Advice needed setting up timed on/off music for dog shelter

[AnimalShelterVolunteer]

Seeking recommended product types for our situation which is an animal shelter. We are getting mp3 players with customized calming music donated to us. Now we need to find out how to play them AND be able to start the music each day at 7AM, stop each day at 7PM without staff involvement.

The donor is telling us the mp3 players themselves should remain on continuously, never turning off (they'll be plugged in to power not dependent on battery life).

So what kind of speakers would have the capability to be turned on and off? Donor suggested using plain old boomboxes with a basic pin-type timer used for xmas lights. Seeking advice on something less clunky and primitive but we also do not want to rely on Bluetooth for any of this. We do have wifi so could possibly utilize a smart hub and smart plug setup such as those used for residential lighting schemes? But then we'd need 2 outlets - one for always-on mp3 and smart plug for timed speaker output...and that's not ideal either.

We would need six separate setups because each of the kennel areas are in a patchwork maze in older/newer parts of the building.

I looked into Sonos because their app could control this via a daily alarm, but am not sure the duration of a Sonos alarm can be as long as 12 hours long. Sonos and its alternatives are also very costly.

Is there such a thing as a speaker powerful enough to serve rooms ranging from 800-3000 square feet, able to connect to a wifi based control system, able to "set it and forget it" not needing human intervention to turn on/off each day....all for under $150-ish per speaker?

Thanks in advance for anyone with insights or suggestions. The dogs will thank you.

 

[highfigh]

If the players start soon after the power is turned on, smart outlets would work. I bought some Feit pieces and they worked well, so I added some smart dimmers and two cameras.

Most smart devices need the 2.4GHz band and that makes setup difficult. I changed the name of my 5GHz band to make identifying it easier and that worked well. The smart outlets are around $12 if they're not on sale.

 

[AnimalShelterVolunteer]

If the players start soon after the power is turned on, smart outlets would work. I bought some Feit pieces and they worked well, so I added some smart dimmers and two cameras.

Most smart devices need the 2.4GHz band and that makes setup difficult. I changed the name of my 5GHz band to make identifying it easier and that worked well. The smart outlets are around $12 if they're not on sale.

Thanks. I'm trying to see if there are other ways to make this work because as mentioned above, if we us smart plugs with a hub control we'd need an entirely separate outlet to plug in the mp3 player because it shouldn't go on and off, just loop continuously. So it can't share the same outlet as the speakers which are the things we are trying to program for on/off.

 

[highfigh]

Thanks. I'm trying to see if there are other ways to make this work because as mentioned above, if we us smart plugs with a hub control we'd need an entirely separate outlet to plug in the mp3 player because it shouldn't go on and off, just loop continuously. So it can't share the same outlet as the speakers which are the things we are trying to program for on/off.

You don' need a hub for a lot of the devices- Lutron Caseta/Radio Ra require it for automation, but the Feit that I have need only internet. The streaming would require internet or you could use thumb drives- (I wonder if the animals will mind if some songs repeat).

Where are you located? Home Depot sells these or if you're in the Midwest, Menard's has better prices.

 

[AnimalShelterVolunteer]

You don' need a hub for a lot of the devices- Lutron Caseta/Radio Ra require it for automation, but the Feit that I have need only internet. The streaming would require internet or you could use thumb drives- (I wonder if the animals will mind if some songs repeat).

Where are you located? Home Depot sells these or if you're in the Midwest, Menard's has better prices.

Thank you again. As noted we need automation with no staff manipulation. On at 7AM off at 7PM. We wouldn't be streaming we would be connecting aux input to mp3 players, which contain the customized music the developer made for this.

So again to recap: mp3 players connected with a jack to speaker, which in turn needs to be controlled automatically every day. The donor suggested boom boxes with a very basic timer of the kind used fo xmas lights in a house. We are trying to find an alternative to that with small but still effective speakers controlled via an app or wifi smart hub to set a daily automatic schedule. And less expensive than Sonos or Bose or similar upscale brands.I'm not sure it's achievable but am just putting it out there on this forum since we're not audio tech people in any way.

 

[highfigh]

Thank you again. As noted we need automation with no staff manipulation. On at 7AM off at 7PM. We wouldn't be streaming we would be connecting aux input to mp3 players, which contain the customized music the developer made for this.

So again to recap: mp3 players connected with a jack to speaker, which in turn needs to be controlled automatically every day. The donor suggested boom boxes with a very basic timer of the kind used fo xmas lights in a house. We are trying to find an alternative to that with small but still effective speakers controlled via an app or wifi smart hub to set a daily automatic schedule. And less expensive than Sonos or Bose or similar upscale brands.I'm not sure it's achievable but am just putting it out there on this forum since we're not audio tech people in any way.

It will be much less expensive and easier to use the smart outlets than to search for boom boxes- I have seen 3 packs of these for less than $30 and they don't need to be Feit- I have a pair of Energizer-branded smart outlets that I use in my garage (one for a fan and another for the stereo with separate Bluetooth receiver).