Ceiling speakers for shower room

[pamela]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a pair of ceiling speakers for a shower room?

I want to play a basic stereo from the next room into the speakers to sing along while taking a shower. I would like good volume and lack of distortion, so they could play loudly without being annoying but I don't need expensive high fidelity speakers.

The Adastra OD5-W8 water resistant speakers caught my eye although they're a bit more expensive that I would like at ?70 for a pair. Any views on these?

Which other speakers should be on my short list?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

TLC - rather less money.

I've got earlier ones from them in the bathroom - so perhaps not so arduous as in a shower. But they have survived for many a year. They are larger units - 8" - and produce a surprising amount of quite decent bass bass for a cheap speaker. They are driven from their own amp though, so I'm able to use the 'tone controls' on that to best.

Note this type of speaker needs to be fitted in a baffle for best results. A normal plasterboard on joints ceiling will be fine.

[Stuart Noble]

I'm in the shower for such a short time, what would I listen to? Not The Ring Cycle presumably

[Andrew Gabriel]

You may want a sealed cabinet for each speaker if the room is well sealed, or closing/opening the door may force the cones out.

A friend of my father's put speakers in the wall between two rooms, as a good approximation to an infinite baffle. Apparently worked very well for a week or so until one of his children stormed out of the room and slammed the door, at which point both speaker cones blew out...

[Brian-Gaff]

Stone Fox Chase or the 2001 theme perhaps, for a little longer Adam Faiths big hit, which is less than 2 mins long. Brian

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You'd slam the door into a shower cubicle?

I'm surprised any room was that well sealed. And internal door, come to that.

I've also got the same speakers in the cloakroom - which is much smaller than the bathroom. And I'm sure that door has been slammed a few times without problems.

[pamela]

Those speakers are cheap at ?20 a pair. How much better quality would I get if I pushed the cost to ?50 a pair?

The bass from good drivers is worth having although the proposed cheapo stereo player I had in mind will need beefing up to deliver enough power.

Do your bathroom speakers play in stereo or mono? Overhead speakers in a bathroom probably don't create much of a stereo soundstage but maybe true stereo fills the room better?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not really possible to say. Some sellers just charge what the market will stand - so price may not be a good indication of quality.

Easiest way to get better bass is with bigger speakers, everything else being equal.

They are stereo. But of course unless you are in the sweet spot immediately underneath them and between them, not going to give the best image. They go extremely loud with just a 10w per channel amp, though. Far louder than I ever use. And the same amp drives two speakers per channel.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Wonder how you get away with speakers in the rear shelf in a car? ;-)

[Clive George]

With the noise from a shower, maybe audiophile quality isn't that important :-)

[pamela]

Two speakers per channel? Does that mean you have four speakers in your bathroom?

[pamela]

True enough in the shower. When you're at the hand basin or sitting on the loo, I wonder if mono would sound flat and lifeless compared to stereo.

On the other hand, extreme stereo placement in some recordings might sound even more weird than usual with ceiling speakers in a small space.

[Charles F]

We have a pair of these

in our ensuite shower room, mounted tight to the wall/ceiling junction. They are not specifically bathroom speakers, but have survived about four years of daily showering by two people with no apparent ill effects. They were a lot less trouble to mount than through ceiling speakers, and could be removed with equally less trouble. Like Dave they are fed in parallel with another identical pair in the bedroom by their own amp - a little Chinese class "D" 10 watt job with tone controls. They need a little extra bass, but otherwise sound quite good for the price.

SWMBO (who requested these in the shower room) is quite happy with the level - while showering and listening to radio 4.

Just a thought as an alternative....

Charles F

[tabbypurr]

yes, 8" being a reasonable sweet spot. Stay away from 4 or 5". By the time you go to 8", hf is suffering some and you may want a 2 way or a dual cone type for best result. If you're not looking for good bass, eg mainly for sp eech, 6" would be ok. ISTR Altai being cheap & ok on quality.

NT

[JoeJoe]

Not exactly the answer to your question, but I was also toying with the idea a few months ago.

I eventually settled for a bluetooth speaker that now "lives" in the shower room, if fed from my (or other users') phone(s), and everyone seems very happy with the quality of the sound and ease of use. It is powered by a chargeable battery that lasts around 6 hours.

The speaker is placed on a shelf, and all you need to do is set your play list before you go in (or choose the radio channel on the radio app).

[pamela]

I had originally thought of something similar but I don't like Bluetooth. I hoped that WiFi speakers would replace Bluetooth speakers in the shops but there don't seem many around and are probably expensive.

In the end, rather than recharge a device it seems easier to permanently fit a couple of speaker drivers in the shower room.

[Andrew Gabriel]

The analogy would be to put them in two holes cut through the car roof, and then slam the door.

[Bill Wright]

The room doesn't seem to need to be well sealed. Years ago I had a van with a bulkhead and I fitted speakers in the said bulkhead. The cones flew out the first time I shut the driver's door. Ohh I was right mad.

Bill

[Dave Liquorice]

It's worth bearing in mind. Utility room has two internal, one external doors and a cat flap (both well draft proofed). The internal doors open outwards. If one internal door is a jar opening the other closes it.

Also you may not want the ceiling void being the "speaker cabinet", transmission of your tunes to the room above or adjacent ones might be quite good...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No - two in the bathroom and two in the adjacent loo. Separate rooms.