Dedicated garage/shop setup 2 or 4?

[ktgr]

I've got a 22x22 garage/shop I'm building and it's getting close to finished. I've got 2 good setups in the house and have some spare stuff laying around I was going to use in the new garage. I have 4 Pioneer SP-BS22-LR Andrew Jones Bookshelf speakers with a Sony STRDH130 2 Channel Stereo Receiver. Of my spare parts those are what will work together. The best I can do here is either 2 channel stereo or 4 speakers with both a/b switches on. Nothing special at all here but it's my spares stuff and I feel comfortable leaving it in a hot and cold garage and with doors open I won't get the cops called.

The receiver is 90 watt rms stereo and I'm not sure if I'd be better off with just stereo or running them all 4 in dual stereo for better acoustics or something with a certain layout? Anyone want to save me hours or testing or point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

[lovinthehd]

I run surround in my garage/shop, but if I only had a stereo receiver I'd just run two speakers. These are the usual reasons https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/comb-filtering. The A/B thing on old stereo receivers was usually about the convenience of two rooms and not running speakers simultaneously, as there could be impedance concerns (i.e. you still only have the two amp channels in the receiver).

That said, many do like to have four speakers going, some even stack them inverted (the old Advent method they used to advertise even). In the end it's about what sounds good to you.

 

[ktgr]

was hoping someone could make it black or white with facts but it appears it's like everything else in audio, it's up to your ear lol.

I wasn't sure if with THOSE smaller bookshelves that 90 watt stereo receiver would sound better for 4 on a and b or if 2 in stereo would eat all the power up. The pioneer bookshelves are 6ohm speakers at 80 watt handling.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not sure what you mean by eat all the power up, at higher volume the four speakers may be too big a demand on the amp section, tho....particularly for impedance. I only see an 8 ohm rating in the manual for the Sony; not even the 6 ohm rating they usually provide (or any dynamic power ratings). Amp may be fine with lower impedances to an extent, but might not. If they're nominal 6 ohm speakers and you run four simultaneously the amp would see that as nominal 3 ohm speakers (at least with most amps with A/B speaker options). Might work well enough for you....I'd try it both ways, just be more cautious with volume when using all four simultaneously, as I'm betting that amp probably will have issues at higher volumes with all four connected.

BTW the power handling thing doesn't mean a whole lot, you get a better idea of what the amp will do for spl via the sensitivity spec. The nominal impedance of the speaker is an average of sorts, as you can see by the measurements I found of yours and yours aren't as bad as I thought at first https://www.stereophile.com/content/pioneer-sp-bs22-lr-loudspeaker-measurements

As to whether you'll have acoustic issues from doubling up channels (from the article I linked about things like comb filtering)...may not bother you, especially in the garage/workshop. I wouldn't but doesn't mean you shouldn't. The acoustic treatment in my garage/workshop is pretty much non existent (some rubber floor mats), it's just full of tools and bikes and camping gear. You doing anything special for acoustic consideration in yours? Cement floor? Exposed studs on walls? Or?

 

[ktgr]

insulated walls and ceiling, covered with osb, cement floor. eat the power up meant would these bookshelves in 2 speaker stereo use all the amp power and then would using 4 speakers ask too much of the amp. at louder volumes it seems 4 speakers would want more power than the amp can handle. the volumes will not get that loud. my home has lots of sound insulation and can get really loud in here. This garage with doors open etc would reach my neighbors too easily to be blasting. Guess I'll have to try it out, maybe just go with 2 as it's a garage and then store 2 in a climate controlled space for later if the uncontrolled temp and humidity swings kill them sooner than I'd like. and yes these speakers are like the better cheap speakers I guess lol. they aren't bad but they aren't good, hopefully good enough for a garage that isn't huge.

thanks for talking it through with me lol

 

[lovinthehd]

Ah, the amp only sees the load of 2 vs 4 speakers in this case, it doesn't assign most of the power to the first two and then say to the other two you only get so much left over....it's the fact of using four simultaneously that may be a bigger load on the amp impedance wise, particularly at higher power levels (higher volume requested). That's just not a particularly robust amp from what I can tell.