So the (short) life expectancy of of those SWG's is that due to the high heat of the hot tub? The one in my pool is 6 years old and going strong! (man I never should have said that!
)
New tub recommendations
- Thread starter BT
- Start date
)
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,579
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
That may be part of it but I imagine most of it is simply the size of the cell. Only so much space for those precious metals which do the magic of producing fc. Less metals = shorter lifespan. If they were large like on a pool they would create too much fc so there’s some compromise there. In ones like my saltron mini this is reflected in the replacement cost.So the (short) life expectancy of of those SWG's is that due to the high heat of the hot tub? The one in my pool is 6 years old and going strong! (man I never should have said that!
Well the search is over i bought a Hotsprings Flair the one in stock had the salt water feature. I'll let you know how that works out after a few months.
If you look at this tub the lounge seat is very deep it's ok for me but i'm 6'6" they gave me a booster seat for my wife.
Thanks for all the Information!
If you look at this tub the lounge seat is very deep it's ok for me but i'm 6'6" they gave me a booster seat for my wife.
Thanks for all the Information!
Last edited:
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,579
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Congrats
I didn’t know they had boosters! That’s the reason I don’t like loungers - they about drown me. I hope u have many great years w/ your new tub
Booster seats huh? interesting. I dont like lounges because you tend to just float off of them .. but thats me..
A built in sound system is something that I did not think I would like as much as I do. We have one because it was free. It was a factory promo, so even if we decided we did not want it, the tub was the same price. It was something I had never considered putting in. As with others, I already have speakers outside.
I will say, it makes a difference with volume. With the speakers in the shell, right by each seat, you can hear what you are playing over the jets without having to blast it across the yard. It is especially nice at night. I can play music in the tub without having to crank my outdoor speakers so my neighbors can hear it.
The actual radio in my tub is horrible (I get a total of ONE station), but it has both Bluetooth and a USB in, so that is what I end up using.
That is why we don't have loungers. They seem great in concept, but then if they jets are strong enough for my liking, they push me right off the lounger.
We may get a booster, it depends on the water level. I'm 6'4" so I never need one, but every so often my wife says we should buy one. I have a Bullfrog, and the nice thing about that is I can put the Jetpack she likes in the shallow seat and the Jetpack I like in the deep seat.
Yeah, I wont buy a tub with a lounge seat either.. to me its wasted space.
agree speakers in tub will allow lower volumes.......mine comes with speakers in the shell but $1k to add the radio.......i have outdoor speakers connected to Sonos Wifi system maybe i can run a speaker wire the spa sp
The heck with speakers (I dont have any) I just sing at the top of my lungs while in the hot tub... no crowds that way.. ;-)
- Jun 1, 2018
- 13,579
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Well I bought a radio to replace the headless unit in the spa that came with our house, but I haven’t installed it yet. It has Bluetooth so plan was just to run music over Bluetooth to the radio when we were in the tub.
Thanks the booster is called a water brick and is basically an inflatable cushion will let you know how it works.Congrats
I didn’t know they had boosters! That’s the reason I don’t like loungers - they about drown me. I hope u have many great years w/ your new tub
I currently have a gen 2 Sonos Amp with two outdoor speakers but i do have to turn it up too loud when the jets are on . I was thinking just run an A/B switch to connect the second set to the hotub speaker. The nice thing about sonos is you control with your phone but is it wifi not blu tooth better streaming and it is not directly tethered to a single phone.
Attachments
Bullfrog uses a Gecko In.Stream2 Audio Pak for their audio system
Gecko Alliance In.Stream2 Audio System Power Supply Quick Connect Cord | 0704-121008
Pool Supply Unlimited has some of the best prices when shopping for Gecko Alliance In.Stream2 Audio System Power Supply Quick Connect Cord | 0704-121008
www.poolsupplyunlimited.com
I see no reason why if you have speaker(s) already wired into the shell of your tub, that you could not run them via the Sonos amp. As you said, you would have to use an A/B switch.
The Gecko pak does drive 4 speakers (F/R L/R) + a sub, so there is that to consider.
The Gecko also has topside controls, so you can adjust it while using the spa.
The Gecko has Bluetooth, USB, and 1/8" mini stereo inputs. Bullfrog in their infinite wisdom only extended the USB connection to the outside of the tub (and they put it in a horrible place). I don't know if you can even use the stereo inputs - they may be auto sensing, or you may have to select them, and I don't think BF built that choice into their topside controls.
Since I stream from Amazon for most of my music, I could, in theory, use an Echo Dot 3 (which is waterproof) on the table near my hot tub, and run a cable into the Gecko unit from the Echo (provided that input can be made active).
I could then yell at the Echo from the tub. Interesting. It is nice not to have it bluetooth, because I can use any phone (or other Alexa device for that matter) to control it. With smart power I can be in the kitchen and use the kitchen echo to turn on the amp in the garage the powers the outdoor speakers and then play whatever I want over that amp.
I guess I could also bury a dot inside the tub (I should have good Wifi in there) and use my phone or an other device to control it, but then I would have to tap into my tub feed for power to run the Echo.
The tub is only 6 months old, I really don't want to short something out because I am playing around with it - I have enough projects as it is.
Or I guess I could just pair a dot with the existing bluetooth. Yeah, that would be a lot easier.
Last edited:
I laughed a little at this. Yeah the quality can be better (assuming a high quality source of audio) but you’re talking about blasting tiny presumably low quality speakers in a hot tub over the sound of the jets. So I don’t think quality really counts all that much IMO.
There would be definite advantages to not having to mess around with Bluetooth though.
I used to be into high end (OK maybe upper middle end) audio gear. McIntosh amps, Sennheiser headphones, etc. I used to be one of those people that read the reviews in Stereo Magazine and Audiophile, A/B test different components in the store, both with the same and different items in the mix, concern myself about the room acoustics and differences in listening distances causing out of phase effects, and all sorts of stuff like that (and it eventually extended to car audio, with calculating, engineering, and building sealed and ported subwoofer enclosures, full speaker swap outs, custom tweeter mounts, separate amps and head ends, power filters, etc).I laughed a little at this. Yeah the quality can be better (assuming a high quality source of audio) but you’re talking about blasting tiny presumably low quality speakers in a hot tub over the sound of the jets. So I don’t think quality really counts all that much IMO.
There would be definite advantages to not having to mess around with Bluetooth though.
Now I use an Alexa to stream music, or my hot tub speakers, or an old pair of dry rotted Advent speakers in the shop, or over 3 sets of dual drive in movie theater speakers in the yard (OK, those are pretty cool, but they are not even close to audiophile grade, I just cut out the built in potentiometers, and threw Mylar speakers in them - but they do get a good amount of attention when people see them for the first time)
What I have learned is that unless I am in a listening room, actively listening to music, a middle of the road set up is just fine. I no longer worry about bit rates, uncompressed streams, sound pressure levels, etc. If I can hear it, and hear it clearly, it's all good for me.
Saw this yesterday (online……. I wasn’t in the nerd store, I SWEAR
). and it kinda applies
i did'nt say anything about sound quality just better streaming/connectivity than blue tooth and certainly did not portray this as an "audiophile" solution.I laughed a little at this. Yeah the quality can be better (assuming a high quality source of audio) but you’re talking about blasting tiny presumably low quality speakers in a hot tub over the sound of the jets. So I don’t think quality really counts all that much IMO.
There would be definite advantages to not having to mess around with Bluetooth though.
Last edited: