Hey, y'all. I have a customer that wants a cheap system for a small medical office (physical therapy). They're looking for something (barely) more elaborate than a boom-box in each room.

My first thought was to find an in-wall volume control that includes a source selector, and running two sets of speaker-level wires to each room, and mount ceiling speakers (drop ceiling).

That would give two sources, plenty for now. A more elaborate system could be afforded later on, as business grows. The desired characteristics will be:

1) Four sources, such as two tuners and two CD players.

2) Source selection and local volume control in each room.

3) Four to eight rooms.

it's okay for more than one room to use the same source; for example, the reception area and the kitchenette/break-room; the several treatment rooms, excercise room, etc.

Thanx!

do not remmeber who, possibly speakercraft, but i do remember seeing an A/B volume control

Hey, I found one! Now all I have to do is figure out how to identify it.
Look: [Link: audioplex.com]

Sonance DAB1 is cheap. It's 4 source (tuner included) 6 zone and comes with the 6 keypads. Add your other sources and speakers and you're done. It will do your volume, source selection and VERY basic source control.

Just a installers note concerning drop tiles, I used this one at our office and it works great..

Go to your local homoe depot, they always have 2x4' sheets of plywood, get 3/8 sheet of 2x4' plywood for each drop tile, then use ood glue, and glue the tile to the board, then use a rotozip or something and cut out the hole for the speakers, put the speaker in, and put the entire assembly in the tile hole...

Supports the weight (i have one tile that has a 6" speaker craft crs1, and a take aim 8" with no chains and no worries of it falling through) wonderfully, and you don't have to worry about extra support

I know it had nothing to do with your question, just thought I would throw in this tid bit, because I had to buy a new box of 10 tiles for like 65 bux outta my own pocket because I broke 2....

Gerald