When it comes to enjoying a sauna session, nothing enhances the experience like music.
Music, podcasts or radio will elevate your relaxation, rejuvenation and make your sauna sessions much more enjoyable.
If you're a homeowner with a sauna and want to add some ceiling speakers for music then you've come to the right place.
We often get customers wondering "can I put speakers in my sauna?".
Fortunately it’s actually quite straightforward and easy to add speakers into your sauna or steam room.
In this guide we'll walk you through the process of designing a sauna or steam room speaker system that will take your experience to the next level.
Step 1: Assess Your Sauna / Steam Room Space
Before diving into the technical aspects let’s assess your sauna space.
Consider the size and layout of your sauna, as well as any particular features that may affect speaker placement within the ceiling.
How big is the sauna?
Most saunas are relatively small so a pair of 5” speakers are adequate, but if you’ve a much larger sauna or want higher-quality speakers then consider larger 6.5” speakers.
Step 2: Choose the Right Speakers
When selecting speakers for your sauna you really need to opt for models specifically designed for high humidity and temperature environments.
We typically recommend the Apart CMAR range when specifying saunas and steam rooms as they are great quality speakers that can withstand the saunas heat and moisture.
Additionally you should consider the speaker's size and power output to ensure they can deliver quality sound in your sauna space. Most saunas that we’ve looked at are relatively small so you don’t need anything too high-end to get great sound quality.
The Apart speakers are mono speakers, so in most cases you’ll need to install two speakers within the sauna. One for left and one for right, connected to a stereo amplifier.
If your sauna is small and can only fit one speaker then you’d need to use a mono amplifier such as the Systemline E50 in order to run one speaker effectively.
Step 3: Choose Amplifier & Source
Now that you’ve planned your sauna ceiling speakers you’ll need an amplifier to power them.
Firstly, the amplifier will need to be installed outside of the room. At present we don’t have any options that can go within the sauna itself.
You can choose from Bluetooth or WiFi amplifiers which let you enjoy either FM/DAB Radio, Internet Radio, Bluetooth etc.
Remember though, you’re unlikely to be taking your smartphone into the sauna to skip tracks so you’ll want something that can play radio and/or a Spotify playlist via Bluetooth.
As saunas are typically on the small side we don’t need anything too powerful.
The most common amplifiers we’d recommend are:
But you can use most stereo amplifiers including Sonos, Denon and Bluesound if you want to keep the sauna in your multi room audio ecosystem.
We have some handy ready-made sauna speaker system bundles here.
Step 4: Wiring Your Sauna Speakers
Now that you’ve decided on your speakers and the amplifier it’s time to wire it all up.
In all cases you’ll be running two core speaker cables from each speaker to the amplifier which will be sited outside of the sauna.
The amplifier will need to connect to power.
If you opt for an in wall amplifier such as the Systemline E50 then this would be installed outside of the sauna, either within the external wall of the sauna itself or in the wall of the outside room.
Freestanding amplifiers such as the Hamilton WSA50+ are a bit more flexible as you don’t need to install them in the wall. They can sit on top of the sauna, in a cupboard, roof space etc. and are controlled over WiFi using a smartphone app.
Once the speakers are wired and the amplifier is powered you’re ready to start enjoying music in the sauna!
Conclusion
As you can see, it’s actually relatively simple to design a system for a sauna whilst taking into account the limitations of the high temperature and humidity.
Provided that you use the correct speakers and connect them to an amplifier installed outside of the sauna, you can’t go too far wrong.
If you need any further help designing your sauna speaker system please feel free to contact our team.
