[Todd Lee]

My wife works for a dentist, and it looks like his office is about to expand (doubling in size).


The wife suggested that I'd be interested in setting this up for him, which I am, but unfortunatley I only have 1 room HT experience.


My wife says he's got about 6 speakers in the current office, (2 in the waiting room, and 4 scattered around the actual operatories), but I'm not sure what equipment he already has. Assuming he is looking at running 8-12 speakers, what amp do you guys recommend?


I vaugely remember him just having an old Panasonic Receiver, or something similar, so I'm going to assume that a new amp will be neede.


I'm not sure what the budget will be, so please bare with me.


I've never dealt with mulit-room setups, or dedicated amps, so I'm looking to learn anything I can.


Any help is appreciated.

 

[thebland]

Have him hire out a installer and have the rooms appropriately wired with a central equipment area. Depending on his needs, 1 receiver may do it or a multiroom set up may better fill his needs.


Get a budget and then better help will be had.


I would be careful volunteering to install such if you have little experience. If there are glitches, and he gets pissed, it may be a problem for your wife.

 

[whoaru99]

Lots of considerations...


I'm not in a position to provide info/guidance on these following points, but they need to be answered or at least considered.


1. Max loudness

2. Sound quality

3. Individual room/zone control

4. Paging/PA integration

5. Installation appearance & ease of use


The list probably goes on.


May be easiest to have an on-site consultation with a commercial sound guy...


thebland makes what may be the best point - ongoing support you get tied into!!

 

[Todd Lee]

Thanks for the quick responses!


We have an excellent relationship with the Dr., she's worked for him for a number of years now. (He treats her more like a daughter..) That's not to say that things could go south though, but I'm not too worried about it.


My main concern is trying to pull wire.. I haven't seen what the job entails, but figure I could use the existing speakers in the current office, and simply pull wire in the to-be-remodeled side of the office. (He is taking over the office next door, and combining into 1 large office.)





1. Max loudness -- Not loud at all, more like elevator music.

2. Sound quality -- As good as I can get for the $, which I don't know yet.

3. Individual room/zone control --Currently have the receiver in a closet/break area. Not fancy by any means.

4. Paging/PA integration -- Hadn't thought of that, definately a good idea, but probably outside my capabilities.

5. Installation appearance & ease of use -- As simple as possible, hopefully just turn on the power, plop in a cd/select radio station. Appearance depends on the situation of remodel, if I can get in before paint, etc.. shouldn't be a problem.


Again, thanks for the ideas and input.


If somebody could give me an idea about what equipment I should be looking at, I'd appreciate it. Maybe a low end vs a high end idea...

 

[whoaru99]

One bit of advice would be to get into a 70-volt sound distribution system if background music is the main focus. These type of systems address the need to wire speakers in series-parallel arrangements to keep the impedance matched in the "normal" range for typical receivers. Makes the wiring much easier, IMO...


Also, by nature of the constant voltage systems, you can easily wire to different taps on the transformers to get more or less volume where you want it. Perhaps a little louder in the waiting areas, quieter by the reception desk and maybe even less yet in the exam rooms, etc.


Rather than try to explain it all, Google "70-volt system" and see where that leads.

 

[wje]

This is what you might consider:

http://www.htd.com/muam.html

 

[Mark Ducati]

LOL, I am a dentist... I play XM radio channel 23 "The heart" all day long in my office... I'm using a 15 year old Technics receiver from college... I've got the 10" round in-ceiling speakers from radioshack...


At the levels music is played in any dental office... ANY amp should work. I'm simply using one of those boxes from radioshack that splits a single output to 6 signals.


Seems like on my receiver, if I were to add another 6 speakers I'd simply do the same on the "B" channel output.

 

[Todd Lee]

Alright, all looks good so far.. The Dr. already has a yamaha receiver with 4 speakers wired to it. They will all stay put, all's I need to do is add another 3 speakers to the mix.


I'm trying to keep cost as low as possible. Do I need something like this... http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...%5Fid=40%2D244