Outdoor speakers

[CarlD]

Niles Audio has a good reputation but I've never had a chance to listen to them.

Russound is new to me.

TechNomad has an big rep for big sound and extreme weather resistance. They use them at the New York Shakespeare Festival's outdoor theater, the Delacorte, and on many cruise ships.

They also have a big price.....

What's with the 70volt transformer/multiple speaker thing? What's the underlying electronics of how they work and why you need that? I can only guess that it's the audio equiv of high-tension power lines.

 

[jdskycaster]

Niles Audio has a good reputation but I've never had a chance to listen to them.

Russound is new to me.

TechNomad has an big rep for big sound and extreme weather resistance. They use them at the New York Shakespeare Festival's outdoor theater, the Delacorte, and on many cruise ships.

They also have a big price.....

What's with the 70volt transformer/multiple speaker thing? What's the underlying electronics of how they work and why you need that? I can only guess that it's the audio equiv of high-tension power lines.

Most people have not heard of these as they are brands specifically marketed to the custom home audio installation marketplace. If you work with a custom installer you will likely encounter them. Your analogy on the 70V speakers is pretty good. 70v is used is commercial audio installations where you desire many speakers powered in series from a single high powered amplifier. Overall fidelity suffers but you can achieve high SPL levels from multiple speakers. These are used in many venues such as exercise studio's, office buildings, outdoor public address systems etc. I do not recommend them for residential use.

JD

 

[CarlD]

Thanks. I wondered about the 70v setup.

I do know that with audio there's things it's worth it to spend $$$ on, and things it's not. Plus, if you are willing to do the research, you can put together a VERY nice system for far less than you think. Many of the improvements of the last 20 years have been in component size and reducing the number of moving parts--"soft" switches and pots rather than hard ones where the contacts become problematic. Plus lots of pre-selected equalization.

Yet, if you use a good pair of speakers, a good, simple amp and pre-amp, and a CD player, and you take the time to place things correctly, in the correct size room, you'll get sound that you'll just love.

I bought used a little Dynaco 35w (17.5/ch) integrated tube amp a few years ago--I just wanted to see what the big thing with tubes was. I wasn't too impressed--but I noticed one tube ran hot so I started messing around to find the cause. Found a weak resistor and a bad cap or two, brought the unit back up to spec and then the sound blew me away! It was so clear it was like being there!

There are solid-state units that can do well too. Music still seems to do best with two full-range speakers and maybe a sub-woofer, but only if the room needs it because it's too big for the regular speakers to fill.

Everything else is either H/T (great for movies!) or convenience features. Once audio specs went beyond human hearing, you either had to be a super-sensitive audiofile, or you didn't need more than you needed.

I replaced my mom's dead stereo with a simple 2-ch Onkyo receiver that cost less than $100--and performs as well 4-figure units from the 70's and 80's--which still sound great, too.

So, unless you are going for Class-A (and I don't) we mostly pay for H/T and convenience features.

 

[cobra46]

I know the title of OP is speakers but what is everyone doing to power the speakers? How are you running the wires? I would like to get some sound to the back yard but don't have a convenient place to put an amp.

I am thinking of just buying some wireless self powered speakers and plugging the transmitter into my PC so I can have access to my MP3 library as well as Pandora.

 

[Beachnut_pa]

I have Acoustic Research (Audiovox) wireless speakers that I use with a PC. As cobra46 mentions in his post above, this gives me mp3 and Pandora options. The sound quality is okay, but I would not call it bad.

The next pool I build will have speaker wires put in place during the build, but I do like the ease of use of the wireless speakers. They are powered by eight C cell rechargeable batteries each and I plug them in once a week to keep them charged. The batteries cost about $85.00 for 16 of them.

 

[divepool]

Re:

Boston Acoustics, Voyager 7s. Oh yea.

You really like these speakers, I thought about them but the cost $$$ was keeping me from any more that looking? I have been looking at Niles Rock speakers their 8 series? Just want a speaker that eill sound good around my pool deck as the size is 86Lx34W. and is 34' from the house. but want to keep the music from reaching out to my neighbors.

Rich

 

[uwimage]

Re: Re:

Boston Acoustics, Voyager 7s. Oh yea.

You really like these speakers, I thought about them but the cost $$$ was keeping me from any more that looking? I have been looking at Niles Rock speakers their 8 series? Just want a speaker that eill sound good around my pool deck as the size is 86Lx34W. and is 34' from the house. but want to keep the music from reaching out to my neighbors.

Rich

We have a cheaper version of the bose in ground speakers, about $100 each, they really keep the sound under the fence pretty good or we have the nicest neighbor in the world who doesn't mind sports radio all day and Jimmy Buffett all night :lol:

 

[divepool]

I need to find a retailer to listen to the nile, I've heard the Bose and they do sound good. Still in the pool building stage, I am going to run electrical PVC for speaker wire at 3 corners with cat5 for phone and router. Also 3 electrical outlets on the main deck 20 feet from waters edge for router and auto cleaner.

Thought the rock style speakers would be better or i have to mount speakers to fence post?

Rich

 

[Tcian]

Check out Axiom speakers. They are located in Ontario. I have the m80 floor speakers powered by a Harmon Kardon reciever. I have never been impressed by the home theater systems, I seem to prefer a good stereo system with the old school concept of 30 percent of the total cost going into the speakers. When watching a movie my system sounds like I am at the IMAX theater.

Their outdoor speakers are a bit pricey, ( 330.00 ) but if they are anything like my m80's, they will be well worth it when I redo my deck next year. They will be powered by the same Harmon Kardon.

Todd

 

[Guest]

I was doing some speaker and wire research. Wasn't sure what I wanted to do re: conduit etc. Then I found this:

I used low voltage outdoor lighting wire (16ga) from Home Depot. Rated for outdoor use, much cheaper than speaker wire, and works like a charm!


Low Voltage 12 guage light wire from the Depot. we run about 100' for each front and the cost is about $60.00. Only down side is the standard bananna clips don't seem to fit the shielding.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=859279

I think I'll be doing this; not sure what gauge I'll use. I think I'm using 12 or 14 throughout the house, but will see what the speakers look like before I decide.

Sue

 

[piku]

I know the title of OP is speakers but what is everyone doing to power the speakers? How are you running the wires? I would like to get some sound to the back yard but don't have a convenient place to put an amp.

I am thinking of just buying some wireless self powered speakers and plugging the transmitter into my PC so I can have access to my MP3 library as well as Pandora.

I had a hole in the wall where the cable used to go. Behind the wall is where my home entertainment system sits. I installed my outdoor speakers as "B" speakers. I then used my pool controller system to control it. Basically I can press the 'Music' button on the controller remote and it will tell my DVR to connect to my favorite internet radio station and start playing. Turn on the receivers, set B speakers and you're done. It worked well all summer but I've been working on making it more flexible.

 

[CarlD]

I know this is an old thread but it's a fun one! A week or two ago, during the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, I was finally balancing my under-eave-mounted outdoor speakers for the season when a neighbor came to complain about the volume! oops..... Mounting the speakers on the far side of the pool or yard facing BACK toward the house will help offset that problem and probably give you better sound quality and coverage--but you need to run wires. In-ground rated speaker wire isn't too expensive--only $.25/foot for 14/2 wire.

For power, I'm a big believer in recycling old equipment. There's lots of 2-channel stereo equipment out there for cheap--home theater is the thing today but you don't need that outside. As I said, I got my mom a NEW Onkyo receiver 2ch for under $100. I have a 30 year old KILLER Dynaco amp for power--200wpch and I use an old NAD amp as the pre-amp with the amp side shut down. Then a super-cheapo CD changer and I'm good to go! To me, all CD players sound the same, and I'll bet in a blind a/b test most audiophiles won't be able to tell the difference. I did spend a lot of time on the wiring. I ran 12/2 speaker cable through conduit and terminated it at weatherproof outlet boxes with gold contacts. Then I use jumpers from the box to the speaker, again with gold pins. Inside the house, there's a wall plate, again with gold contacts and jumpers to the amp. I wanted to be sure I had a set up that was impervious to corrosion but would be easy to fix if it had any. Works great--hence the complaints!

I recently discovered Axiom speakers for a H/T system I'm doing that requires "Life Style" speakers rather than book shelf or floor-standing (ie, my wife "I won't have ugly boxes there!"). I'm very pleased--I was looking at B&W speakers and these cost 1/4 as much for similar performance, easier installation, but not QUITE as good-looking, but still very nice.

I guess I think you CAN do it inexpensively, but you'll need to spend time and effort learning and doing instead of $$$.