outdoor audio question

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bhunt99

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May 15, 2009
18
Blue Springs, MO
I just moved into new house with my first inground pool. I have a pair of Bose outdoor speakers from my previous house that I want to hook up out there. I had them hooked up to zone2 on my receiver before, but I'm looking for a better way to do it.

What I would really like is a small player that I can hook directly to the speakers, will connect to an mp3 player (non-ipod) and ideally stream mp3s wirelessly from my pc. I'm sure there has to be such a product, but I'm not finding much. I checked out the squeezebox but it's not really what I'm looking for.
 
So you want it to be able to stream from an MP3 portable player AND your PC? Not at the same time of course. The devices I have seen do one or the other but not both. Do you have a laptop? If your MP3's are on a desktop, you can use remote control from your laptop to control your media player on the desktop. You would need to have a wireless network as well. Just high level thoughts not knowing the details of your setup.
 
I dont mean to thread steal but maybe this wil be inline with the original question. I use my laprop outside and purshased these logitech usb portable speakers but still have trouble with distortion when making them loud enough to hear from the other side of the pool. What other possibilities are there using a laptop for outsoor sound?
 
gabagoo, get some powered speakers. I use Bose Copmanion series in my kitchen and they sound great at high volume. Just don't expect to get much bass out of them. The size of the area you are trying to fill with music is also a factor. I have a small backyard and I still plan to use outdoor speakers on a dedicated amplifier.
 
I have the wireless network - G right now, but will probably upgrade to N soon. I'm most interested in something that will stream mp3s from my pc/network. I currently have all my mp3s on a NAS. I could do the laptop thing, but I'd rather have a stand alone device. I like the squeezebox concept, and I might do that anyway for my receiver, but the location of my receiver would mean a loooong run of speaker wire to get to the pool.
 
I'm a pc geek by nature and am not too into the 1 trick pony devices. The netbooks out right now can be had for cheap and probably just a little bit more than a squeeze box type device. You get a small portable device with an interface you already know (but may not like) plus you can surf the net and check e mail and probably do youtube type video streaming. Just mt 2 cents.
 
I recently switched over to squeezebox throughout the house, mainly because of the pool area. I have a small amp located in the garage with a simple squeezebox receiver sitting on it. I have a set of outdoor speakers on the garage facing the pool, and a pair of rock speakers by the patio all connected through the same amp.

I have since started using software based squeezeboxes through the rest of the house as well. Control of the sound system is moved from the point of where the sound is played to any device that has a web browser on the network. My fiance can use an app on her ipod touch, and I can use my android phone to control the music. No more hunting for a control device. I am even listening to squeezed music on my computer as I type this. :)

My one and only complaint about squeeze is that it's really bad for making playlists. I end up reverting to use Media Monkey for that, then exporting to squeeze.
 
I recently started using a Sonos system that everyone really enjoys. You can play anything on your computer or NAS as well as several internet sources such as streaming radio, Napster, Rhapsody, Pandora etc. Not cheap...but it is really awesome. More info at sonos.com
 

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i have a denon 3808 CI receiver that is networked into my home network. to play itunes playlist, i use twonkymedia.

apple does make a device that can stream itunes to your speakers. its called airport express. it costs $99. i had one that i was going to use to expand my home network range, but for some reason it slowed my internet to a crawl. i think that it did not like my d-link wireless router.

you really should check into good AV receiver that is network ready. i love it. i use my iphone as my remote control when out by my pool. i just type in the ip address that my network assigns to my receiver and it brings up the denon web controller page it looks like this:


DENON Web Controller
Main Zone Control
Multi Zone2 Control
Multi Zone3 Control
Setup Menu
Zone Rename
PDA Menu

from there, i can select zone 2 control which is my patio/pool area. i have a set of axion speakers out there that sound great. the only problems i have lately are twonkymedia sometimes fizzles out. i have no choice but to use twonky now though since switching to a mac. itunes is all that mac uses and it does not allow you to play itunes over the home network. somehow this twonky media allows it. before when i had a windows pc, it would play windows media without a glitch.
 
I have my outside speakers hooked to my Yamaha receiver in zone 2. My PS3 streams all of my music from my PC through my receiver, and then to the outside speakers. I have no way to control the music once we are out there, but that has not been a problem as of yet. Just make a favorites list (mine lasts for hours) and go. The PS3 is the most versatile piece of electronic equipment I've ever purchased.
 
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