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votes
Audio/video system for a small bar
I'm helping some friends setting up a bar/little restaurant. they have some tvs and are looking for an audio system.
The idea is that they can put on some music videos/sports and it shows up on all TVs and audio goes to their (to be bought) soundsystem.
all this has to be as cheap as possible, as we're in a low income country.
The environment is quite loud. so it needs some power.
So I think I just gonna buy a cheapish hifi-system with 4 passive speakers, connect it with their "smartest" tv (they are all off-brand) and run audio cables to the different areas and speakers.
how to synchronize the tvs I still have no idea, but it is not really a priority
So my questions
- What is something like this even called? with the keywords I tired i only find nothing or very expensive pro solutions.
- how would you resolve the video part? 3x 15m HDMI cables seem quite expensive, but might be the only solution. how do i split the signal?
- might it be better to buy active speakers and use a small mixer?
If you have experience in this I would be very happy for your advice/opinion.
I'd try to track down an audio receiver for the sound system angle. It should pack enough punch with suitable speakers. They aren't cheap, but you don't need a new one*, try a pawn shop or FB marketplace (or whatever is locally popular), old Yamahas are rock solid. There are cheaper ones that are stereo only, you could probably use one of these and wire in two speakers to each out (in series or parallel depending on speaker impedence).
Synchronizing the video might be difficult with that setup. Even with a splitter (which is cheap and could be used in conjunction with the receiver), you'd need a video out, and the Smart TV won't output that signal. You'd need a laptop or one of those smart TV dongles to output, which can then be fed directly to a splitter or to the receiver first if you want audio through the speakers.
*Depending on how exactly you want the audio directed. You'll need a new-ish one for HDMI ARC, but if I understand your scenario, I don't think that's necessary
Thank you. this gives me a good lead.
do you think something like this? that and 4 speakers for 30-50$ might be well in their price range
sorry for amazon link
It has plenty of wattage and speaker outs, it would certainly work! Given you've got a way to hook in your audio device to it. And I wouldn't consider it feasible for routing the TV audio, though probably technically possible.
You could get away with a cheaper model with fewer speakers outs, maybe even lower wattage depending on the space and speakers.
the benefit of this is that you'd be able to control volume of the speakers independently. if you go with passive speakers you'd have one volume control knob for the entire space (unless you bought an amplifier with an integrated mixer, but those may be out of your price range)
whether that's something you need or not depends on the size of the space, its acoustics, and the placement of the speakers.
HDMI splitter, and for cables that length you will definitely want an "active" cable. these aren't cheap, but low-quality cables mean potential drop-outs in the video signal. especially if the bar patrons are watching sports that will be annoying and may cause the bar to lose revenue well in excess of the cost savings from using a cheap cable.
another consideration to be aware of is that if your video output is copy-protected with HDCP (which many sports streams may be, depending on the source), the HDMI splitter may not work correctly.
if they ship to your country, Monoprice is an excellent source of inexpensive-but-not-cheap equipment of this exact sort.
Sonos would be by far the easiest to install and stream audio from the TV but it’s not the cheapest option but will be cheaper over the long run to operate, virtually no maintenance and the devices themselves last forever.
thats kind of the actual setup they have, 3 bluethoot speakers, all connected to each other. It's something cheap off brand system. but it never seems to work consistently, thats why they asked for help. I know the sonos system. it might be a solution if they want to spend the money. but another problem is the climate here. electronics don't live that long, so nobody invests in something like this, because it rots in two years anyway :-)
How to synchronize the TVs is pretty easy, you just need an HDMI splitter. Here’s a random one as an example: Ethereal CS-1X4HDMSPL5.
For the audio an AVR is probably the simplest solution, with the video in to AVR and video out to splitter. But if you wanted multiple zones to have music on a patio and tv inside, then a more involved setup is probably better suited.
Wired is cheaper and easier generally in my opinion, but wireless has its place too.