I stumbled on this site while researching kitchen stereo possibilties. Seems like a good place to throw out a question to see if anyone has a suggestion for me.
My goal in to have a radio/cd player/ipod link in my kitchen (the heart of the house and where I spend 90% of my waking hours). Something that attaches undercabinet would be real nice and compact, but the ones I've seen don't seem to have the features I want....
I would like to have two speakers in the kitchen and attach two more outdoors speakers on the patio outside the sliding glass door pointing toward the back yard. Of course, I would like to adjust the sound so I could pick and chose between indoor speakers only, outdoor speakers only or both with the same receiver.
When we have BBQs and parties, I would love music that carried between the two "hang outs". It doesn't need to be loud or powerful, I prefer the soft background type of music and I don't want to disturb the neighbors.
It dawned on me today that a car stereo might be what I'm looking for. The fade to front/back could adjust the indoor/outdoor speakers and I might be able to come up with a compact, undercabinet shelf to house the radio that is reasonably decent looking. Could that really work, or am I crazy to think such a thing?
I admit that I don't know a thing about audio systems. Does anyone have any suggestions for me. I don't want to spend a lot of money.
This is easily done because there are many receivers with A/B speaker outputs but you'll have to give up the part about attaching it underneath a cabinet...I have never seen a receiver that did not have vents on TOP, so you could only put it underneath a cabinet if you had some sort of open shelf that would allow for at least 2-3 inches of clearance between the top of the receiver and the bottom of your cabinet so that the receiver can breathe.
A car stereo would need some sort of voltage converter, don't know if this would be feasible, and you would definitely need an external amplifier which would also need voltage conversion.
I see the word iPod. I assume this means you have iTunes installed on a PC or MAC. If so, one solution would be a sound streaming device such as a Roku Soundbridge or Slim Devices Squeezebox. These are wireless (or wired) network devices which will allow you to choose whatever music you prefer from your networked PC/MAC. The Soundbridge/Squeezebox is your source component. I know the Soundbridge can be wall mounted but not sure whether it can be mounted under-cabinet. You can have several Soundbridges or Squeezeboxes on the same network for various rooms in the house (playing the same or different music at the same time - your choice).
Add an amplifier. If the amplifier has A/B speaker switching such as the excellent Rotel RA-01, 02 or 03, you can switch between your kitchen and external speakers. If the amp you choose doesn't have A/B speaker switching, you'd have to add a speaker switch which is not considered the best solution sonically, but will work. QED make good speaker switches.
Speakers. If you want in-ceiling or in-wall speakers, the brands that come to mind are Speakercraft with their AIM series, Triad and Totem. If you want to simply mount the speakers on the wall, then you could do a lot worse than B&W DM600. You need weatherproof speakers for the outside installation. B&W makes good ones, but there are other brands around.