Hello! I recently moved into my apartment and noticed that there are speakers in the ceilings of all of the rooms. My landlord said that the sound system is old but there is some device that we could buy to make it work with “newer” technology but he wasn’t actually sure what it was.

Don’t need it to be a sound system for the tv or to do anything too fancy, I am totally fine with the same music playing in all rooms. We just had some construction start across the street so I would love to just play some ambient noise throughout the apartment or Spotify occasionally.

Here is a picture of the cords he said we would hook the device up to. Any ideas would be very much appreciated! Thank you!!’

  • Admirable_Ad9948@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Are you in the US? Arylic A30+ are on sale for $97 (which is wild because they’re $219 CAD on .ca). Four of these and you get complete zoning and the ability to link them together through their app, so everything can play the same thing or something different. AirPlay, Spotify Connect, USB, and analog audio in… They’re solid little boxes. And for under $400, four stereo zones of amplified audio is a steal.

    You could get away with purchasing just two A30+ and wire two speakers per channel (two zones per A30+), which assuming they are 8-ohm speakers, would result in a 4-ohm load which the A30+ is good for 50-watts/ channel at.

    Edit: If you pop the grill off the in-ceiling speaker, it should show a model which would allow you to verify the speakers impedance to ensure their 8-ohm, but 4-ohm in-ceilings are kind of rare and I’m doubtful this is a 70/100v system.

  • Z-Waver@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Any amplifier will do.

    Want to blow an inordinate amount? Get a Sonos Amp.

  • obviouslyhetero@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    sounds like an awesome setup! you could check out a multi-room audio system like Sonos or Chromecast Audio to connect to those speakers and stream music from your phone or Spotify. it should be a relatively simple and affordable way to bring those old speakers into the modern age. good luck!

  • Chrisgreyhawk@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    oh wow, that sounds like a cool setup! You could look into getting a multi-room audio system like Sonos or Chromecast Audio to connect to those speakers and stream music from your phone or Spotify. It should be a relatively simple and affordable way to bring those old speakers into the modern age. Good luck!