Advice for Kitchen Setup

[DjP]

Hi, What started out as a new fridge has turned into a full-blown extension and new kitchen in our house. I figure it is a good idea to put speaker cable into the wall and wall mount stereo speakers up high on the wall. The kitchen is 6m x 6m and will be subject to all the normal kitchen stuff - noise, heat, screaming kids. The new system will be used predominantly for radio (2, 4 and fivelive mostly)and iPod. Right now we have a Denon M30 and the matching speakers plonked on the counter of the kitchen which sounds fine, but the speakers are kinda bulky for wall mounting.

So the help I'm looking for is as follows:

* what system(s), speakers and speaker cable should I be considering? I don't want to go crazy in terms of budget.

* I'm planning to have the speakers in two corners of the room, high on the same wall - is this "correct"?

* any tips or tricks about installation? The builders will put in the cable but will look for my advice

* what about racking or shelving for the player itself? I want to avoid putting it on the work surface if I can.

* I might fit a little TV on the wall, any value in trying to run the sound for this through the stereo speakers - I don't want to put a full setup with amp in the kitchen - better to keep it simple and just run the sound out of the TV? Will be just used for the kids.

Thanks much in advance, any help appreciated!

DjP

 

[hammill]

I have a mini system in the kids playroom and play the TV through the mini system speakers. Even though it was dirt cheap, the mini system sounds vastly better than the TV, so I would definitely play the TV via whatever system you use.

 

[professorhat]

I use the Audioengine A2s in my kitchen - they're tiny but still produce a fantastic sound, and in white should be very unobtrusive looking. Also, because they're powered speakers, this makes the setup much easier as you don't need to have a separate amp somewhere to power the speakers. If you put a dock in somewhere, you can just put your iPhone / iPod Touch in this and have this wired through the walls to the speakers. For radio, you can use any number of Apps from the iTunes store to pick up the radio stations you want, assuming you have a wireless network setup. Also, with this you could use an Airport Express to access all the music in your iTunes collection, plus all the radio stations available from the internet. Since the A2s have two inputs (one 3.5mm input and one RCA phono input), this is easily possible with the iPod dock in addition.

Just an idea.

 

[Anonymous]

I admit that my advice doesn't come from a wealth of experience (considering my kitchen set up consist of nothing more than a pair of JBL active speakers). But how about the Q Acoustic 2010. Dinky little things that get nothing but praise, would look quite smart in a nice new kitchen wall mounted

 

[DjP]

Thanks Prof - I saw that you'd plumped for Audioengines in a previous post. Mrs DjP will like the white and small part! I can't say I'm sold on Airport Express though - for this to be effective I'd need to leave computer on all the time right? My iPod (Classic, not touch / phone) has entire song library on it and is small and low power consumption, so I figure I only need something that will drive that?

I have a Pure Chronos iDock in the study which sounds fab in that small room - I'm still forming opinions, but something like this that will use external speakers is perhaps the trick?

Thoughts on using 3.5mm jack / RCA plugs versus "proper" speaker cable? (ie the stuff that you bear the ends of and screw into the speaker - sorry if I'mn getting too technical

). Can you buy decent lengths of "fancy" RCA / 3.5mm cable? Obv I want to put in the walls and not change for 10 years or so...

Thanks again,

DjP

 

[DjP]

...or (he says, taking a completely different tack) is there a product like the B&W Zeppelin that has a DAB radio built in? Then I could possibly ditch the wall mount speakers and have everything in one unit (pref wall mounted)?

Thanks again for putting up with my ramblings...

DjP

 

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same sort of boat as you DjP. In the process of buying a new house that will need a complete kitchen re-fit.

I was thinking about buying another Sonos ZP120 and wiring up a couple of in-ceiling speakers. Could this be an option for you? All you need is NAS connected to your router and you'll be able to access all of your music or internet radio through that, without the need to leave your laptop on.

As for which speakers would suit to go with the Sonos..... I'm not sure! I'd be open to suggestions from the great and the good on this forum on that one!

 

[DjP]

Ceiling speakers eh? Now you're complicating things

Thanks for the tip about the Sonos, the issue I have with it is that it seems like too much technology for the problem - why would I want to stream radio from t'internet when I can get it via DAB? Also, Sonos has no proper iPod dock, so I'm stuck with 3.5mm jack unless I stream from PC.

Am I a Luddite?

DjP

 

[professorhat]

DjP:Thoughts on using 3.5mm jack / RCA plugs versus "proper" speaker cable? (ie the stuff that you bear the ends of and screw into the speaker - sorry if I'mn getting too technical

). Can you buy decent lengths of "fancy" RCA / 3.5mm cable? Obv I want to put in the walls and not change for 10 years or so...

Good point. Well the 3.5mm to RCA cable for the iPod conneciton (rather than speaker cable) would need to be of the sturdy kind, well made and needs to come in a decent length (not sure where you'll be looking to put your iPod dock in relation to the speakers) - I'm not an expert on these types of cable I'm afraid. Maybe Mark Grant can build you something (shop is currently closed till Friday so hard to say) - I haven't used them personally, but others rave about him.

For the speaker cable itself (to connect one powered speaker to the passive speaker), I don't think you need to go crazy, something like the QED X-TC would do I'm sure.

 

[professorhat]

Or maybe use the Audioengine W2 adaptor in your iPod which removes the need for the long 3.5mm cable...

 

[Anonymous]

Depends on how much space you have available, but I have one of these in the kitchen,

http://www.whathifi.com/Review/Vita-Audio-R4/

Great sound, covers iPod, DAB, FM, and CD, has a detachable remote control, so you could mount it on a shelf easily. Also, if you get an iPod touch, you can get an app for internet radio and have any station in the world.

It does take up a bit of space though, so if space is at a premium it might not be best. Also the iR2 is probably a good bet if you don't want CD.

Let us know what you go for.

Cheers,

Shuggie

 

[DjP]

Thanks Shuggie - the R2i makes sense to me (don't need CD) - how big is your kitchen? Our new monstrosity is going to be 6m x 6m (blame Mrs DjP), I'm not sure a little box like that is going to fill the room?

DjP

 

[Pete Shields]

I looked at all sorts of options and in the end went for a Sonos S5. Sits great above the wall cupboard units. I was completely rewiring the kitchen as well so I hard wired via ethernet cables to my router under the stairs. Sounds great and saved any messing with cables, etc. All I need now is an ipad to control it!

 

[Anonymous]

DjP,

No problem. Kitchen is fair size, don't know exact measurements, but has fitted units around 3 walls, and Aga and an electric cooker on wall 4, and still has room for a butchers table in the middle of the room with plenty of space around it. I'd guess about 6m x 5m (rented house, recently moved in, so hence don't know accurate measurements). Certainly plenty loud enough to cause consternation for Mrs Shuggie when she is in other parts of the house

Also surprisingly good stereo imaging for something with built in speakers. It has a down-firing sub built in which probably helps with output, but isn't bass heavy.

Well worth an audition

 

[Anonymous]

DjP,

Just got home from work. It's 5m x 4m, so a bit smaller than what you're planning. Still don't think you'd have any problem filling it though.

Cheers,

Shuggie