Audio Video setup around pool patio

[Skiddy]

I am fishing for some information and knowledge about outdoor speakers and video setups. I didnt see a dedicated section for this so I thought I would ask here.
Im in the later stages or my pool patio build and am trying to decide how much and what kind of outdoor system I want. I plan to have cat6 installed in several locations to make things more flexible but still have yet to come up with a speaker layout that doesnt bleed over into the neighbors yards to much yet provides plenty of coverage for my zone.
Thanks

 

[ajw22]

Let's see if @jimim is around.

You can read other discussions about outdoor setups...

Search results for query: outdoor speakers

www.troublefreepool.com

I have 8 rock speakers around my pool and patio fed by a Sonos system. Sound travels and you can just hope your neighbors like your choice of music. If I don’t like what I hear from my neighbors I just turn up my volume.

 

[Skiddy]

Let's see if @jimim is around.

You can read other discussions about outdoor setups...

Search results for query: outdoor speakers

www.troublefreepool.com

I have 8 rock speakers around my pool and patio fed by a Sonos system. Sound travels and you can just hope your neighbors like your choice of music. If I don’t like what I hear from my neighbors I just turn up my volume.

I had a Best Buy audio video advisor come out and he recommended Sonos also but he said if you want to keep the sound inside your yard to avoid any late night disgruntled neighbors go with the Sonance in ground system. Its about $1500 for the full 4.1 system but they bury a sub underground and the speakers point towards the pool and house. If anyone in here has any experience with them feel free to share. I will have an LCD TV on wall under patio and probably use the Sonos Beam for a sound bar because connects to tv audio but it also streams.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I went with the Monoprice Sycamore system (Monoprice Sycamore Outdoor 2.1 Speaker System with 8-inch Subwoofer and 2.5-inch Satellites (3 piece) - Monoprice.com) and added an additional 2 satellites to make it a 4.1 system. Sonance is amazing stuff but $$$$$$. I've included a link to my audio thread below. I wanted to go with the Sonos and Sonance setup for the outdoor under eave speakers, but just couldn't bring myself to spend that much money, when the Monoprice speakers were less than $100 a pair, and they sound great.

Another Outdoor Audio Thread

Okay - I am trying to plan my outdoor audio setup. I know that there are literally hundreds of outdoor audio threads already on here and I have read through a ton of them already. I have gotten lots of good information from those threads, but I am still struggling a little bit to grasp exactly...

www.troublefreepool.com

Here is another thread on audio selection, that I found helpful when I was trying to decide what to do.

Audio planning

Somebody help me plan my audio setup for my pool project. Not sure what speakers to use. I've heard good things about sonanance, and niles. I like the idea of getting an all in one package, but I don’t mind piecemealing it together myself if it’s cheaper and better quality. Will probably use an...

www.troublefreepool.com

--Jeff

 

[Skiddy]

Thanks for the info Turbo, what are you using to power the speaker setup? The monoprice amp is pricey. I actually have an old Yamaha AV multi channel receiver that predates HDMI. I wonder if there is a conversion to update that so that streaming could be an option and possibly powering these speakers?

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I did bite the bullet and went with the Sonos Amp, as I was already collecting a fair bit of Sonos items throughout my living areas. Pricey, yes, but they do exactly what I wanted. I have 2 amps, one for the speakers around the pool, and one for the speakers up under the eaves. I can pair them together, or separate them out. Have not really tried separating them for say, watching TV under the cabana, while listening to music in the pool, as I just got the TV installed a few weeks ago. My space is small enough that it will likely bleed over too much for that, but I definitely like being able to control the volume independently.

--Jeff

 

[jimim]

I had a Best Buy audio video advisor come out and he recommended Sonos also but he said if you want to keep the sound inside your yard to avoid any late night disgruntled neighbors go with the Sonance in ground system. Its about $1500 for the full 4.1 system but they bury a sub underground and the speakers point towards the pool and house. If anyone in here has any experience with them feel free to share. I will have an LCD TV on wall under patio and probably use the Sonos Beam for a sound bar because connects to tv audio but it also streams.

ok best buy is the official distributer for sonance. i know this cause we purchase sonance too. and i don't cause it's completely overpriced. i have an array setup. novo technology cause we are a dealer also so i'll be up front about that, but we also only sell what we would use in our own homes. sonos is rock solid so you would be good there. mono prices array setup is solid from what others said. my array is 6 speakers and 1 sub. array is not much more directional that rocks. it all bleeds. my neighbors always comment on my music. lol

biggest biggest issues with an array with multiple speakers is the speaker wire run length. have them use the largest largest speaker wire you can afford and keep the runs under control.

and for the sake of all that is rational please please do not buy any wires from best buy. their markup is like 600 percent. its how they make their money. there is no money in tv's anymore. or video. some still in audio but brackets and wire is the money maker for these places.

 

[jimim]

I had a Best Buy audio video advisor come out and he recommended Sonos also but he said if you want to keep the sound inside your yard to avoid any late night disgruntled neighbors go with the Sonance in ground system. Its about $1500 for the full 4.1 system but they bury a sub underground and the speakers point towards the pool and house. If anyone in here has any experience with them feel free to share. I will have an LCD TV on wall under patio and probably use the Sonos Beam for a sound bar because connects to tv audio but it also streams.

biggest thing to keep sound from bleeding is multiple zones so u can be as close to the zone as possible so you don't have to blast the music to get to you.

in my pool i have my array wrap around my pools back border. 4 feet off the water. in my pool house another independent zone 4 speakers. on my back porch another one. 4 speakers again. so wherever people are we have independent volume adjustment.

 

[jimim]

I went with the Monoprice Sycamore system (Monoprice Sycamore Outdoor 2.1 Speaker System with 8-inch Subwoofer and 2.5-inch Satellites (3 piece) - Monoprice.com) and added an additional 2 satellites to make it a 4.1 system. Sonance is amazing stuff but $$$$$$. I've included a link to my audio thread below. I wanted to go with the Sonos and Sonance setup for the outdoor under eave speakers, but just couldn't bring myself to spend that much money, when the Monoprice speakers were less than $100 a pair, and they sound great.

Another Outdoor Audio Thread

Okay - I am trying to plan my outdoor audio setup. I know that there are literally hundreds of outdoor audio threads already on here and I have read through a ton of them already. I have gotten lots of good information from those threads, but I am still struggling a little bit to grasp exactly...

www.troublefreepool.com

Here is another thread on audio selection, that I found helpful when I was trying to decide what to do.

Audio planning

Somebody help me plan my audio setup for my pool project. Not sure what speakers to use. I've heard good things about sonanance, and niles. I like the idea of getting an all in one package, but I don’t mind piecemealing it together myself if it’s cheaper and better quality. Will probably use an...

www.troublefreepool.com

--Jeff

rusound and nuvo are half the price and just as good. the sonance amps are huge money for what they are. they can be replaced by a crown amp that is like 200 dollars. and your mono price even cheaper and good enough choice.

the sub used by all these companies i'm pretty sure are made in the same OEM factory in chine and rebadged. resound and novo at least stick them in their own boxes to give it their own sound. nuvo is a great company cause it used to be owned by a bunch of guitar rockers. it is now a legrand brand so most of that drive is gone but they are still a solid company with zero issues.

 

[jimim]

Thanks for the info Turbo, what are you using to power the speaker setup? The monoprice amp is pricey. I actually have an old Yamaha AV multi channel receiver that predates HDMI. I wonder if there is a conversion to update that so that streaming could be an option and possibly powering these speakers?

sonos is worth its price for admission. one box solution with simple control and all the apps you ever need built into it. no flipping to 3-4 different apps for control. ya you can do the separate av receiver and hook a cromecast up to it or whatever. nothing wrong with that. we do it all the time. i try to design our systems to be as simple as possible cause i don't want to get the calls that something isn't working and they are having a party and all worried. the simpler the setup the less call backs. ya sometimes more money but again you get what you pay for.

 

[Skiddy]

I have a 5.1 Yamaha AV receiver with 650 watts of power. Has anyone ever used the Echo link to convert that into a streamable and useable source to power some speakers.? That would save me the cost of a amp for sure.

 

[colonelkirby]

I have an older Sony STR-DA777ES 5.1 receiver that I can't bring myself to get rid of. Given that, I use a Yamaha WXC-50 preamp for streaming purposes. Works well.

 

[Skiddy]

So my electricians showed up and started running electric for lights and speaker wire under the patio for some in ceiling speakers. I came out to inspect the work and I found they had run data cable for speaker wire. I asked why and they said its just like 16 gauge speaker wire you have to strip and connect the color for neg and the white for pos? Anyone have more experience with this than I do?

 

[jimim]

Ya. No. Deff not. Simple as that

 

[Turbo1Ton]

What Jimim said.

If it's "just like 16 gauge speaker wire" why isn't it 16 gauge???

That follows the "not my speakers. Won't be able to hear how crappy it sounds from my house" mentality.

That one move would make me question every bit of their previous work.

--Jeff

 

[gingrbredman]

I run ethernet cable for a lot of things (video, cameras, WiFi, hard wired devices), but never for speaker wire.

These eight cables inside a Cat6 cable are so convenient for a lot of applications, but speaker wire is not one of them. Depending on the ethernet cable (Cat5, 6, etc.), the individual wires inside are only 22-26 gauge. Saying it is like 16 gauge, but is actually 26 gauge is a stretch, a very long stretch. I wouldn't want my speakers hooked up with ethernet cable.

 

[NCMike]

That's a no for me as well. I just installed two of the monoprice outdoor 2.1 speaker systems with an extra 2 satellite speakers each.

If they need speaker wire and don't have a source for it, tell them to go to lowes or home depot and get outdoor landscape lighting wire, it comes in 12, 14, or 16 gauge and they can buy it by the foot or on a roll. Its black/brown and doesn't stand out to much.

 

[swechsler]

I have used Cat 5 for speaker wire in a pinch. Due to the long runs you'll want thicker wire (I sometimes use heavy gauge landscaping lighting wire from Home Depot), but other than a possible loss of power due to the resistance in the wire, I doubt you'd hear a difference. But since this is a new install you'll want to do it properly. I'd probably use 14 gauge if your run is over 50 feet. My current installation uses 4 conductor sprinkler controller wire, since I needed something that was outdoor rated and relatively thin. I installed it over 15 years ago, still works great.

 

[Skiddy]

We decided to go with the Sonos/Sonance outdoor speaker setup. Magnolia gave me a great deal since it was on sale. We also ordered a 55" Samsung TV with the Sonos Beam streaming sound bar. This speaker bar has some great reviews and it sounds like it will be used more than the other speakers for everyday use. the TV is not outdoor rated but for $350 if I get 2-3 years out of it its still more cost saving than the $3500 outdoor rated one.

 

[scdaren]

My system is super simple. I got a cheap 50" roku tv from Costco and a rolling stand to mount it on. I have a sound bar, and a bracket to attach it to the TV. The sound bar has a wireless subwoofer that sits in the corner on the patio. During swim season we just wheel the tv out there, and use it for everything. It runs all our music through Spotify, and the kids can also watch movies out there, either streamed, or through a blu-ray player we hooked up to it (the rolling stand has a shelf for that). It gets plenty loud enough to Tick off the neighbors if we were so inclined. In the off-season, it just rolls away into the garage. The entire setup I think was under $500.

We actually found a great use for it this off-season -- we did some Zoom holiday get-togethers, and I just hooked a laptop with a usb speakerphone up to it and put a webcam on top, and used it in the living room.