garage rig..how much is too much ($$)

beardog03 · January 2009

I was doing some tinkering with the bike in the garage, and had the tunes going, and the wife says..."jeeze, do you think you have enough "stereo" stuff out here ? How much did all that cost anyway?"

I said," not too much.......really !"

So I thought I would pose the question, "how much is too much ($), and what do you think is reasonable as far as $$ and quality of gear goes, in a garage rig ? "

I need to get a cd player as my current on is just an old dvd player that doesn`t work too well.

My current garage rig consists of the following;

Jolida 1301 intagrated
an old Fisher tube tuna circa early 60`s (thanks Russman)
AQ coral I/C`s
Yamaha CDP (broken)
Polk RTi38`s
AQ Bedrocks (just replaced the type 4`s)

and of course as everybody does, I have a second "backup amp/tuna...

old school stuff
Marantz ST300 tuna
Marantz PM300 amp (35w)

and I`m building a sub (s) with some MOMO`s that I have just hanging around

so....
how much is too much, and what do ya got in your shop/garage ?!!

Lowell_M · January 2009

That's like asking if a car ever has too much power. NEVER ENOUGH!!! I think your garage rig sounds pretty cool... with room to grow! I say put the good sounding tunes where you spend the most time. If that is in the garage, then go for it!

leroyjr1 · January 2009

I'm running a intergrated Rotel, with monitor 10's. Didn't want to put anything real nice because of weather and dust.

beardog03 · January 2009

Right !...

Because of the environment the gear is in, is the reason the question was asked ...

My wife, although she knows I spend what free time I can spend tinkering in the shop/garage, say`s that because of the environment it is in, I shouldn`t spend so much on the "stereo"......which poses the question.......

I don`t really have anything exotic out there.....

leroyjr1 · January 2009

You got some nice speaker wires in your garage rig. I'm using some basic Walmart 14 gauge wire.

nadams · January 2009

I used to run some old marantz speakers that I had dropped some rockford fosgate 8" car subs in to replace the old rotted mids. Paired with a mid 80's marantz receiver 'til I cooked the one channel. Then I hooked them up to my old Pioneer SX-450 until I moved out and got a place without a garage

To me, a garage system is not about quality of sound, but rather just having something there to be background noise.

Hell, your Jolida and those wires are nicer than anything I have in my living room system!

beardog03 · January 2009

agreed....sometime it is about quantity !!....not so much quality.......but I still need it to sound good

the right channel on the Marantz amp has gone out....I think I might try to fix it !!!

I must say though...that Jolida is a great bang for buck deal....especially with the RT2000i`s !!! They got built in subs !!

danger boy · January 2009

i personally wouldn't put anything to nice stereo wise in my garage for fear it would get ripped off. so with that said.. i'd only put gear in there that I could live without if it got ripped off.

gear that was trashed but still working or something that i hated.

beardog03 · January 2009

I have been thinking about building a 12v setup from all the car stuff I have...

I have speaker, amps, subs....12v batteries of all varieties (taken from the motorhome)

I would have to get a converter, or just keep the batteries on the charger....it would work well if I got it worked out ,though

nikolas812 · January 2009

Thats funny.... I was just thinking about a shop rig today. All I have out there now is a crappy boom box thats on its last leg. It only picks up three stations at best and sounds like crap.

But like others have mentioned. I don't care too much about the sound. It's really just background music anyway.

BUT..... Me being me. I am thinking about getting a Polk Tuner some cheap monitors and something with tubes to power it.:cool:

So probably around $500 total for a shop rig. That would be the max though.

So. To answer your question. Any more than $500.00 is TOO MUCH!!!:D

Nick

beardog03 · January 2009

exactly !

It doesn`t have to be critical listening level, but it does need to sound good...

So that`s where I`m at also.....some 38`s, a tuna, and some decent , solid power to pump it out.....jolida *tubed* integrated

Thanks for the reply..

I think that`s a fair opinion of cost vs performance

mhardy6647 · January 2009

No hifi in the garage. Now the basement. The basement. Another story.

beardog03 · January 2009

my garage is my shop....no cars in there, just motorcycles and audio stuff

and I don`t have a basement !!!

Conradicles · January 2009

Love my garage and keep it cleaner than most people's house.:)

My current Man Garage system:
harman/kardon HK-3480
Denon DVD-2800II
Monster power strip
Ben's Interconnects
Audioquest type 4 speaker cables
polkaudio SDA-2B's

Very large garage and "live" environment. I need to get a good rug to put in front of the SDA's to improve acoustics a bit, but it sounds great to me.

Also got a huge weight-bench/home gym and a workbench.

Every man needs a good garage IMHO.:cool:

dorokusai · January 2009

If I had a garage, I'd have another hardcore rig in there as well. Between bookends and integrated amplifiers....it's real easy.

Conradicles · January 2009

Mine = just under $700 and I would still love to add a fat amp and a big fat rug.
You can never spend too much as all of these audio nuts here know well.

I just hope I never hear a tube amp...or I will go broke...

mantis · January 2009

The garage is where some of us MEN hang out most of the summer months. I spend alot of time in mine. I like to wax and clean the trucks , clean the place, etc. I don't have a very nice rig but I got Polk 45's hung on the wall with Audioquest 14-2 running off a Yamaha receiver. I use a Airport express to send music from my Itunes Library. It works out well as I can fully control it with my Iphone. I can be in the driveway and select a different playlist, pause whatever I wanna do. It's kinda cool. My friends think I'm nuts but I like to have toys everywhere.

Your rig is fine man. Maybe alittl crazy with the speaker wires especially since you already had Type 4's and you "upgraded" them... but I gotta say I'm loving it. Absolutely love it. Keep it going bro.

Dan

MillerLiteScott · January 2009

I am into the rig I am running this weekend for @ $265. But my typical garage rig runs under $100 and sounds pretty good for very little $.

Scott

rayslifecycle · January 2009

Wow- your garage rig is way cool.

Mine started with my fiancee's old apartment stereo:
-a Panasonic CD/Cassette/Tuner/Amp.
-Boston Acoustics speakers I got from a garage sale.
-and an Infinity Subwoofer which I bought 12 years ago.

The garage is the bicycle shop right now - but the car will fit as soon as I sell off my fishtank gear.....

unc2701 · January 2009

For awhile I was rocking out to SDA 2.3TL's and a Krell Kav-300i... being fed by an Ipod. At least I could hear it over the air compressor

Jstas · January 2009

I honestly wouldn't put high dollar stuff in the garage unless I was just using the garage as a place to store cars and just hang out or something. I actually do work in my garage and electronics get beat up from the fumes from chemicals and things like welding flash, soldering, car exhaust and solvents/cleaners. The dirt gets every where too. So I would hate to throw some stuff like what some of you have listed in the garage for fear of destroying it.

Last stereo I put in the garage was an old Pioneer head unit hooked up to a 10 amp bench power supply. I had the CD player, tuner and a satellite radio receiver in a wooden box I built to hold it all. It was hooked up to an external amp with a pair of old Electro-Voice 3-ways hanging in the corners. 20 watts per channel out of the amp and I just grabbed a cheapy universal car antenna from Pep Boys, ran the cable out the corner of a window and mounted plate on the wall outside to hold the antenna up. Real jeri rigged kinda deal but worked like a champ and rocked out just fine. Got loud enough to hear over the grinders too. The Pioneer head unit had a credit card sized remote too. It fit in a pocket just fine and worked from anywhere in the garage.

billbillw · January 2009

My garage rig is ultra cheap and I wouldn't put too much more in there no matter what. Too much dust, moisture, etc. to put anything nice out there.

Here's what I've got:
Receiver: Realistic STA-870 (65wpc) cost: Free, family hand me down. The tuner was aligned by my brother before I put it into use, so it does pretty good pulling in the stations around the ATL just using a 1/2 wave dipole.

Speakers: Some Mission speakers, 8" woofer, vifa tweeter. Found on Craigslist for $20.

CD Player: My original PlayStation. It hadn't been used to play games in more than 10 years, so I decided to use it for CD playback. Guess what, it sounds pretty good. Cost: I paid full price in 1995 when it was new, but given the depreciation and the fact that it was just siting in my storage, I consider it a freebie.

This system can really be enjoyable while I'm out there working on my bike, car, or electronics, and it really didn't cost me much at all.

Face · January 2009

I've seen people with McIntosh in their garage. It all comes down to personal preference.

This year I'll probably move my 7C's and Accurian in the garage with one of the black plastic crap CDP's from my basement.

reeltrouble1 · January 2009

I fail to see the difference between a Woodshed Rig and a Garage Rig. So no amount is too much.

This was a decent rig for the garage at the Fest

Dodd--ELP--Bugle Boys
Polk Tuner
Consanace 120 Opera CDP
Classe Amplifier
Polk Monitor 10 and Monitor 7

Rock on Robert.

RT1

MSALLA · January 2009

Money.........it's all relative to whats in your pocket.

TroyD · January 2009

Cheap Sony playa (60 bucks on ebay refurb)
Marantz 2215 (courtesy of El Roma)
Dynaco A25's ( 5 bucks )

Now THAT is a garage rig.

BDT

Mike Reeter · January 2009

leroyjr1 wrote: »

You got some nice speaker wires in your garage rig. I'm using some basic Walmart 14 gauge wire.

I sold Robert the A/Q wires...when he said he was putting them in a garage rig,I about dropped a beer.

My poor shop rig consists of a pair of RT55i's,an ole tuner for F.M. listening and some hi-end lamp cord for wire:D

Very nice garage rig you have there Robert.

mhardy6647 · January 2009

TroyD wrote: »

Cheap Sony playa (60 bucks on ebay refurb)
Marantz 2215 (courtesy of El Roma)
Dynaco A25's ( 5 bucks )

Now THAT is a garage rig.

BDT

Two-thirds of it is great (hard to tell about the Sony; could be great, could be meh)!

madmax · January 2009

I see the garage as a place to put a rig that sounds good, no matter what the source. Maybe a high end HT receiver which can make anything from AM radio to oldies radio or any other source sound exciting. I don't see cost as an issue unless the enviroment is bad with cold, wet or dryness, wide temp changes etc.

MillerLiteScott · January 2009

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

I am into the rig I am running this weekend for @ $265. But my typical garage rig runs under $100 and sounds pretty good for very little $.

Scott

I had some more painting to do this weekend so here is this weekends painting rig in the garage. This one falls under the less than $100 category and it still sounds pretty good.

Conradicles · February 2009

This weekend I remembered how much I love my garage rig.
Kids outside playing b-ball, riding bikes, just having a great time. My 2 daughters made us jam to some of their CD's (Taylor Swift)...LOL

I think even my little girls appreciated the SDA's!!!

Many times I have thought about selling it and using the funds to improve my H/T, but still undecided.

garage rig..how much is too much ($$)

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