Outdoor music setup.

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kyle11

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May 17, 2012
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So we installed a pool last year and am now looking for a outdoor speaker setup and want to see if I am on the right track. Here is what I want.

1. Internet radio with ability to play off home network, USB or iphone
2. 4 total speakers and 1 sub
3. Preferably the reciever be inside but controlled outside
4. total under $600

Here is what I have came up with

1.Onkyo TX-8050 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004UR486 ... m_sw_su_dp
2 .Yamaha NS-AW150W http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001VHAR ... m_sw_su_dp
3. 2 tic speakers. Either http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0007RSZX ... m_sw_su_dp or
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00006JQK ... m_sw_su_dp
4. Tic sub woofer. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00009UI6 ... m_sw_su_dp

Will this setup work and sound decent? I don't need blaring sound but quality is more important. Also I will be doing the install and am very comfortable with any wiring/ running wires. Does have to be weatherproof or atleast 2 of the speakers do.

Thanks
 
Are you sure that receiver is going to be big enough to push 2 sets of speakers? How far is your run from your receiver to the speakers? My speakers are a long ways from the receiver and I have to turn the volume up high to get a reasonable listening level. BTW - I had the Yamaha NA-AW150W speakers at my old house and they sounded good. I would have used them again, but I did not have a easy way to wire them up under the eves.
 
Flippy said:
Are you sure that receiver is going to be big enough to push 2 sets of speakers? How far is your run from your receiver to the speakers? My speakers are a long ways from the receiver and I have to turn the volume up high to get a reasonable listening level. BTW - I had the Yamaha NA-AW150W speakers at my old house and they sounded good. I would have used them again, but I did not have a easy way to wire them up under the eves.
Click to expand...

Well that is one of my questions. Will that receiver work? The farthest run would probably be 125 feet of wire taking into account through the attic, up and down the walls, and around the concrete. I plan on using 12 gauge wire which I could probably get away with 14 but I use 12 even on my inside system because it sounds better IMO. Good to hear about the Yamaha speakers. I am also considering the polks as they are military grade water and dust proof.
 
Not an expert. My setup is a Denon 3312 which has 3 zones. Setup the second zone for pool area. Not 5:1, but purchased 130 w outdoor speakers from HD run is 100ft+. Added Apple TV as asource as well as Xbox, cable, also has a great HD/Net which give Internet radio as well as local am/fm. The great part is I can play ITunes through Apple TV source or switch sources while sitting at pool with app. If the onkyo has the ability to control via iPhone and the ohms are paired with speakers you should be ok. I would pump the wire up 14 or 16/2 maybe overkill, but pulling wire is a pain and always overkilled that myself.
 
I have an Onkyo system with a similar setup: Onkyo lives in the attic, zone 1 in living room, zone 2 outside.

It works, except when it doesn't. Then it's a pain because I have to go up into the attic and futz with it.

When this system dies, I'm going to a Sonos. I've decided that simplicity rules.
 
LynnOnTheWeb said:
I have an Onkyo system with a similar setup: Onkyo lives in the attic, zone 1 in living room, zone 2 outside.

It works, except when it doesn't. Then it's a pain because I have to go up into the attic and futz with it.

When this system dies, I'm going to a Sonos. I've decided that simplicity rules.
Click to expand...

Do you control it with the app? I have read mixed reviews about the app just on the App Store but it looks like most didn't read and their receiver was not comparable.
 
Jkhubbard said:
Not an expert. My setup is a Denon 3312 which has 3 zones. Setup the second zone for pool area. Not 5:1, but purchased 130 w outdoor speakers from HD run is 100ft+. Added Apple TV as asource as well as Xbox, cable, also has a great HD/Net which give Internet radio as well as local am/fm. The great part is I can play ITunes through Apple TV source or switch sources while sitting at pool with app. If the onkyo has the ability to control via iPhone and the ohms are paired with speakers you should be ok. I would pump the wire up 14 or 16/2 maybe overkill, but pulling wire is a pain and always overkilled that myself.
Click to expand...


Yes I plan on using just the app to control it. Also plan on using 12 gauge wire. I like overkill as well and have always used 12 for any audio throughout the house.
 
I wanted some music outside but hated the idea of running wires. I have a server with about 50,000 songs. I use iTunes on the server to share the music. I use my iPad as a jukebox and connect to the server's itunes over my home network then the Ipad streams the music wirelessly to my Pyle Pro PA system. You can see this PA at the link below. This thing ROCKS!!! It has a 15" woofer so the Bass response is amazing. It is on wheels so I just roll it out to the patio when we want some tunes. The only wire is a power cable. My neighbors hate it. In addition to Bluetooth connectivity, you can use a USB thumb drive, or SD card. It also has RCA inputs and XLR inputs for a microphone. My nieces love to use it for karaoke. I love the fact that I don't have to worry about the hot Louisiana sun destroying it from being outside all the time. I found this unit for $225 plus shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/PYLE-PRO-PPHP1537 ... yle+pro+pa
 
Excuse me if this is a dumb question. But for what I am looking to do I don't want a home theater surround sound av receiver do I? I have been looking at stereo receivers. And there are just a few in my price range that do what I need. No wonder everyone always just buys a surround sound in a box. Trying to piece all this stuff together isn't fun at all.
 

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I use the TIC speakers for my setup. I have two of the GS-3 speakers (the bigger ones). I ran direct burial wiring and placed one on each side of the pool area in the middle. Using an older Onkyo surround sound receiver I had (75 watt I think), the sound is very good. Noth bass thumping good but plenty loud to the point where I usually run at half volume when in the pool and 1/4 volume when we are sitting on patios talking. I am currently using my older Logitech Squeezebox radio hooked up to my reciver which allows me to play my home media, internate radio and Pandora. Using an Iphone app, I can completely control it from my phone.

I was considering adding the TIC subwoofer but I haven't seen the need for it. Unless you are looking to blast music and "feel" it, I don;t think it's terribly necessary.

My one issue with my setup is that I can only send a stereo signal to the speakers. So when sitting closer to one side, you may miss out on some of the music being played. Lot's of older classic rock I like uses distinct stero recording so a guitar might only be coming out of one channel. My receiver does not allow me to swap the output to mono and I haven't really tried playing with how I have speakers wired to overcome that issue. In general, it sounds great but there are those times where I wish I could output mono.

I am intrested in what you go with for the internet radio option. while the Logitech serves the purpose today, it is no longer supported by logitech. I believe another compnay makes a radio that is alsmost identical (Grace digital) that also has an app but there must be other good options out there.
 
kyle11 said:
Do you control it with the app? I have read mixed reviews about the app just on the App Store but it looks like most didn't read and their receiver was not comparable.
Click to expand...

I do control it with an app. I use "Remote2" (has Onkyo on the icon, but not in the name) instead of OnkyoRemote most of the time.

Both of them work mostly well. They used to be buggier, but now they're workable. I think the biggest problem I see now is that you often have to completely quit out of the app between uses (you know, when you make the apps wiggle, click the X to close, then reopen). It seems that if you don't do that, it often times can't find the receiver again. Because it happens with both of them, I tend to believe it is something with the firmware in the Onkyo, not app related. I updated my firmware about 2 months ago and it's gotten better. I used to have to do it every time, now it's just on occasion.

There have been a couple of times that the remote apps didn't work. A complete shutdown/restart of the stereo got it working. I'm guessing that the internet connection just needed resetting.

All in all it's good system, but it's not for the faint of heart. Non-techies would probably not like it. It's just too complicated to run, especially if you've got the receiver hidden away in an inaccessible place.

Hope that helps.

Lynn
 
I was contemplating the same thing last year. Finally I decided to go with a Sherwood Amplifier:

http://www.amazon.com/Sherwood-RX5502-D ... l+sherwood

-its 4 channel by 100watts which means you can rock 8 speakers in your backyard depending on how loud you want it. (or you can do 4 in backyard and 4 in garage if your going to run it through your attic like someone previously stated which is what I did). Its great because its just a "stereo receiver" not all the extra connections that you will pay for and not even use.

Then I use a SONOS Connect to access all my music via HiFi. ( I was so impressed with sonos I ran it through my entire house, ITS AMAZING). I can change songs from the pool while floating around drinking a beer, or anywhere throughout the house for that matter.

As far as speakers I just went with 2 pairs of the $100 pair rock speakers from best buy ( on sale for $90). I tried out the sound quality there compared to several others and decided that it was suffice for an all year weather speaker. Boy am I glad I did not waste $300-$400 a pair for some other brand because they are still thumping!! I also was not excited about having to mount something else behind my siding either (just the way my backyard is set up).

Also a little trick I learned was using low voltage wires. The same you would buy for installing landscape lights. One of my speakers are ran for over 300ft and there is no distortion whatsoever. Its the same as speaker wire just a fraction of the price.

Hope this helps a little.

-Jeremy
 
Sherwood used to make really good equipment and they most likely still do. I worked in electronics in the 80's and Sherwood was the industry secret. They used no IC's in the signal path. Everything was discreet and they could easily drive a 2 ohm load. Harman Kardon and just a handful of other makers could make this claim. Good stuff and highly recommended.
 
I'm late to the party, but just saw this thread. Whatever you do - check out Sonos. Just installed it (Just the amp) with two SpeakerCraft speakers. OUTSTANDING! Sounds is fantastic, Sonos is simple to use, and I can put the app on anyone's phone so they can play music.
 
I ended up going with the onkyo tx8050 which has interent radio and a app so I can control it while at the pool. I put the receiver in our bedroom and ran the wire through the attic to 2 tic gs3 speakers about 50 feet from the house in 2 flower beds. Also got 2 polk audio atrium 4s which will be on the back porch but have not hooked them up yet. Just with the tics it sounds pretty good. Gonna have to play around with the settings to get some good bass out of the tics but it should get louder when I put the polks up enabling me to turn the volume down and the bass up a little. It costs me right at $500 for the set up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
Here's a few pics of the setup. The view is from the cozy cove of the pool.
The polks are mounted on the porch and the tics are in 2 flower beds on the other side of the pool.
anana2a4.jpg
5ane9aza.jpg
seny9yme.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 

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