I have the cheap Bose 151 Outdoor Speakers you can get from Sam's Club. They were about $160 for the pair, comes with a 5 year warranty and they sound great.
Audio options?
- Thread starter TheOne
- Start date
I just bought three of those from ebay for $60 + 12 in shipping.
I can't remember the name but I've also got two of those in ground speakers already hooked up that we really enjoy!
Before you read the next part please know I have a degree in video production and am a huge A/V tech geek...that being said I got the three Bose speakers for front and center surround...I'm going to hook the in ground speakers up to a second switcher and put a DVD player in the garage...so I can hook it up to the LCD projector for outdoor movies in the pool...with surround sound
I have a second pull down screen I'm going to mount outside...I know, sounds like a lot but again, A/V geek...should be another month or so till I actually get around to installing everything but I'll make sure to post pictures
Right now the outdoor speakers (in ground ones) are hooked up to a speaker switch with volume control to our indoor stereo, I'll keep that same set up and put the second switcher w/o volume control in the garage with the DVD player so I can either have them as normal outdoor speakers or rear surround...the volume control switcher inside is great so we can turn it down inside on the main stereo and up outside!
-Thomas
I can't remember the name but I've also got two of those in ground speakers already hooked up that we really enjoy!
Before you read the next part please know I have a degree in video production and am a huge A/V tech geek...that being said I got the three Bose speakers for front and center surround...I'm going to hook the in ground speakers up to a second switcher and put a DVD player in the garage...so I can hook it up to the LCD projector for outdoor movies in the pool...with surround sound
I have a second pull down screen I'm going to mount outside...I know, sounds like a lot but again, A/V geek...should be another month or so till I actually get around to installing everything but I'll make sure to post pictures Right now the outdoor speakers (in ground ones) are hooked up to a speaker switch with volume control to our indoor stereo, I'll keep that same set up and put the second switcher w/o volume control in the garage with the DVD player so I can either have them as normal outdoor speakers or rear surround...the volume control switcher inside is great so we can turn it down inside on the main stereo and up outside!
-Thomas
uwimage said:
Now you tell me this? 
J/K I don't buy stuff from eBay anymore, got burned twice and said never again. Nothing major but still gets me :grrrr: everytime i think about it.
You have quite the setup there, kind of like a drive-in theater. My wife would probably leave me if I spend more time messing around with pool/sound/yard/jeep/computers/mountain bike/etc....
I dont have a degree in video production but I can unerstand the geek part very well. I am in IT and work in the broadcast industry. I am a certified Avid ACSR (Windows, Unity and ISIS) and work in a team that is responsible for several Avid/Broadcast installations across the US.
Cool Rick...I'm a certified Avid user :lol: Although I'm on FCP and Premier more...let me know if you ever need beta testers for your software products (OSX & XP user)
Yeah, eBay can be trying sometimes...I've been using it since 98, only 115 purchases but no problems. I'm very picky, set my price limits and if I can't be there when the auction is ending, it's off, I don't bid. The speakers were at a buy it now price of $100, I sent them an offer after the auction ended for $60, they accepted!! I was a bit shocked myself.
As far as the house/pool/computers/Honda S2000(our version of your jeep)...I work for myself so she has no idea how much time I spend :lol:
-Thomas
(OSX & XP user)Yeah, eBay can be trying sometimes...I've been using it since 98, only 115 purchases but no problems. I'm very picky, set my price limits and if I can't be there when the auction is ending, it's off, I don't bid. The speakers were at a buy it now price of $100, I sent them an offer after the auction ended for $60, they accepted!! I was a bit shocked myself.
As far as the house/pool/computers/Honda S2000(our version of your jeep)...I work for myself so she has no idea how much time I spend :lol:
-Thomas
I have a pair of Yamaha's mounted under my back deck, just like Carl's setup ( except I ran my wiring through the walls/attic and down through the eaves with terminal plates so I can remove it allover the winter). remote works from the deck since the stereo's in line witht he patio slider.
The deck is about 140 feet from the pool, but the sound is surprisingly good, alternately, I have a pretty big setup in my garage with some Cervin Vegas hanging from the ceiling (gotta have workshop tunes!), if I open the Garage doors, I can Tick off everyone in town with those, alternatively to those, I take a portable Panasonic Stereo to the pool, that's the best way to control your music.
The deck is about 140 feet from the pool, but the sound is surprisingly good, alternately, I have a pretty big setup in my garage with some Cervin Vegas hanging from the ceiling (gotta have workshop tunes!), if I open the Garage doors, I can Tick off everyone in town with those, alternatively to those, I take a portable Panasonic Stereo to the pool, that's the best way to control your music.
I have been looking into outdoor audio for about a month now. I bought a pair of yamaha speakers (AW350 i think) off ebay for about $80 new. They got really good reviews. I am going to cut a hole in my poolhouse/tiki bar exterior wall and mount a car stereo (with aux input for Sat. radio, IPod, etc.) with remote in the hole. You can get a good one new for less than $150. I have a few laying around the house so this was the cheapest option for me. I am going to take a 12V power supply (that plugs into a wall outlet) out of an old pc to power the receiver. People are practically giving old pc's away. I will make a door to out of plexiglass to protect the receiver from the weather. This will allow use of the remote. This is about the cheapest option I could come up with. You would think there would be a few package deals out there for this type of thing.
That PC power supply may not give you enough power to run your car stereo, they're rated 5 amps, however, I don't really think they can produce this continually. You'll need a minimum of 2A continuous for very low power head units.
A friend of mine recently tried this and it did not work out well for him, lots of smoke, no sound.
As for the speakers, those Yamaha's are rated 8 Ohm, the car stereo is designed for 4 ohm speakers, with the higher impedance you'll put a bigger load on the amp and it will run hotter, thus draw more current from the power supply at a lower volume.
If the PC power supply does not cut it, your options will get quite expensive and you may be better off with a portable stereo driving the speakers.
A friend of mine recently tried this and it did not work out well for him, lots of smoke, no sound.
As for the speakers, those Yamaha's are rated 8 Ohm, the car stereo is designed for 4 ohm speakers, with the higher impedance you'll put a bigger load on the amp and it will run hotter, thus draw more current from the power supply at a lower volume.
If the PC power supply does not cut it, your options will get quite expensive and you may be better off with a portable stereo driving the speakers.
It depends on the power supply. Some are rated as much as 32 amps at 12V. This should be way more than enough to power an 8ohm speaker from a 4ohm receiver. Most of the new pc power supplies, you have to do some rigging to get a continuous flow. I could be way off on this. It wouldnt be the first time that theory didnt agree with reality. I already have everything so it wont hurt to try. I will let you know how it turns out.
My brother just leaves a stereo outside, it is on a table under the eaves, and he says it never gets wet there.
sevver said:
I just finished my setup that's somewhat along what you wanted to do. My house came with the wiring for the outdoor speakers and I just spliced them into a speaker selector that connects to my receiver. Problem with this setup is that I can only listen to music from the CD or the Radio since those are the only sources I have connected to the receiver. I don’t want to be listening to commercials while I’m out enjoying the pool and I don’t have a CD juke box to listen to different CDs. The other problem I had was that I could not control the music from the outside. I have a volume control inside but that means that I have to open the door to turn the music up or down.
I was looking for a way to get control of my music from the pool area and I found what I think is the perfect solution for me.
I used an old laptop that I can connect to the receiver and run iTunes on it and I found an application that allows me to control iTunes (or Windows Media Player) that is running on this laptop remotely using my cell phone (or any WiFi enabled device). It's called PlayerPal.
The only draw back is that if you want to use your cell phone you must open a port on your firewall but since this laptop is on only when I’m listening to the tunes I didn’t really care. I can control my volume up/down, mute, create playlists, shuffle and repeat, go to next, previous and even play the CD on the laptop all from my cellphone.
Here's the setup (sorry for the cell phone pic and the cable mess will be fixed once I find a permanent place for this laptop)
This is how it looks on the web browser (Pic from PlayerPal). The cell phone template is smaller but essentially the same.
Cool setup rick!
Getting back to the PC power supply - if you're running the built in 40 watt or so amplifier, it'll probably work, but if you crank it, it'll likely cut out on you.
As for a typical PC power supply giving you true 32 Amps continuous - I think that's unlikely, and continuous is what you need, any other number doesn't mean much.
Getting back to the PC power supply - if you're running the built in 40 watt or so amplifier, it'll probably work, but if you crank it, it'll likely cut out on you.
As for a typical PC power supply giving you true 32 Amps continuous - I think that's unlikely, and continuous is what you need, any other number doesn't mean much.
- Apr 5, 2007
- 425
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
How did you connect the laptop to the receiver?
I used an old laptop that I can connect to the receiver and run iTunes on it and I found an application that allows me to control iTunes (or Windows Media Player) that is running on this laptop remotely using my cell phone (or any WiFi enabled device). It's called PlayerPal.
I used an old laptop that I can connect to the receiver and run iTunes on it and I found an application that allows me to control iTunes (or Windows Media Player) that is running on this laptop remotely using my cell phone (or any WiFi enabled device). It's called PlayerPal.
Dan, this is the first time I see it. Do you have this?gonefishin said:
cateng said:
Cateng, I used a cable like this:
The miniplug connects to the PC and the RCAs to the receiver.
- Apr 5, 2007
- 425
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
RAA said:
No, but a good number of people, at some of the audio sites I used to frequent, own it. Most of them have some form of a modded squeezebox, but the operation is the same. Most of the users that have tried the squeezebox really love it.
Slim Devices actually has their own user forum as well. You can find it Here.
dan
One word...SONOS! Yes it's alittle on the high price, but when you have 40GB of music, it's the way to go. My pool is still being installed, but I plan to install KLH Rock Speakers 125W from BJ's for $79 a pair. And two more Bose outdoor speakers by the patio. All plugged into a 3000W Receiver purchased from Overstock.com. At least it all sounds good in my head so far....
If you have a reputable pawn shop in your area you may check with them. I just bought a nice pioneer receiver with 5 surround sound speakers for $50. I already had some KLH indoor/outdoor speakers so I just mounted them to the side of the house, and for a music source I have dish network so I just put it on the sirius christian channel and have a great mix of music all day with no commercials. There are plenty of music options on the Dish Network. I am happy with the sound. I am thinking of getting one of those RCA remote extenders so I can bring the remote and adjust it from the pool.
JD
JD
My Current Setup>
I have a pair of Proficient 605 outdoor speakers. I ran 14 guage, through the eves and dropped in the wall behind the A/V equipment (happens to be on the same outside wall as the speakers). Right now I have them powered by the surround back amp of my old Harman Kardon AVR 435 (since I only have a 5.1 setup, this 7.1 receiver allows you to "reassign" the amp for the surround back speaker to a separate zone). It's giving the speakers 65 watts per channel (clean HK watts, not over inflated *insert other brand here* watts).
It's a multi source/multi zone receiver, so when assigning the surround back amp to the "multi-zone" function, I can play whatever source connected to the amp outside, while playing another source through the same receiver in my living room. I can listen to the CD player or iPod dock outside while someone is watching a movie in the living room through the same receiver.
As for sources I usually listen to either the cable radio music or iTunes from the computer in the computer room connected to the AVR via the Apple Airport Express. I can also wirelessly stream music from my laptop to the Airport and out to the deck. It's pretty sweet. No wires, I have the laptop outside with me and control all the music playing through the speakers and volume control via iTunes. Unlimited playlists, and when those get old, you can listen to iTunes radio.
Monday I'm going to add an power amp to my outdoor setup just to see if more power makes the speakers "come alive". Right now they sound great, but more headroom usually equates better audio quality. A friend of mine is selling me a new in the box 600 watt (mono bridged @ 4 ohms) power amp for dirt cheap. Unbridged in stereo mode @ 8 ohms, it will give me 260 watts per channel. I'm going to feed it from the line level multi-zone output of the same receiver. Should be swweeeeet.
After reading this thread, I think my next project will be installing an IR repeater on the outside wall just behind my equipment so I can use the cheapo HK Zone2 remote to control volume on sources other than iTunes. I don't like the idea of using my MX-850 RF remote anywhere near my pool with kids and wet hands. I think I have some spare/used IR repeater parts somewhere at work, I should be able to piece something together on the cheap.
I have a pair of Proficient 605 outdoor speakers. I ran 14 guage, through the eves and dropped in the wall behind the A/V equipment (happens to be on the same outside wall as the speakers). Right now I have them powered by the surround back amp of my old Harman Kardon AVR 435 (since I only have a 5.1 setup, this 7.1 receiver allows you to "reassign" the amp for the surround back speaker to a separate zone). It's giving the speakers 65 watts per channel (clean HK watts, not over inflated *insert other brand here* watts).
It's a multi source/multi zone receiver, so when assigning the surround back amp to the "multi-zone" function, I can play whatever source connected to the amp outside, while playing another source through the same receiver in my living room. I can listen to the CD player or iPod dock outside while someone is watching a movie in the living room through the same receiver.
As for sources I usually listen to either the cable radio music or iTunes from the computer in the computer room connected to the AVR via the Apple Airport Express. I can also wirelessly stream music from my laptop to the Airport and out to the deck. It's pretty sweet. No wires, I have the laptop outside with me and control all the music playing through the speakers and volume control via iTunes. Unlimited playlists, and when those get old, you can listen to iTunes radio.
Monday I'm going to add an power amp to my outdoor setup just to see if more power makes the speakers "come alive". Right now they sound great, but more headroom usually equates better audio quality. A friend of mine is selling me a new in the box 600 watt (mono bridged @ 4 ohms) power amp for dirt cheap. Unbridged in stereo mode @ 8 ohms, it will give me 260 watts per channel. I'm going to feed it from the line level multi-zone output of the same receiver. Should be swweeeeet.
After reading this thread, I think my next project will be installing an IR repeater on the outside wall just behind my equipment so I can use the cheapo HK Zone2 remote to control volume on sources other than iTunes. I don't like the idea of using my MX-850 RF remote anywhere near my pool with kids and wet hands. I think I have some spare/used IR repeater parts somewhere at work, I should be able to piece something together on the cheap.
