Jukebox and whole house audio? Throw your ideas at me!

[RickDIII]

 All,

Here's the deal.  I have finished my mame project and now feel compelled to begin to think about the next idea. 

So I am kicking around what to do with this:
I live in a 40 year old house that came with a whole house intercom system.  You know - one of those old ones that you see from time to time.  Each main room in our house (living, den, 4 bedrooms, kitchen) have an intercom speaker (incoming and outgoing sound).  The main controller in the kitchen has a built in AM/FM tuner.

So I've started thinking about pulling the main controller and integrating some digital jukebox components.  I know sound quality won't be wonderful in the rooms, but the wiring is already there...perhaps a speaker upgrade would help?  Could I turn the speakers on/off remotely? 

I am not an audiophile...just a gadget freak.  I looked at upgrading the whole house system and the prices for market products seem INSANE!  So I thought you folks might throw some ideas out. 

Feel free to tell me it's a stupid concept, how you would change it, or your pie-in-the-ske dream set up.

Thanks,
Rick

[spocktwin]

Just my two cents but my Uncle had to have major heart surgery many years ago so my father and some friends put in almost exactly what you are describing with the am/fm tuner in the kitchen.  After his recovery he bought an old jukebox (wish I had that) and wired it into the intercom system for the idea of sending the music around.  He was a pretty inventive guy for the time!  You are correct it did sound kind of crappy at first but he re-did the speakers and it was very cool at family functions.  Not to mention he could page for people during the party from the kitchen to come and get the beer!
Great idea if you want put in the time.......I would love it myself.
cheers
Live Long and Prosper
Spock

[BobA]

If you have the fm/am receiver built into the intercom just try a mp3/fm adapter plugged into your computer to see what the sound will be like with the existing equipment.  There are alot of fm adpaters built to send ipod or other mp3 signals to your fm receiver.  Just choose one that has its own power adapter and you can easily feed you juke into your intercom.

[Ken Layton]

Most of those old intercom systems were built by NuTone Electronics and were actually quite advanced & reliable. As with most intercom systems (regardless of who manufactured them) they used odd impedance of speakers. Many used 45 ohm speakers, but I've seen 30 and 32 ohm speakers used in these applications.

I would definitely leave the system alone and feed it an FM signal (as others have suggested) from whatever other source you decide to use. That's the simplest, easiest, and cheapest thing to do.

[RickDIII]

If you have the fm/am receiver built into the intercom just try a mp3/fm adapter plugged into your computer to see what the sound will be like with the existing equipment.  There are alot of fm adpaters built to send ipod or other mp3 signals to your fm receiver.  Just choose one that has its own power adapter and you can easily feed you juke into your intercom.

Great idea!  So simple and cheap yet flexible!  A whopping big thanks!