Speakers advice for cafe?

[willykatie]

Hi guys, I've posted on the other thread that i was looking for streamers to play background music. The building is still under development and the schedule that we are going to open in February.

Originally was going for 2 x Sonos Play 1 speakers but that might be overkill just for use in 1 room rather than multiroom so at the moment i'm looking at either Marantz MCR511 or Yamaha R-N500 and for the speakers either Monitor Audio BX2 or Q Acoustics 3020. Still undecided on the speakers as we need to wall mount it right at the each of front corner facing towards the customers and the speakers probably too big or should i be better go with ceiling speakers? The property has suspended ceiling so running cables on top is not a problem at all.

Attached is basic floor plan to show where i'm thinking where the speakers going to be (a)? Dont know if that helps at all

Edit: The size of the shop is approx 63sqm

Many thanks

 

[sounddog]

The problem with your suggestion of just two speakers is that either those close to the speakers will find it too loud for those at the back to hear anything, or those at the back will just hear an annoying whisper.

I would suggest that multiple smaller speakers would be better.

To be honest, I think you should call in the the professionals for advice here... they will also be able to advise you about PRS and the licences you need to obtain for playing music.

 

[ShanePJ]

Ceiling speakers would give a cleaner look and provide more flexibility on placement, given the suspended ceiling this seems the way to go. You can easily run four 8ohm speakers off either amplifier you were considering. You'll want to try to get an even dispersion over the seating area, like sounddog said, don't want to get too loud in places and not enough in others. If placement doesn't work out though you could just move the ceiling tile and speaker to another location until you get it right.

 

[willykatie]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I probably need to go with ceiling speakers as make more sense to place these speakers on the ceiling rather than big bookshelf speakers hanging on the wall.

I was looking at Monitor Audio ceiling speakers (CT165) and just wondering if those one are ok or should I go for cheaper ceiling speakers? Should I get 2 or 4 speakers? Can I run these speakers with marantz mcr511 and do I just join the + on both speakers and - on both speakers and run both wiring to the amp (if I get 4 speakers)

Many thanks

 

[nickcm21]

You could run 4 or more speakers of a second hand surround amp that would give you better dispersal of the sound,plus you would not need to play the music as loud.

Nick

 

[sounddog]

One thing to consider would be running a Mono system rather than proper stereo.

 

[willykatie]

Yeah I do have marantz sr5300 avr that I don't use to do multichannel speakers but it is quite big and I don't really have the space for it that's the only reason I need to get smaller amp like mcr511.

To start with I think I'm just gonna get 2 speakers and place them roughly in the middle of the room but what I'm not sure, should I do in stereo or just mono.

For mono I should get the one with dual tweeter isn't it?

Thanks

 

[ShanePJ]

No need for the dual tweeter speakers, these are actually aimed at producing stereo from a single speaker (in a room with restricted space like an en-suite). The more speakers you have the better you will be able to evenly spread the sound around the space.

What sounddog means by mono is sending the same signal to all speakers so each plays a combination of the left and right signals and everything will sound more "even" across the room. I don't think the 511 has a mono output option.

 

[willykatie]

Ah I see.

Yeah I was actually thinking about getting 4 speakers but all depending on how much we have left after we do the fitting out for the shop as I totally forgot about the flooring and got a quote today and was quite expensive [emoji33].

If I can only get 2 speakers, where about the best should I place them, I'm thinking about the middle ish and separate them quite far. Obviously will have the wiring ready above the ceiling so can add couple more in the future once we up and running [emoji1].

Thanks

 

[Member 729553]

We'd also recommend ceiling speakers for this application. Q Acoustics models of course .
The one to have is the Q165C. The 'bad' news is you really ought to have four, because you want an even spread of sound across the whole room.

Q Acoustics: The best affordable speakers in the world!

Best regards

 

[willykatie]

Thanks for the inputs guys [emoji4].

I've chosen 4x Proficient Audio C606 and Marantz MCR511 at the end.

Thanks