[Nefarious]

After exhaustive searching, there does not appear to be a product in the market that will satisify my needs. Your help is much appreciated!


Building a new home and would like a more elligant solution than the all-in-one iPhone speaker docks we have in certain rooms now.


What I am envisioning:


- Music for a individual (not for a party, whole house background, etc.)

- Walk into a room

- Place iPhone on sleek looking in-wall dock

- Dock charges iPhone

- Overheard in-ceiling speaker plays music


I know there are whole house distribution options, but that is not what I am looking for in this application.


Thanks for your time and advice!

 

[Tulpa]

There's no one device that I know of that does it. The biggest hurdle is powering the speakers, which most docks don't do (they either have their own or are designed to be integrated into a larger system.)


You could get a receiver and an iPod/iPhone dock (Onkyo makes a dock; I imagine others do, too.) Hook that up to the speakers and it'll do what you want.


Alternatively, you could get powered in-ceiling speakers, but the challenge would be finding a docking station that can control the volume.

 

[Nefarious]

Thanks Tulpa!


I like the powered speaker idea. Would something like this have enough power?

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/416008.html?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps


How would I supply the power? Transformer hidden in the wall?


Good point about volume control (since while docked it is "line out", not variable). Could go with something like this (cheap and simple):

http://www.amazon.com/GOgroove-Portable-Mountable-SonusMAX-Speaker/dp/B002Q7TSDK

 

[Tulpa]

Powered in-ceilings tend to have their own AC cord, so you just need to find an outlet for them somewhere. That particular one says it is DC powered, so yeah, a transformer would have to be involved.


As for the dock, anything that can control the volume for headphones should work for the speakers, but hooking them up to the source would have to be addressed (might need some specific adapters.) In-wall/in-ceiling speakers usually aren't designed to hook up to a 3.5mm jack. Also, does that dock even have a line-out?



Personally, I'd go the receiver route, as I know it could be made to hook up and work.

 

[PlaystationDork]

This will work for you. I have an ABUS system that works great and sounds great.
http://www.channelvision.com/product/ibus-on-wall-docking-station-single-room-kit/


Just a word of caution with these guys though. If you buy it and then break it, they won't honor the warranty since you are probably not an authorized installer.

mike