Hi guys,

An army buddy and I are staring a metal fabrication / off-road vehicle shop.  We have two 25' x 25' rooms with a 6' x 12' passage cut in the dividing wall.  It's a run of the mill metal building with 13' ceilings.  I want a decent radio set up with two speakers for each side and needs to have Bluetooth and possibly FM capability. I see some 4 speaker home theater systems, but I want the system mirrored so I don't know if that's the right way to go.  Budget is preferably under $500.

This is looking from the Automotive side into the metal shop

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I would get two pairs of PA speakers that are meant to be "flown" and mount them in proper mounts.  15" woofer and a horn tweeter will get the job done on SPL, sure you could do better on sound quality but in a big shop I wouldn't bother


I wouldn't mess with home speakers in that environment.

Plain metal walls will mean lack luster Sound quality regardless of what equipment you have.

I just used a free receiver from marketplace and added a blue tooth adapter to it.   Also used some free speakers.

I did not see the reason to drop a lot of money on something that I will only touch when I am dirty and greasy.  


It sounds decent.  It is an older Sony receiver that does not have hdmi.   Speakers are infinity 10" and an older pair of unknown 8" book shelf speakers.   I have a powered sub as well.   But it rattles my tool chest and drives me nuts.

Pa speakers. In a shop that looks that big you will out spend in qty to get enough.

Qsc has a great sound self powered set that give really nice bass as well. That’s what I would do

Qsc k12.2 or if you are a real baller the kh153.

Either will get louder than you will want and sound great. Really the k12.2 is all you need. If you want to round out the sound more you can get a sub.

Just need 120v and signal ran to each. Buy, hang, enjoy nothing else needed

If you don’t want PA look into the outdoor speakercraft  3 way - be sure to get the 8”. Down side is you will need amps to run them but a great sound at a decent price.

Ok, I should have been more clear. I’m an idiot. I see a few acronyms and terms I don’t have a clue what they mean. Also a quick google shows those QSC speakers are $800 a piece. I was thinking $500 total.

Links to suggested speakers and/or systems would be greatly appreciated.

A crew of contractors at our work had a "Tailgaiter" portable speaker. It's made by Ion. I was so impressed with it, that i bought one for the house. I use it outside when folks are over or when i want to jam while working. Built sort of like a guitar amp, it's  heavy (internal battery), has a radio and does bluetooth. I've used the one the contractors brought in our 50'x50' shop. It us plenty loud enough for me.

I guess that means Wilson Chronosonics are out

https://www.paragonsns.com/products/wilson-audio-chronosonic-xvx

You are going to want 2 of Cerwin Vega EL-36DP Earthquake 18" 2000W Folded Horn Powered Subwoofer

4 CVP-2153 and a 5000 watt Gemini should work

Meyer Sound UPM-1P Self-Powered Ultra-Compact Wide Coverage Speakers

I think everything will sound poor in that metal environment. Just get a cheap bluetooth something

For 500 total you are not going to find a ton. If you can swing a bit more then;
4 of these
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/B215XL--behringer-eurolive-b215xl-1000w-15-inch-passive-speaker
run from this
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/yamaha-200w-2-ch-stereo-receiver-black/5037100.p?skuId=5037100

Should sound as good as possible in a shop.

A fair bit out of your budget but.

2 Sonos Amps, one in each location.

2 pairs of decent quality outdoor speakers. Would have a bit better survivability in a fab shop environment. Them being designed to keep the elements out will help keep fun stuff like grinding dust out of your speakers.

With a Sonos setup you would wire each room seperately (2x speakers, 1x amp). If you want them together you just group them in the app.

Another positive to a streaming setup like this is you don't have to tie up your phone to listen to music, you just use it to control Sonos, not stream to it (although you can if you want to).

Barring that, look for secondhand stereo receivers with A+B speaker outputs. Marketplace, ebay, goodwill etc. Tons of them out there that are no longer valid for home theater use (lack HDMI) but would be perfectly functional in your application.
Those and whatever bookshelf speakers you can find. Buy cheap as eventually they will get ruined by grinding dust and the elements.
Add a cheapie bluetooth to stereo receiver and you are up and running.
Downsides are you would have to wire both pairs of speakers back to one place, you will have to manually turn the stereo on and off and you lose music if you have to take a call.
I have a pile of no longer current but still functional AV receivers here (I am in the AV business). Would give you one if you weren't on the other side of the country.