Home gym stereo upgrade

[merlen90]

I have the JBL LSR305's in my home gym attached to an Echo Dot. Works perfectly and a simple setup. My gym isn't large though... probably 15'x20'x10'. If you want it to sound like a disco in there or need it to dig a little deeper, then consider the LSR308's.

Powered monitors are def the way to go and JBL's are some of the best you can buy. Priced well. Can't go wrong IMO.

[radrd]

I have the JBL LSR305's in my home gym attached to an Echo Dot. Works perfectly and a simple setup. My gym isn't large though... probably 15'x20'x10'. If you want it to sound like a disco in there or need it to dig a little deeper, then consider the LSR308's.

Powered monitors are def the way to go and JBL's are some of the best you can buy. Priced well. Can't go wrong IMO.

I have the 305s too and they are exceptional. My space is a little larger and they work fine. I got the matching sub and love that too. I'd go 308s if you don't want to add the sub, which is pretty spendy.

[MajorTendonitis]

Fark what a mess lol. Took the wall apart to get access . You can see a grey plastic conduit going to the outlet top right .
I put the conduit in just in case the Toslink going from the stereo to the Oled goes bad . This way I can always replace it .
Still have to run power , two speaker wires , CAT6 e , coax , and subwoofer preamp cable to this wall.
Removed all the excess wood and made room for the subwoofer . Now I’m going to build a perimeter out of 2/4 that will have a 3/4” mdf sleeve installed to hold the sub



Gyms total chaos right now

[BiGx5MurF]

Fark what a mess lol. Took the wall apart to get access . You can see a grey plastic conduit going to the outlet top right .
I put the conduit in just in case the Toslink going from the stereo to the Oled goes bad . This way I can always replace it .
Still have to run power , two speaker wires , CAT6 e , coax , and subwoofer preamp cable to this wall.
Removed all the excess wood and made room for the subwoofer . Now I’m going to build a perimeter out of 2/4 that will have a 3/4” mdf sleeve installed to hold the sub



Gyms total chaos right now

Why bother making "space" for a subwoofer? That stair case area is perfect for an infinite baffle sub setup, so just mount sub woofers on the gym walls directly, having the rear of the woofers in the stair area.

[MajorTendonitis]

Why bother making "space" for a subwoofer? That stair case area is perfect for an infinite baffle sub setup, so just mount sub woofers on the gym walls directly, having the rear of the woofers in the stair area.

I bought this sub years ago for the gym , and need to put it to use. An actual enclosure is always better anyways.
It’s not a big deal to install it , as I had to tear the wall apart regardless.

[BiGx5MurF]

An actual enclosure is always better anyways.
It’s not a big deal to install it , as I had to tear the wall apart regardless.

In an infinite baffle setup, the adjacent room is the "enclosure", there are legitimate benefits (very low distortion), and down sides as well of course. But the main down sides are finding woofers with high enough Qts, and the hassle of building a manifold on the wall, but since you're tearing apart the wall anyway...

[EricAtl]

Fark what a mess lol. Took the wall apart to get access . You can see a grey plastic conduit going to the outlet top right .
I put the conduit in just in case the Toslink going from the stereo to the Oled goes bad . This way I can always replace it .
Still have to run power , two speaker wires , CAT6 e , coax , and subwoofer preamp cable to this wall.
Removed all the excess wood and made room for the subwoofer . Now I’m going to build a perimeter out of 2/4 that will have a 3/4” mdf sleeve installed to hold the sub



Gyms total chaos right now

Going to be great when finished. I think you have room for some more equipment now.

[MajorTendonitis]

In an infinite baffle setup, the adjacent room is the "enclosure", there are legitimate benefits (very low distortion), and down sides as well of course. But the main down sides are finding woofers with high enough Qts, and the hassle of building a manifold on the wall, but since you're tearing apart the wall anyway...

I’m sure they have there place . As a matter of fact I looked at that option first , then opted for a paradigm sub .
Unfortunately my shop is not heated , as if it were I’d make my own enclosures , and all you’d see is the subwoofer driver on the wall .
Next lifetime I guess

[MajorTendonitis]

A little bit progress . Speaker wire , cat 6 installed . Also built two collars that hold the subwoofer enclosures sleeve .




This is the sleeve that slides in and will hold the enclosure. Dun goofed and forgot to add a 1/2” piece of mdf to the side of the wood collar , as that would have given me a sleeve that would given me exactly 7/8” around the subwoofers perimeter when it was installed .
It was an easy fix , as I just added a 1/2” piece of mdf to the left hand side of the collar



Hopefully tomorrow I can reinstall the mdf wall

[DutchB1]

Accoustics will probably be better too with sound aimed at rubber flooring instead of bouncing off the drop ceiling, mirrors and mdf.

If I recall correctly, you've got drop ceiling throughout your gym. If that's the case, it's a shame not to use the drop ceiling to do your stereo upgrade, making use of otherwise wasted rafter space. You could DIY 1 or 2 infinite baffle subwoofers into the drop ceiling as well, spaced properly you'll get much better bass distribution.

[EricAtl]

Sleeve to hold subwoofer installed ,as is the mdf covering . Ready for paint and trim

Nice work!

[alexthaman]

Hey man, great work. It is always a pain in the a** when you have custom work in the walls to fit your electronics and other stuff, i have had the same issue of having to redo it again when changing stuff, but the end result is always better looking! Have you stopped working out since you started the work or you are doing a few days, clean, workout for a few weeks/months and start the work again when you have time?

[MajorTendonitis]

Hey man, great work. It is always a pain in the a** when you have custom work in the walls to fit your electronics and other stuff, i have had the same issue of having to redo it again when changing stuff, but the end result is always better looking! Have you stopped working out since you started the work or you are doing a few days, clean, workout for a few weeks/months and start the work again when you have time?

Mines a major pain, as I’m using a router and a template that I made to make perfect cutouts of the electrical boxes .
Works awesome so far though , and seeing as it’s 1/2” mdf, I can’t see a better way .
I’m using a festool router with its dust extraction system , so that helps a lot for dust control . Plus I have a hepa filter running 24/7 .

I was using plywood for wall covering before , but want to keep down resonances, so I opted for mdf .
At another date I’ll also be replacing all the plywood behind the mirrors with mdf . Expensive as hell though now .

I haven’t been working out . I have a bad neck injury and concussion that I’ve been fighting for almost a year after my friend decided to sucker me in the back of the head while we were shopping at Staples .
I’m still having issues to this day , but want to get back to working out regardless this month, pain or not

[merlen90]

I have the JBL LSR305's in my home gym attached to an Echo Dot. Works perfectly and a simple setup. My gym isn't large though... probably 15'x20'x10'. If you want it to sound like a disco in there or need it to dig a little deeper, then consider the LSR308's.

Powered monitors are def the way to go and JBL's are some of the best you can buy. Priced well. Can't go wrong IMO.

[MajorTendonitis]

I have the JBL LSR305's in my home gym attached to an Echo Dot. Works perfectly and a simple setup. My gym isn't large though... probably 15'x20'x10'. If you want it to sound like a disco in there or need it to dig a little deeper, then consider the LSR308's.

Powered monitors are def the way to go and JBL's are some of the best you can buy. Priced well. Can't go wrong IMO.

At some other day in the future , I’ll be installing paradigms studio inwall speakers , one on each side of the mirror .
I’m thinking all together it should rock that room .
Will have an inwall fridge with the capacity of almost unlimited beer , weights and a kick ass sound system .
May never leave the basement lol

[bisonp]

Made some progress. Will be making brackets from mdf this morning to hold the external speakers at a 45 degree angle off the wall , so they can sit on the sides of the oled .
All in all I’m pretty happy so far . It’s nice having some background noise for once while I’m working down there, but it will be much better though once the internal speakers are turned off and I have the stereo running .

The checker plate inset on a piece of wood on the front of the shelf was my idea , as I want a sort of industrial look in the gym , well and I like checker plate.

Mounted off the wall above the oled is a portal for the gateway . I wish they had an external IR receiver for it ,as that way I could hide it, but instead they have an additional port for an IR blaster ?

Honestly I would have just put that TV on a wall mount and called it good. But I tell you what, that diamond plate shelf looks awesome. Nice job.

[EricAtl]

Ok making some progress . The stereo is not hooked up yet as that’s another job making the new storage area , but this gives you an idea what it will look like .
I have the grills off as I’m going for that industrial look .

Sheeeeh it took time getting the corner brackets installed and the speakers squared up .



Here’s one side of a 45 degree bracket I fabbed up yesterday.


Speaker mounted and ready to see how it sits

Looking good!

[MajorTendonitis]

Ok I see I lost a bunch of pictures , so I’ll repost progress .

Paradigm speakers set to match Oled tv height . I’m pretty happy with how this worked out . Subwoofers looking good to . I have the grills on till all the renovations are done .
This is it finished except for see trim that will be added to the corner once the mdf is extended over the doorway .





I’m testing a Unifi viewport for the surveillance cameras .
The 24” monitor is a little too small, so I’ve got a 32” computer monitor arriving may 21 . I have to remove the stud with the green tape on it in order to mount the new monitor.



Removed stud and trying another design . Will put the Cambridge amplifier on the left and their music server on the right in the enclosure that’s almost built .
Just test fitting it before glue up , and have to build another one to the left for the amp.The new monitor will be located in the hole above the amp and music server , as there’s furnace ducts in the way , so there’s not a lot of depth , but a perfect scenario for a large monitor

[MajorTendonitis]

Ok made the second enclosure today and test fit before glue up so I could get an idea how it would be ergonomically. Still need to cut a hole in the top of the one on the left for heat .

I think I’m going to do a total tear down and start from scratch , as I think it may better if they were stacked on the left . That way I could build another taller cabinet on the right for an iPad docking bay what have ya .





You guys think they should be stacked , what do?

[MajorTendonitis]

Ok tore it apart and redesigned it for stacked . I was going to dedicate the enclosure on the right for an iPad charging dock .
May install a drawer inside the bottom of the right enclosure,as that’s a lot of room for an 11” iPad unless its in it’s upright position

[Paul Kreul]

Mirin OP. Did you just come into some money? Always thought you said you were a poorcel. Either way, nice build

[MajorTendonitis]

Mirin OP. Did you just come into some money? Always thought you said you were a poorcel. Either way, nice build

Actually bought the stereo years ago when I was still working, and just getting around to rebuilding this wall to accommodate it now .
In the old days I used to have a paradigm sound bar sub combo , which actually wasn’t that bad , but I always craved more .
TBH it’s nickel and diming me to death

[ajdahlheimer]

Ok tore it apart and redesigned it for stacked . I was going to dedicate the enclosure on the right for an iPad charging dock .
May install a drawer inside the bottom of the right enclosure,as that’s a lot of room for an 11” iPad unless its in it’s upright position

It's looking good, man. Might be hard since the size is already fabricated/set, but how cool would cold drink storage next to the stereo be?

[MajorTendonitis]

It's looking good, man. Might be hard since the size is already fabricated/set, but how cool would cold drink storage next to the stereo be?

That’s actually what the big hole is for to the right . I had a Danby that served me well ,but was too small .
I wanted the industrial look in the gym as much as I can ,so I bought a larger capacity one that’s got the stainless steel door , no window . It’s sitting on the floor in the left of the pic.
Should never run out of beer again

[ajdahlheimer]

Haha, nice call but I would stick to Gatorade for during your actual lifts, brother!

[MajorTendonitis]

Haha, nice call but I would stick to Gatorade for during your actual lifts, brother!

I hear you bruh , there will also be water , but Gatorade is a great idea to

[MajorTendonitis]

So I built this area for a ViewSonic 32” monitor that was the only version I could find that had buttons on the front that I could access . It was a 1080 , and ideally I would have liked a 4K.
Well unfortunately I keep getting updates from Amazon , and they’ve added yet another week for its arrival . Instead of waiting till the 28th (I ordered it on the 10th) I found a 4K smart TV at Walmart.

Had the studs ready for the 32” .


Pic below , it was actually like sheer luck that there’s enough room ,as after I add the perimeter cabinet sides and top, there will be a 1/4” to spare on each side , almost like it was meant to be . I can’t move the stud on the left , as a mini fridge sits to the right and there’s no additional room to spare


Btw the surveillance monitor was an afterthought. I was just trying to conjure up what to do with the area above the stereo . I would loved an Oled,but not putting out $1500 plus 13% tax for something that’s going to get burn in from always having a static image . This pos thing was $399 .
But it’s going to look much cooler than having storage shelves above the stereo

It’s just in here temporarily as a test . Going to hit the garage and start cutting