Outdoor Speakers

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Krisher

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Aug 28, 2013
75
Huntington Beach, CA
I am planning to run speakers on the far side of the pool. I don't have power so I'm going to run speaker wire through a planter that surrounds the pool.

I need suggestions on outdoor speakers. I don't have a preference if the speakers are camouflaged or not. We have a lot of tropical foliage so it will get lost in it regardless if it's rock shaped or looks like a speaker.

I also need suggestions on outdoor wire. We live in Souther California so weather is pretty temperate.

Thanks for the help.
 
I have two TIC GS3's by my pool and I love the sound (see the link below). I also put in regular outdoor speakers by my deck. The GS3's are fairly large and I partially buried them in two garden areas. They are big and require power from a receiver, but put out great sound.
http://www.amazon.com/TIC-GS-3-150-Watt-Outdoor-In-Ground/dp/B0007RSZX0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

If the above speakers are too big or powerful for your receiver, I've heard good things about their smaller version, the TIC GS5.

You don't need speaker wire. I used 14 gauge low voltage direct burial landscape wire from Home Depot, cheap and will survive year round in any weather.

Below is a link to my thread when i was deciding on what to do with my sound system... post #7 has all of the details on what I decided to buy and install.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/54496-Power-for-Outdoor-Speakers

Best of luck!
 
As mentioned use landscape lighting wire. I'd go for 12 awg but 14 should be just fine. There is nothing special about speaker wire. It just needs to be a large enough gauge to keep the resistance happy at the amplifier.

I've got some b&w outdoor speakers. Probably overkill but I'm a pro sound guy...


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I installed a pair of AP850's from Outdoor Speaker Depot last year and am very happy with them. Planning on a second pair this season. I also bought the AMP200 to run zone three in the basement, which includes the AP850's by the pool and 4 other pairs of Sonance in-ceiling 8" in the basement. Each pair sits behind a volume control and the amp happily drives all to well past respectable volume levels.
 
To be clear, the AP850's are quite large and quite loud.

The most important question for you is what end result are you looking for? Music volume level can be accomplished a couple of different ways. Do you want background music that is fairly even no matter where you are? Or do you like it loud and in stereo?

Larger speakers, placed 6-12 feet apart will preserve stereo imaging, while multiple smaller speakers running mono and sprinkled throughout the area will give even sound at lower volumes.

Dubyahjay said:
I installed a pair of AP850's from Outdoor Speaker Depot last year and am very happy with them. Planning on a second pair this season. I also bought the AMP200 to run zone three in the basement, which includes the AP850's by the pool and 4 other pairs of Sonance in-ceiling 8" in the basement. Each pair sits behind a volume control and the amp happily drives all to well past respectable volume levels.
Click to expand...
 
I read through the various posts on TFP about outdoor speakers and did a bunch of research on other websites and decided to go with a pair of Polk Atrium 8 SDI's. FedEx delivered them today. I will be mounting them on the end posts of a pergola about 8 feet above the ground pointing toward the pool.

I'm ready to rock and swim. :rockon:
 
Krisher said:
I am planning to run speakers on the far side of the pool. I don't have power so I'm going to run speaker wire through a planter that surrounds the pool.

I need suggestions on outdoor speakers. I don't have a preference if the speakers are camouflaged or not. We have a lot of tropical foliage so it will get lost in it regardless if it's rock shaped or looks like a speaker.

I also need suggestions on outdoor wire. We live in Souther California so weather is pretty temperate.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I have 2 sets of the Stereostone Davinci series outdoor rock speakers around the pool and they sound great. I also have the Polk Atrium speakers on the patio. They also sound good Remember you get what you pay for.
 
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_760CS1000W/PSB-CS1000-White.html

Have had these for 1.5 years. Very crisp, even at low volumes (evening by the spa or AM swim). No doubt they can crank but I really wanted a low volume that I can hear from all parts of the immediate backyard and still be able to appreciate the detail of the music. Expensive but worth it for the amount of time we spend around our pool.
 

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VinceL said:
I read through the various posts on TFP about outdoor speakers and did a bunch of research on other websites and decided to go with a pair of Polk Atrium 8 SDI's. FedEx delivered them today. I will be mounting them on the end posts of a pergola about 8 feet above the ground pointing toward the pool.

I'm ready to rock and swim. :rockon:
Click to expand...

These are awesome speakers...I put these in for my neighbor. I have 3 year old Atrium 65SDIs. Just unreal. The outdoor environment stinks for speakers, as there's nothing for the sound to bounce off of, but these things get it done. Enjoy them! Of course, drive them with good clean, high current power to get the most out of them.
 
I got two sets of old Drive In Movie theater speakers from my father in law last fall. Two speakers per pole, and two poles. Over the winter I I cleaned them up (Wire wheel) and took the guts out and replaced them with polymer cone car audio speakers (so they hold up to moisture).

I ran them off the system in the garage and they sounded pretty good, but they look so cool. Once I finish rebuilding this poold deck, I am going to install them around the paito. My wife says there go there, and not on the pool deck. If nothing else, I can follow instruction. :)

Just an idea. I know people like to hide speakers in rocks, etc. But I figure, if you have some interesting looking enclosures, why not make them a design element.

-dave
 
phonedave said:
I got two sets of old Drive In Movie theater speakers from my father in law last fall. Two speakers per pole, and two poles. Over the winter I I cleaned them up (Wire wheel) and took the guts out and replaced them with polymer cone car audio speakers (so they hold up to moisture).

I ran them off the system in the garage and they sounded pretty good, but they look so cool. Once I finish rebuilding this poold deck, I am going to install them around the paito. My wife says there go there, and not on the pool deck. If nothing else, I can follow instruction. :)

Just an idea. I know people like to hide speakers in rocks, etc. But I figure, if you have some interesting looking enclosures, why not make them a design element.

-dave
Click to expand...
That is a pretty good idea permitting you have them. Those things are expensive!
 
My Rockustic rock speakers on far side of pool finally have had it after 15 years! So looking for new ones -- anyone like the Niles rocks with 8in. woofers in them? I hear OSD speakers are really a scam -- is that true?

I have 2 in stereo firing back towards the house that I like to "rock" (vs. background only) hooked to a separate volume control.

All my other speakers are either Boston Acoustics or Niles attached to house "zones" via the Sonos Connect Amp..
 
I am presently using Rock speakers 250Watt and I have a backyard approx. 7500sqft. The speakers are awesome and do not over power normal conversations while playing in the background. I ran my wiring under the deck around the pool. I used burial speaker cable. Little expensive but will last many years.
 
I had a Paradigm outdoor speaker shaped like a rock. They're sort of high end company so it was pretty expensive ~$450 I think. I was a single speaker that provided stereo sound - you hooked up both sets of speaker wire to the speaker. It worked fine, but seemed to use a lot of power. By that I mean to hear it well at the pool, it was way, way, way too loud in the house.

I switched over to a much cheaper rock shapped speaker from Crutchfield and I like them a lot more. I have 2 of them (left and right channels) and they are much more efficent (?). I don't need to turn them up nearly as loud as the Paradigms to get a good volume outside and inside.

I don't see my exact type here, but I got it a few years ago so they may have changed the look/style of them:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lF6RRkhHCMn/g_12400/Outdoor-Speakers.html
 

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