Outdoor Speaker Opinions...PLEASE

[CraigMW]

One thing I recommend is more than one pair of speakers. Outdoor Speaker Depot sells very good impedance matching stereo volume controls for a very reasonable price, and you can even get these in waterproof boxes that can be mounted on patios, decks, walls, etc. These are great, esp. if your receiver is in the house, or you have more than one set of speakers in the yard.

The advantage of having more than one set of speakers is that you can place them in different parts of the yard so that you never have to turn any one pair up that loud. This minimizes disturbance of the neighbors, but also allows you to have conversations near the speakers, while people in the pool can still hear the music. I have three sets and am working on wiring them all up using one older Onkyo stereo receiver in the pool house. It's dedicated to this task. The individual volume controls are great because they keep the load to the amp reasonable constant, even if one "zone" is much louder than another. The overall setup is nice because all parts of the yard are covered and it's not necessary to turn up the volume to get even coverage.

 

[shakenbake]

I got a pair of omni-directional rock speakers and a pair of "audiophile" rock speakers from OutdoorSpeakerD....I would not recommend them. Not only do they sound very muddy compared to a set of B&W outdoor speakers on the deck, the paint finish is coming off. Next time I'll go with the Paradigm rocks, or the bose omnidirectional units.

We've had extremely good luck with with an airport express driving a dedicated amp with auto-turn on. One caveat is that you need a strong wifi signal in the back yard.

+1 CraigMW - Having 6 speakers spread across the yard has made is easier to hear the music while keeping the overall sound pressure low.

 

[MeSue]

For anyone looking for a simple, no wires solution to pool-side audio, I am a long-time user and big fan of the Logitech Squeezebox network music players. Of course, you need to have good wifi signal near your pool area.

There are a couple of all-in-one models--the Squeezebox Boom, which might be hard to find now since it is discontinued, and the Squeezebox Radio. I have used them both in my pool area and even the little mono Radio speaker has enough volume to compete with the pump motor, splashing noise, etc. What's great about the Radio is that you can install a battery in it, so what I do is keep mine in the house most of the time, and carry it out with me when I go out to the pool. Being in hot, humid Florida, I feel this is better than installing something outside permanently, even if it is made for outdoor use.

Another cool thing is that if you have more than one of the Squeezebox players, they can be synchronized to each other, so you can have the same music playing on all of them, or continue with the same playlist as you move from one player to another. With the Radios you can configure a pair of them for stereo, say, if you were having a party and wanted bigger sound.

They are not waterproof, but I keep mine far enough away from the pool to avoid splashing, and then I control it either with the remote control or my iPod touch (in a Drypak). Since they can be controlled over wifi, you could even do something like connect a Squeezebox Touch in your house to some outdoor speakers, and just control it with your phone or an iPod Touch.

I'm not trying to be a shill for Logitech, I just love the system and thought some folks reading this discussion might want to look into it for pool-side audio. I have 7 of them and have been using them since 2005 (poolside since the Boom was introduced in 2008) if anyone has questions about them.

 

[BigJD]

I finally got my TIC omnis put in and along with the TIC rock speakers I picked up the pool area sounds amazing!