Speakers for Coffee Shop

Hi, Where do you want the music to be heard? Everywhere, or just in certain areas? Do you want the speakers to be visible for esthetic reasons, or are you more interested in functionality? There are many good commercial speakers that are designed to be either surface or flush mounted. Is it just for background music, or is a microphone used as well, or are there ever live performers? If it is just background music, you can just use what sounds good to you. If you have these other needs, or would like to, let me know and I can suggest some options. I agree that vinyl in a coffee shop sounds pretty cool, I have not seen that in a really long time!

If you want great bookshelves that either work well close to the wall AND are also wall mountable with ready-made brackets ....

REGA R1/RS1

See Stereotimes review

" .... The Rega R1 becomes my new budget reference speaker. In addition of its ability to get the fundamentals of music right, it adds clarity and resolution, and an ability to lay out a vivid and coherent 3-dimensional stereo image. In small room applications, what more could you want?..."

Hi Aiasthewall

A local Chipotle used Mirage OmniSat V2 speakers throughout the place and also mounted the sub in the ceiling. The amp I believe was from Niles. The sound is fine and not too loud unless someone in the back cranks it.

Woot has the Mirage Omni speakers on a very good sale price right now and they look great IMO.

Best of luck in the search.

Ads L400 in teak would look very nice and would sound wonderful in your shop. I would also concur with the suggestion of actives as well but if you want wood cabinet speakers I think the ADS as well as some of the Cantons look and sound beautiful for not a lot of money.

I was just at a local pub in the afternoon and had to go look at what speakers where being used. The B&W 600 series sounded awesome. for a flatter response I would look into the JBL pro (control) series have owned the Pro 8s for lots of years but use them in the yard and workshop. were they do a wonderful job in conjunction with my old Audiosource AmpTwo. This Combo is a workhorse . and I highly recommend it for open spaces at reasonable volumes. Best Part its Cheap so the non Audio Geek will understand the expense. (Sorry not wood)

I would actually look into wall mount options ... do not want customers or co-workers accidentally knocking them over (even my CATS have managed to topple a floorstander.

I THINK OHM (who someone else mentioned) has added a wall mount omni to their line-up. Martin Logan and Sonus Faber have a wall mount and Dynaudio DID but not sure they still offer it. I am sure there are many others as well.

If you are looking used and the wall mount idea appeals to you shoot me an email ... I have 2 different pair (ACI and Krell) at home that may interest you. They are currently collecting dust (figuratively speaking as they are boxed).

Thanks all for the responses. I should note that the space is around 1500 square feet, a single rectangular room, not that big.

I know it shouldn't matter, but I would prefer something that looks really good: wood cabinets, great looking front, etc.

Thanks again.

OHm Walsh Omnis will deliver good sound throughout the room, not just a sweet spot so nice for a room with many people in many locations.

Also all electronic parts are enclosed in a metal "can" so no worries about fingers, etc. causing any damage if touched. Very durable!!!

Used older Walsh 2s can be had for a couple hundred often on Ebay and will sound quite nice. Other newer models including custom wall mount models, etc. are available from www.ohmspeakers.com.

I would look into KRK studio monitors. These are active speakers and should receive a balanced signal. If you can find an older preamp such as a Marsh with phono on board and a remote, you will stay well under budget. Of course, that depends on how many speakers you want and how big you want them. Some nice turntables can be found at yard sales or by placing a "wanted" ad on your local CraigsList. Really good tuners can be had for $150 or so and cheap cables will be plenty good enough. Did I cover everything?

Where's it going to be? I'll try to stop in sometime.

Haven't seen vinyl played at coffee shop for quite a while!