

Second. The way that your ear is designed, you loose far too much from supplying the only sound from the ceiling. Unless you spend most of your time laying on your back that is. I can tell a distinct difference between sitting and laying when listening to a set of speakers.

An option that you might want to look into is getting something like the M2 wall mount or if you are doing major reno's, then get the M2 in wall. The in wall can be painted over so they will not look obtrusive and will definitely give a much better sound.


Anthem: AVM60, Fosi DAC-Q5
Axiom: ADA1500, LFR1100 Actiive, QS8, EP500, M3, M3comp, M5
Re: Office sound system retrofit
DrBones #411756 04/26/15 10:23 PM
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Usually in ceilings are used in commercial tenant spaces. But... I've been to many stores and pubs where wall mounted bookshelves were used with fantastic results. As for stereo vs mono, usually all speakers are ran in mono so panning across the room doesnt become an annoying distraction.

Sounds like a really cool doctors office! A not so boring waiting room. smile Going to 8" drivers makes a great impact on the system oomph from my limited install and testing experience.

Re: Office sound system retrofit
AAAA #411762 04/27/15 01:57 AM
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Originally Posted By: DrBones
They are all 8 ohm and it sounds just okay for an office. I want a lot more oomph for when I am doing paperwork!

Maybe I should just move my Axiom M100s to the reception room and party all day!


What you need to better define is what you mean by more Oomph? Is that simply louder? More dynamic range? or sound stage feeling? Each one would be a different implementation

Originally Posted By: Serenity_Now
As for stereo vs mono, usually all speakers are ran in mono so panning across the room doesnt become an annoying distraction.


That is my point. Going mono is then just background noise so you are not sitting in silence or listening to people flip pages of a magazine to stave of bordom while waiting. As for a panning across the room, I guess you don't have your speakers set up very well if that is what you get. When I play my stereo in 2 speaker mode, you do get a different experience from one side of the room to another, but non of the positions are bad. The sound envelops the room and using the sound reflections you get a placement of instruments on the stage.
Now if you were pacing backwards and forwards across the room it would different, but I think if you were doing that, you have more serious issues to deal with than the sound from a pair of speakers.


Anthem: AVM60, Fosi DAC-Q5
Axiom: ADA1500, LFR1100 Actiive, QS8, EP500, M3, M3comp, M5
Re: Office sound system retrofit
DrBones #411768 04/27/15 08:53 AM
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I guess I didnt explain very well. If you have 2 in ceilings set up at opposite sides of a 30' long room in stereo, the stereo mix usually has elements that move across what would normally be a left/right stereo setup. In an in ceiling setup with music, the effect is you just dont hear some parts of the music, or conversely hear them all to well depending on where your seat is. If I think of a 3 piece jazz recording, like Brubeck, it would be wierd to have a sax way over there and a piano way over there. Thats why mono is often used in architectural setups. It isnt distracting and doesnt bias any elements of the sound based on listener location. The goal in a commercial setting is even coverage, not anything to do with stuff we care about, like soundstage. smile

Re: Office sound system retrofit
DrBones #411776 04/27/15 01:02 PM
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I see your point.

Just wondering. Looking at his room dimensions there are options to mix both mono and stereo go get a better effect. I have one of these small 25w digital amps that has a line in + a line out. The amp was a whole whopping $30 and for a set of small M2s would be far more power that then would ever need for a 10x10' room. You could string 4 of those amps together and put them onto a Zone2 so all the treatment/office rooms get better sound. Then have your mono inside the front reception area.


Anthem: AVM60, Fosi DAC-Q5
Axiom: ADA1500, LFR1100 Actiive, QS8, EP500, M3, M3comp, M5
Re: Office sound system retrofit
DrBones #411785 04/27/15 08:43 PM
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Economically speaking price/performance/longevity:

If it was my space, I'd buy an 8 in-ceiling package, all 8" coaxial and put one in each treatment room, 2 in waiting and 2 in the morgue/office area for paperwork and filing after hours.

Then I'd run it all on something like a leviton HAI hifi zone amp with 4 zones output. I did a structured wire in a million dollar home with a mix of 6" and 8" coaxial in-ceilings spread over 8 zones and the house rocked with all zones running simultaneouly. The master bath got 8" drivers and it was like a dance club in there. After the work was all done the builder (my friend who builds custom homes) threw a rager before it was cleaned up for listing. grin


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