Speakers for a Yoga Studio

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SlipperyPete

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Jul 30, 2004
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My fiancé and I are opening a new yoga studio. We want a good quality surround sound system in the studio, but we don't want to use floor space. So wall-mounted will be the way to go.

Does anybody have recommendations for a purely wall-mounted system that can get pretty low in the frequency range (obviously we don't want a subwoofer box on the floor either, but want some bass response).

Thanks.
 
Get an in wall sub. Hmm, not sure there is much point to surround sound for an open space.
 
I assumed you meant surround sound as in a home theatre.

The sub. You should check out the rest of the speakers they have there. You can get 20% off coupons every few weeks.

Aria In Wall Subwoofer 10 Inch Passive 200W max (single) - Monoprice.com

49281.jpg


Btw, here's an example of a sub install. Basically you make a box inside your framing, seal and fill it just like you would a normal sub box.

Garden Room Home Cinema in Woolhope, Herefordshire | HiFi Gear Blog
 
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Will you be allowed to modify the walls in your space (tenant rules?). Is the ceiling more easily modified?

Also you can mount small bookshelfs up in the corners of the room. Use thin/flat speaker wire and paint it the same color as wall, very stealthy. If you want bass through out, it's going to take air movement. I would probably recommend 2 units on opposite ends. Otherwise the people closest to the sub will get way too much bass and the people on the other side will get normal, to sub optimal. Depending on the size of the room obviously, but I would imagine we are dealing with like a 30x30 or bigger?

Parts Express sells a "under the couch" powered sub that is wide instead of tall. It also has wall mounting brackets. So it would be less obtrusive on the wall then a cube shape.

The thing about in walls is think about how you will get the signal to it.
 
Honestly, good bookshelf speakers do pretty well in a yoga studio... I've wired a few with just a boombox and bookshelf speakers attached to the walls in the corners. I used a small 2-4ch mixer wired to the front of the room to handle a wireless headset and iphone/ipod.

Works like a champ.

You don't have to go big, as studios have quiet people in them, you won't have to crank the volume up to overpower anything and have to be mindful of the classes in the room(s) next door if you have multiple rooms (we have 3 main rooms, a massage room, and two other specialized rooms).
 
I don't think you need anything "quality", as long as the music is understandable and sounds "full", most people will be happy.

I'd be looking at small bookshelfs, under $100 a pair. Frys has periodic sales on JBL,Infinity, Polk, Klipsch bookshelfs.

Or PartsExpress has house brand bookshelfs.

Monoprice also has a house brand.
 
westrock2000 said:
I don't think you need anything "quality", as long as the music is understandable and sounds "full", most people will be happy.

I'd be looking at small bookshelfs, under $100 a pair. Frys has periodic sales on JBL,Infinity, Polk, Klipsch bookshelfs.

Or PartsExpress has house brand bookshelfs.

Monoprice also has a house brand.
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I'm pretty set on these, they have a nice full frequency response:

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/speaker-systems/home-speaker-systems/ns-6490/
 
westrock2000 said:
Will you be allowed to modify the walls in your space (tenant rules?). Is the ceiling more easily modified?

Also you can mount small bookshelfs up in the corners of the room. Use thin/flat speaker wire and paint it the same color as wall, very stealthy. If you want bass through out, it's going to take air movement. I would probably recommend 2 units on opposite ends. Otherwise the people closest to the sub will get way too much bass and the people on the other side will get normal, to sub optimal. Depending on the size of the room obviously, but I would imagine we are dealing with like a 30x30 or bigger?

Parts Express sells a "under the couch" powered sub that is wide instead of tall. It also has wall mounting brackets. So it would be less obtrusive on the wall then a cube shape.

The thing about in walls is think about how you will get the signal to it.
Click to expand...

Now we are actually thinking of doing a sub woofer, by a storage locker / bench in the back. This will allow us more freedom in choosing bookshelf speakers, which would preferably be small and white (indiscreet).

Do you think this will cause the problem you describe, where the people near the sub get too much bass? I've never really been a fan of box sub woofers TBH, I've always like using floor standing speakers for stereos. But this is a totally different application.
 
So, if we add a subwoofer somewhere hidden on the floor, would we be best doing 2 sets of stereo bookshelf speakers on the wall (4 total), or just get a 5.1 kit, and process the stereo mixes to 5.1 using a surround receiver? I don't really have great experience with surround sound :(
 
2x https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002...r+speakers&dpPl=1&dpID=41vcPI6fAoL&ref=plSrch

Or some non-powered ones with this:

2x https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-B2...1480888153&sr=8-2&keywords=behringer+speakers

1x http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NU1000?product_id={product_id}&adpos=1o2&creative=55686413041&device=m&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CP2Oq9W129ACFQ5EfgodvNQB1A

Will more thank likely give you the sound you want. As for bass you won't get much of anything with a tiny box in a large room. You should get your speakers first and see what you need after that.

You'd still need a way to connect to the amp, I'm not sure what you are planning to play music with.

I'm also saying this without knowing how big the studio is. What's your floor plan? Last thing you want is a pair of 45 watt bookshelfs in a 30x20 room.
 
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SlipperyPete said:
So, if we add a subwoofer somewhere hidden on the floor, would we be best doing 2 sets of stereo bookshelf speakers on the wall (4 total), or just get a 5.1 kit, and process the stereo mixes to 5.1 using a surround receiver? I don't really have great experience with surround sound :(
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Those 5.1's would be wasted on music, most music won't go past 2 channels and some amps will reproduce to the other 2 channels and while my experience is anecdotal the reproduction on the back channels is very low. You could split up two semi-large speakers that are mono, on opposite ends and make sure they aren't directly pointed at each other. You can get decent bass from some PA speakers and save quite a bit of money too.
 
No, no Behringer eurolives in a yoga studio... please... this isn't a field party, that is total overkill and I've always found them to sound fairly harsh for voice.

You certainly don't need a 500w amp to fill a yoga room either =P 50W total would be more than enough.
 
acquacow said:
No, no Behringer eurolives in a yoga studio... please... this isn't a field party, that is total overkill and I've always found them to sound fairly harsh for voice.

You certainly don't need a 500w amp to fill a yoga room either =P 50W total would be more than enough.
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Seriously, make your life easy and get some decent bookshelf speakers and wall-mount them in the corners of the room... MUCH simpler.

4y76mY2.png
 
acquacow said:
No, no Behringer eurolives in a yoga studio... please... this isn't a field party, that is total overkill and I've always found them to sound fairly harsh for voice.

You certainly don't need a 500w amp to fill a yoga room either =P 50W total would be more than enough.
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Ive used the non powered beheringer for a while on an amp similar to the inuke (which isn't a 500watt amp...) and they sound fine, they just don't produce bass very well.

You have to consider that 50watts doesn't matter if you can't get reproduction on non-sensitive consumer bookshelfs.

You put 50 watts into the beheringer and you have reference levels on music. Not to mention you don't have to Hangs them, they work well on corner stands.
 
Corner stands are fugly and don't belong in a studio =P Plus, any studio I've been in, floor space is at a premium and shouldn't be wasted on speaker stands when you could get 1-2 more people in the room otherwise.

You don't need reference levels of audio, it isn't a music studio... you need some low background music and enough volume that everyone can hear the instructor.

This isn't soulcycle where you're pumping bass-heavy pop at 100dB in the dark =P
 
acquacow said:
Corner stands are fugly and don't belong in a studio =P Plus, any studio I've been in, floor space is at a premium and shouldn't be wasted on speaker stands when you could get 1-2 more people in the room otherwise.

You don't need reference levels of audio, it isn't a music studio... you need some low background music and enough volume that everyone can hear the instructor.

This isn't soulcycle where you're pumping bass-heavy pop at 100dB in the dark =P
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I know I know, I'm saying all of this without knowing what the layout is. My talking about reference was just to show that going with something that is PA can be cheaper as it is much easier to hit good listening levels, you just sacrifice looks in the process. But I painted mine flat black and were very hard to see so it wasn't an issue.

One thing is for sure, you wouldn't want to use these with bass heavy anything without a sub lol.
 
So I got quoted over $2,000 for a professional commercial audio installation. Decided to do it myself. I ended up ordering the following:

  • Onkyo TX-8020 Stereo Receiver
  • 4 x Polk Audio OWM3 Wall-Mount Speakers in White
  • 1 x Polk Audio PSW505 12" Powered Subwoofer
  • 150 feet of 14 AWG speaker wire
  • Raceways for speaker cable routing
It all came to ~$662.

I think it's going to sound great....I'm excited! Will let everyone know how it works out.
 
"slipperypete's yoga studio" does have a nice ring to it...
I'm sure youll be happy with that setup and its stupidly simple to do.
 
You'd have a much easier time with 18awg but 14 is fine even though it's over kill. I've gone over kill on my wire just so I'd have it on hand when I needed it.

The receiver and speakers are good combos, although I'm unsure if you'd get much out of music with going for a 4.1 set up. Someone can probably speak about that receiver if it can reproduce sound to the back channels from a 2 channel source.
 
the amp most likely has speakers A + B, like my onkyo does. so 2x stereo plus a sub. it will work fine.
 
So I actually cancelled the receiver from my order. I am afraid it won't have enough power. It's 50 watts per channel, so running both A and B would be 25 watts for each speaker.

The room is 20 feet wide, and 40 feet long, but narrows at the back at around 30 foot mark, to be only 10 feet wide. Ceiling is 10 feet high. So we figure it is about 7,000 cubic feet.

I'm going to demo and buy it from a Best Buy, hopefully they will price match Amazon. That way, if it doesn't work out, I can return it without worrying about shipping.

I also found a Yamaha HT-5760 on craigslist for $80. It's a 7.1 system, with lots of power, but it's rather old (2003 or 2004), and I'm worried about an old unit dying in the middle of a class, which would be pretty embarrassing.

I'm pretty confident in the rest of the system. Thoughts?
 
those speakers are rated 20-100w so it was a little low but it would work. as far as the used amp goes Yamaha makes some pretty good stuff. test it before you buy it then look under the hood for bad caps(shouldn't be). if it works and no bad caps then that's not a bad deal, even if its old. BUT it is slightly over powered for those speakers(110w), so watch the volume knob.
 
Always better to over amp a speaker then under amp them.

But that amp is probably at 65watts rms and those speakers are probably around 40.

You would of been fine with either amp.
 
I'm going to pick up the Yamaha today. I also ordered two Polk OWM5 to use as the main front left and rights. So there will be 6 speakers plus a subwoofer.

I am now thinking of using the Dolby Pro Logic IIx feature on the receiver. This will convert the two channel stereo input and send it to all six speakers.

My only concern with this is it is designed to be used for a person in a "sweet spot" in the center of the room. Of course, we will have many students in the room, at various areas. To that end, I was thinking of switching up the left surround / right surround speakers, so that the rear left is actually playing the right channel, and vice versa. Of course, I realize this is probably not how Pro Logic IIx works...I am going to post in AVS forums to get some advice.

I also have no center speaker, but there appears to be a setting in the receiver to disable that, and send the audio to the FR and FL channels.
 
then set it to "all speaker stereo" and its then all left/right and sub. no need for DPL IIx.
 
this is from cnet's review of that amp. the 5ch stereo would be what I'm talking about. make sure it has the remote!

DSP Presets:
5ch stereo, Adventure, Rock Concert, Sci-Fi, Spectacle, Variety/Sports, Concert Hall, Disco, Enhanced, Game, General, Jazz club, Mono Movie, Music
 
So I picked up the unit yesterday. Tested it at the guy's place, it seemed to work OK. Only red flag is it seems the power chord was replaced at one point, as it has a plug that is most definitely not factory. What could that mean?

I believe it has 7 channel stereo. I'll probably just use that then!

Since there will be people all over the room, I was thinking of switching up the "middle" speakers.

So if the room is a box, and "R" and "L" mean "Left" and "Right" for the left and right channels, instead of this:

L R

L R

L R

It would be:

L R

R L

L R


It seems to me this would ensure everyone hears both channels well. Otherwise, people near the left or right wall might only hear the left or right channels, respectively. Thoughts?
 
Put them in a line array formation on the ground first, turn it on and see if it sounds ok, if there are no issues then install.
 
Thank you for being reasonable and not getting huge floor-standing speakers =)
 
So when I went to pickup the AVR, he also had a Yamaha HST-SW215 subwoofer for sale. I talked him down to $50, and cancelled the order on the Polk unit. It's an 8" down firing unit, I'm afraid it isn't going to be enough :eek:

Also, somebody over at AVR forum basically said I'm making a huge mistake doing this all myself...now I'm really worried. Here's the link to the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/173-2-channel-audio/2693937-using-pro-logic-iix-yoga-studio.html
 
yeah don't listen to that guy. he only says "youre doing it wrong" but doesn't really say why or offer anything constructive. for what you want to do and the budget you have to work with this setup will be fine. and as far as that sub goes, try it it might be enough. you just want bass for music not ass shaking explosion bass for movies. and if it isn't enough, reorder something bigger/better and then re-sell the 8" for $50 after it arrives.
 
pendragon1 said:
yeah don't listen to that guy. he only says "youre doing it wrong" but doesn't really say why or offer anything constructive. for what you want to do and the budget you have to work with this setup will be fine. and as far as that sub goes, try it it might be enough. you just want bass for music not ass shaking explosion bass for movies. and if it isn't enough, reorder something bigger/better and then re-sell the 8" for $50 after it arrives.
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Thank you so much for your (and everyone else's) input, we have so much riding on this and the pressure is really on me to get this right. I really appreciate your help!! (y)
 
SlipperyPete said:
So when I went to pickup the AVR, he also had a Yamaha HST-SW215 subwoofer for sale. I talked him down to $50, and cancelled the order on the Polk unit. It's an 8" down firing unit, I'm afraid it isn't going to be enough :eek:

Also, somebody over at AVR forum basically said I'm making a huge mistake doing this all myself...now I'm really worried. Here's the link to the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/173-2-channel-audio/2693937-using-pro-logic-iix-yoga-studio.html
Click to expand...
Depends, you should normally hear a system before you install it but in this case it's cheap enough that it won't hurt too much if it sounds like crap. Those speakers aren't that great but then again if you wanted six speakers on a tight budget you aren't left with many good options. It'd be a lot easier to install using smaller gauge wire.

I'd recommend not swapping the left and right speakers like you planned.
 
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