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Post by Cole D on Aug 5, 2017 18:44:58 GMT -5
I was wondering does anyone have an interest in the ceiling speakers in stores? I always liked them and would pay attention to them and the different suspended ceiling styles, lighting, HVAC diffusers and lighting that different places had.
One Dairy Queen here has some fairly big square ones. I am not sure if they are original or not. I know the ceiling was replaced around 2004 but the speakers look kind of older. The other Dairy Queen was built around 2004 and has round Bose speakers.
Pizza Hut seems to have the oldest speakers around, they have big round ones that are definitely original from the 1970s. The church I attend also used to have some old round ones from the 1970s. I remember during a remodel when they were removed.
Other than that there aren't too many unique ones around. Mostly the round metal grille ones with holes in them. I think KFC and Walmart may have some with plastic grilles that look a little different. I also thought it was interesting how some speakers have volume knobs in the center of the grilles. I think the ones in Radio Shack did... The ones in our old Publix that were put in during the 90s were metal grilles but stainless steel, and for some reason one or two were square plastic and had round circles in the middle. I have seen others of that style somewhere but I can't place them.
Oh, and also at school, I always paid attention to the speakers there. My elementary school had rectangular grille speakers in each classroom, and I think a square clock with a black frame mounted to the right of the grille. The cafeteria had square speakers that had wood frames (I think). I can remember two funny instances with those... once someone in the front office somehow managed to play the radio through the PA system for a minute or two. Another time, we were having a fall activity of some sort and they were playing some cheesy fall related song over the PA system. Something about slicing up the pumpkins.
I can't recall much about the speakers in high school but the older rooms I think had a similar setup with the rectangular grille and in this case older clocks and I think they said DuKane on the clocks. The newer buildings just had square speakers that said Bogen on them and battery powered clocks on the wall.
And the bell system that we had at the schools was not a ringing bell, the speakers just played a "Beeeep!" whenever it was time to change classes.
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Post by fancollector12 on Aug 6, 2017 2:26:53 GMT -5
Let's see... the Walmart Supercenter nearest me (built 2011, has Dayton industrials over the produce area and nickel Kichler 52" builder fans in the Subway) has 8in standard ceiling speakers that have a strobe attached to them. Whenever an announcement is being made, there's a loud "BEEP" and then the announcement plays... at first they didn't have music playing but now they have Walmart Radio playing. My old elementary school (was chock FULL of Fascos, tried to get them when it was torn down and rebuilt, but to no avail) had some wooden wall speakers with the woven fabric, and some Exceutone brand aluminum metal wall speakers (and black Sound Tube hanging speakers in the cafeteria/auditorium). My old middle school (built c. 1993) had standard white ceiling speakers. The gym had ElectroVoice 12in speakers mounted to the ceiling beams. My old high school had square white metal ceiling speakers. In the student center of my college, they have those black Sound-Tube hanging speakers, along with some plain white residential-style (plastic frame and metal mesh grille) in the tiled areas. My college uses the speakers in the student center to play music during the day. The other schools I went to only used their speakers for PA announcements and to call into classrooms before they installed telephones in classrooms. My old middle school had DuKane "Call" buttons on the walls to call into the office, again before telephones were installed in the classrooms. My local mall installed a bunch of DiVx (rebranded stuff) in 2006-07 when they remodeled (the Red Robin that moved in in 2008 and has copper Modern Fan/Period Arts Industries has the same exact speakers as well), they're the white in-ceiling ones, again plastic frame, and metal grille. Five Guys in that mall has the big Bose in-ceiling subwoofer with 4 ceiling satellite speakers (all black) in the ceiling, and some generic tan ceiling speaker with the metal grille back behind the kitchen area. They're in the process of remodeling, so who knows if they'll keep them. Sears has generic white ceiling speakers, so does Macy's. The jewelry stores usually have white Bose ceiling speakers. Hallmark has the tan generic ceiling speakers but never play music like they used to. Spencer's has some sort of Bose speakers. My local supermarket was built in 1979 and was once an Acme Markets. They have a bunch of 4Jay plastic ceiling speaker grilles with the 1970s design on the grille, and an Atlas Sound P900 grille in the bakery area. They don't really sound good, they have the SiriusXM Satellite Radio playing on the 80s channel most of the time. Back when it was an Acme, they played what I believe were cassette tapes, because I'd always hear the same 1970s and 1980s songs whenever I was in there, along with promotional ads played after every few songs. I wouldn't doubt they were cassette tapes because the store was built in the late 1970s. Chili's (once had PB Litex Footprint Vent/FPV builder fans, but doesn't anymore) has Bose speakers, either the plastic flush ones or the Acousti-Mass wall-mounted big subwoofer box and satellite single "cube" speakers in black, depending on the area. Oddly enough there's a painted plain ceiling speaker in the men's restroom that is disconnected. Applebee's has JBL ceiling speakers, but oddly enough, they left the old Muzak ceiling speakers installed when they installed the new speakers about 10 years ago. The Muzak ones are disconnected. KFC has the tan Muzak ones, so does my local Burger King. Dairy Queen used to have some white JBL wall-mounted speakers, but they got removed in a remodel and generic white plastic frame/metal grille ceiling speakers installed in the ceiling they tiled in. That location had Hunter Originals too in white (5-blade), but they got removed in the remodel as well. Wendy's has the generic tan Muzak speakers. Home Depot (Dayton industrials installed throughout as well as the fan display) has the speakers that have the hole pattern on the grille of the generic round commercial speakers, but they're square, and mounted to a box that's mounted to a beam. The Bed, Bath, and Beyond nearest me has the same speakers but a more generic hole pattern in the grille. The Lowe's nearest me (fan display of course) built in 2006 has the tan Muzak speakers. The Famous Dave's BBQ near me was once an UNO'S Chicago Grille (with black Hunter Originals with 4 or 5 blades, only the 4-bladed ones remain in the bar), but they have the Bose surface-mount black outdoor speakers in the restaurant and bar, and the Bose plastic grille ceiling speakers in the restrooms. The Pier1 Imports where my friend works has Posh brand ceiling speakers mounted into back-cans in the open-grid ceiling. The TGI Friday's in the same shopping center has the Bose in-ceiling speakers, with the subwoofers and satellite speakers like Five Guys has, but in white instead of black (yet another location that once had black 5-blade Hunter Originals). The Barnes & Nobles and Starbuck's in that shopping center has generic tan ceiling speakers, but the ones in Starbuck's are painted black. The Toys 'R' Us also has the same speakers (that Toys 'R' Us also has 36" Dayton industrials installed throughout), and the old Party City that's vacant had Atlas Sound P900's. Oddly enough, I don't remember Party City ever having music or speakers up until about 10 years ago. Michael's art supply store has the generic tan Bogen ceiling speakers. TJ Maxx has generic ceiling speakers that sound terrible. Staples had the "Cannon-Style" 4Jay brand speakers that mounted to beams. Outback Steakhouse once had tan Atlas Sound P900 ceiling speakers out on the patio (they once had Hampton Bay Grayton II's outside (before that GEV Hampton Bay 52" Landmarks) on the patio and brown Emerson Legend II's with some Hunter Custom Home II's in a tan color mixed in inside before they remodeled), but they recently took out the patio in a remodel. Inside, there's the Bose plastic ceiling speaker grilles that were painted the same color as the ceiling tiles, and a tan Muzak speaker in the men's restroom. Goodwill has some generic wall-mounted white speakers on brackets. They have some sort of brand name on them, but I can't read it. Texas Roadhouse (which has generic Craftmade 52" builder fans in black) has some of those black Bogen surface-mount speakers outside and I think JBL surface-mount speakers inside, and a Bogen generic tan ceiling speaker in the men's restroom. All are hooked up to a touch-screen jukebox that you can pick songs to be played on, mostly country music. Panera Bread has the Bose in-ceiling speakers, playing "Coffee House" music at a low volume, including in the restrooms. Rite-Aid has some Bose satellite ceiling speakers, but they didn't get the ceiling subwoofers, so all you hear is treble. No bass or mid-range. CVS has generic white mesh grille and plastic frame ceiling speakers. IHOP has some generic white ceiling speakers. Before that, it was a Ruby Tuesday (had a single gloss black Emerson Designer in the bar until it closed, and several PB Emerson Designers in the restaurant until 2003-04 when they remodeled). Ruby Tuesday had some surface-mount black speakers on the walls, the grilles said 'P S D', and I never did figure out what they were. The restroom had those Lowell ceiling speakers where it had a radial pattern and then an "X" on the grille (hard to explain, but you might get what I'm talking about). IHOP removed the speakers in the restrooms, and demo'd the entire interior of the Ruby Tuesday (the frosted clear stained glass-and-wood bar that had the gloss black Emerson Designer was turned into a server's/drink area). Pizza Hut had those weird "In-Tile" ceiling speakers that were square plastic things and had 4 speakers in a single enclosure. They had 2 of them I think, but they just stopped using them after awhile. ShopRite (all the locations had fans in the deli and bakery, too many to list) has the DuKane aluminum grille ceiling speakers and some Atlas Sound P900's. Another ShopRite has all Atlas Sound P900's. I'll add more as I think of them... great topic!
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Post by Daniel G. on Aug 6, 2017 11:07:01 GMT -5
Never really paid attention to speakers, but here's what I've observed:
The store I work at has Octasound speakers scattered around the sales floor.
My high school had an Octasound speaker in the middle of the gym. As far as the rest of the school, I think there were just rectangular grill speakers.
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Post by Cole D on Aug 6, 2017 14:20:45 GMT -5
I know sometimes my Walmart plays music, but I'm not sure whether they do all the time... I don't think they have that beep before the announcements. But I know the Winn Dixies have always done that before they make announcements. Even the Sweetbay store they moved into started having that beep after it changed to Winn Dixie. And Sweetbay used to have its own music station back in the day as did Kash N Karry before that. I remember one of the old Winn Dixie stores in my area, the last time I was in it before it closed a few years ago, was playing the theme music from Chariots of Fire and I thought that was so ironic because I was in a 1985 Winn Dixie freezer aisle and they were playing the theme from a 1984 movie.
Most of the grocery stores here other than Publix have the square plastic grille speakers with holes (and most are either yellowed or beige). Although the old Albertsons had them and I think the Publix that moved in there kept them. My old Publix used to have them too before they remodeled to the round stainless steel speakers. The new Publix I think has cone shaped speakers of some kind because it has no ceiling. And a newer Winn Dixie I went to in Sarasota after Fan Fest which also has no ceiling has those speakers also. And that one also had some rectangular black speakers playing music outside as well.
An old Big Lots in my area that used to be a Winn Dixie from the 70s-early 90s has round speakers with round silver grilles. I think they are original as well, and it also has the big round silver HVAC diffusers.
Subway plays the easy listening station from the FM radio and it's pretty poor sounding for some reason... The older DQ either plays no music, the local country station or during the holidays the Christian station which plays Christmas music. The other DQ used to play 90s easy listening XM and at Christmas they played the XM Christmas station (and for a while after also) then country and now they don't play music lately.
Sears used to play music but lately they don't, and it makes the store feel even more empty, after coming in from the mall and other stores all having music, and all you can hear in there is the air conditioners hummming... Sears just has white round metal grille speakers, I'm not sure about Kmart but I know outside Kmart has horn shaped ones and also in the garden center which has no ceiling.
I'm not sure what speakers Lowe's has, but their paging system must drive the employees crazy. There is a button you can press in each department if you need help and an announcement will play that says "ding-ding assistance is needed in the wirecutting area, assistance is needed in the wirecutting area" (or whatever). It will do that twice and then later it will say "ding- ding wire cutting area"
I think Kmart used to have that system too back in the 90s (they made a big deal of it at the time) but I doubt they still do. I don't remember what it did though, I can't recall any announcement from it.
My college had the metal grille speakers in white also, at least in the main building in the hallways and the common areas and offices downstairs. I don't think the classrooms did. There were also rectangular outdoor speakers in the patio area and gym area that played music (it was the local easy listening station) but I don't remember the inside speakers ever playing except for just one time when I was sitting downstairs and they were playing for a while. They may have been turned on by mistake, but they were on for a long time that day.
Oh, and in elementary school, the cafeteria had a high vaulted ceiling that was lower on the sides over the windows and where the ceiling went up, there were square speakers with wood cabinets. I think they got replaced with black speakers at some point. But recently they installed a suspended ceiling in all the school cafeterias that were built like that for some reason at lower height and put in white metal grille speakers. My middle school also had round metal grille speakers in the cafeteria and there was a microphone that plugged into the wall and the dean would talk over it to tell which tables when to get in which line.
They had the buttons in the classrooms too that called the office and I remember in class once some kids got in trouble because when the teacher left the room, they would push the button and when the office answered they didn't say anything. Also the band teacher would get annoyed when the office would call during class and interrupt practice to have a student come to the office.
Also my first grade teacher had speakers around the room on the walls and she had an amplifier on the back counter and a clip on microphone that she talked into. I think the amplifier said Realistic on it.
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Post by fancollector12 on Aug 6, 2017 23:45:46 GMT -5
Yup that 'Press for Help' button drives me crazy too... Home Depot tried it for a time but did away with it.
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Post by Tais on Aug 7, 2017 5:35:12 GMT -5
not much into them, but i passed by in a hotel in china back in 2004, the speakers had a continuous ticking voice that sounded very much like a shaky fan operating, i started imagining those speakers as ceiling vents imagining a fan motor operating inside them
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Post by Cole D on Aug 26, 2017 11:51:06 GMT -5
The mall here has square plastic speakers in white in the hall areas. JCPenney has white round generic speakers with the rings in the center, I remember seeing a volume control on the wall in one of the restrooms once, with the knob removed.
Belk has white round metal grille speakers.
Rack Room Shoes has the round speakers with metal grille and plastic frame.
Walmart has round speakers with a ring and the middle appears to be solid, though I suppose it could be a fabric that isn't see through. They've always had those speakers since I can remember, our Walmart was built in 1993. The garden center and grocery area probably have different speakers as they have open ceilings.
And Arby's after they remodeled has no speakers and plays no music, they just have two flat panel TVs in the corners. I don't remember if they had speakers before.
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Post by fancollector12 on Aug 28, 2017 0:11:33 GMT -5
Our closest JC Penney (in my second closest mall, built in 1981) has those Atlas Sound plastic "ring" speaker grilles, with some generic metal replacements. The mall itself has white indoor/outdoor surface-mount speakers placed on metal pillars, with some metal ceiling speakers in the lower level.
Oddly enough, some fast food restaurants just play a local FM radio station through the overhead speakers (I was just in a time-warped 1980s-style Burger King the other day, and they had the Atlas Sound plastic "ring" speaker grilles, and were playing the local FM country music station that's located in the same town). Our Arby's plays the local FM pop music station through some Muzak metal speakers. Other fast food restaurants, like my local Burger King (which just remodeled and has the Muzak metal speakers) has some satellite music server that Burger King corporate provides, usually playing 90s and modern-day pop music.
I've been to Five Guys that have the Bose in-ceiling subwoofer and satellite speakers (Muzak metal speaker behind the counter) and plays classic rock through a satellite music source, and the Five Guys closest to my dad's work has the Bose Acousti-Mass "cube" speakers (not 70V, but 8 OHM, probably powered by a 5.1 home theatre receiver) and a subwoofer, and plays the Classic Rewind channel on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.
In regards to TV's being used in fast food restaurants, most Wendy's have older metal ceiling speakers connected to 2 TV's inside the restaurant. Those speaker used to play music before remodels. Some independently-owned Wendy's still play FM radio stations through the older Atlas Sound plastic "ring" speaker grilles.
I guess it depends if the restaurant is managed by franchisees or by the fast food company themselves. The franchised locations tend to be older and have never been remodeled since they were built, and the corporate-owned locations tend to remodel every few years and are almost brand new inside.
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Post by Cole D on Sept 7, 2017 18:55:00 GMT -5
Yeah, strangely our local Wendy's hasn't been remodeled and still has the old wood and carpet look with tiny chairs from when it was built around 2004. All of the other Wendy's around us in smaller towns have all been remodeled to the modern look with tile, TVs, LCD fireplace, etc.
We had another Wendy's that was a much older one from the 70s, but it was closed down a couple of years ago. It was gutted and being remodeled into a Popeye's Chicken but it has been sitting for months almost finished.
Our Burger King was rebuilt in 2012 and has the round plastic speakers with metal grilles - usually playing that 90s/pop station. I'm not sure what our other BK has as I have never been in there.
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Post by Cole D on Dec 1, 2017 23:49:04 GMT -5
I ate at my local Wendy's which I haven't done in a while. Interestingly this one has not been remodeled like almost all of the others around. It still has the carpeting and oak furniture. They actually did do a bit of work on it, but all they did was take down the wallpaper and paint the walls white, and take down the hanging lights over the tables. It looked dark without them, plus two of the flourescent ceiling lights were off, which made it seem even darker in there. Also they still don't have the touchscreen soda fountain, it's still behind the counter like they all used to be. I think it does have metal grille/plastic frame speakers though, but I didn't pay much attention.
One other Wendy's I ate at that had been remodeled - I ate there at night, and they had all the fluorescent lights turned off and only the pendant lights were on, made it seem more upscale, like a fancy restaurant - but I only saw that once.
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Post by fancollector12 on Dec 2, 2017 5:03:59 GMT -5
I've been eating at a Longhorn Steakhouse in my area a lot recently. I think they use JBL ceiling speakers with the metal grilles and plastic frames. Outside the restaurant and in the entrance they have the JBL wall-mount indoor/outdoor speakers. But in the restroom, there was a generic metal ceiling speaker. Not sure if it was JBL or not, but JBL makes a "basic" series of commercial ceiling speakers, so it very well could be another JBL speaker. It DID sound better than other generic metal ceiling speakers I've heard. They mostly play new country music (since it's a Western-themed restaurant), but tonight when we went, they had BOTH modern country AND Christmas music playing. There's also a new pizza restaurant in my area (well, they specialize in pizza), and they have those weird hanging pendant speakers since they have an open ceiling... they're black plastic drums with metal speaker grilles on the bottom of them, hanging from black cable. You probably know the ones I'm talking about. They are playing different music every time I eat there... last time it was 90s pop. I also ate at a newer Chick-fil-A the other day on my way to a football game, and it was a "new concept" restaurant (i.e. no play area and different layout, even people outside taking drive-thru orders on a tablet instead of a speaker). They had Atlas Sound SD72W's (generic metal ceiling speakers with the blue "A" logo in the center... I have one of those in my speaker collection) in the restaurant, but oddly none in the restroom. They were playing some kind of instrumental, generic music, but I don't know what it was.
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Post by Cole D on Dec 2, 2017 11:02:12 GMT -5
I've never been in a Chick-Fil-A, but I think we went through a drive thru once. There are none around here, but I think they play Christian music usually.
I'm not sure what kind of speakers the Longhorn here has, but it has the open ceiling and a big shop ceiling fan with like 10 blades on it.
The old Taco Bell here is being remodeled into a Sonic. I'm wondering if it will have industrials under the drive in area, but I kind of doubt it. And it seems this one could be a dine-in as well, especially since it was a Taco Bell, but I've never seen a Sonic that was dine-in so maybe not.
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Post by fancollector12 on Dec 3, 2017 2:49:03 GMT -5
I've never been in a Chick-Fil-A, but I think we went through a drive thru once. There are none around here, but I think they play Christian music usually. I'm not sure what kind of speakers the Longhorn here has, but it has the open ceiling and a big shop ceiling fan with like 10 blades on it. The old Taco Bell here is being remodeled into a Sonic. I'm wondering if it will have industrials under the drive in area, but I kind of doubt it. And it seems this one could be a dine-in as well, especially since it was a Taco Bell, but I've never seen a Sonic that was dine-in so maybe not. Whatever kind of music the Chick-fil-A I went to was playing, it didn't seem to be Christian or Christmas... don't remember what my closest one has playing... they may not have the music turned on at all, but they DO have the generic metal ceiling speakers, and some surface-mounted speaker in the restroom. All of the Longhorns I've been to have drop ceiling, with a "vaulted" ceiling in the center with big chandeliers... no fans in any part of the restaurant. My local Sonic is newer (built like 5 years ago), and has no fans, just lights underneath the canopy, so your probably won't have fans, either. Never seen a dine-in Sonic before, just one where you can sit in your car, or at metal picnic tables outside the walk-up window.
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Post by Cole D on Dec 30, 2017 14:42:42 GMT -5
You're right, it appears there will be no fans. This Sonic seems a little unusual, at least from ones I've seen because it looks like it's going to have indoor seating and a drive thru also, because it was a Taco Bell previously. The canopy area is only on one side of the parking lot, same side as the drive thru window. I'm sure that's going to be crazy, with the carhops coming across the drive-thru to go out to the canopy area. The other Sonic I saw with fans (I think they were HB Industrials, maybe something else) has had them all removed.
Also wanted to add I'm not sure what speakers my Taco Bell has in the main restaurant but the restroom has a black round mesh speaker.
My gym has the egg-shaped speakers mounted from the roof. The locker room has round mesh/plastic speakers with a logo, but I can't see what brand.
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Post by fancollector12 on Dec 31, 2017 4:34:09 GMT -5
Yeah the egg speakers are what a new pizza place in my area has... our Taco Bell (I think) has always had the metal ceiling speakers (at first the ones with the "lip"... aka they're kind of like an upside down dinner plate), and then they "upgraded" to the Quam metal ceiling speakers when they remodeled. I never go to Taco Bell, so I wouldn't know exactly. Funny how your new Sonic won't be demo'ing the old Taco Bell building.
My local gym once had all different kinds of ceiling speakers (plastic, raw metal aluminum, and the "dinner plate" described above), but they remodeled and installed the Quam-made Muzak metal ceiling speakers in their place. The front desk also had an old wooden Bose floor speaker prior to the remodel. There were still some remaining "dinner plate" ceiling speakers on the exercise floor when I was last there. The basketball court/track had "sphere-shaped" ceiling speakers called SoundSpheres, along with some generic surface-mount 70V speakers. For fans, they had Emerson Northwinds and Designers in the class exercise studios, Air King 12" and 16" wall fans (and maybe an 18" or two) on the exercise floor, 56" industrials in the basketball court/track (there were three and one was removed), and a few others... the Emersons were mounted with their down rods up in the ceiling since they can't be "close-mounted" without a kit from Emerson.
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