[Spring] Setting up outdoor music

So spring is here and summer is coming fast. I need to get some music outside, but not sure the best way to do it. I need to figure out:

  1. How to set up speakers; and
  2. how best to listen to it.

I actually have 2 speaker holes cut into an overhang of my patio. So I could buy some outdoor in-wall speakers. The downside is that I have had leaks in the past (supposedly fixed) and the old speakers completely rotted away. The other option is a pair of these faux rock speakers placed on the grass.

The second problem is getting the music outside. I have a home theater setup with a nice Onkyo 805 (and dual speaker settings) not too far from the patio. There are a few problems with using this stereo though. First I wouldn’t be able to use the TV while playing music outside and second, I would have to stream my music from the PC through the PS3. It would work, but be really clunky.

So does anyone have any experience or recommendations with outdoor speakers or music solutions that don’t break the bank??

A Squeezebox and good weatherproof speakers. JBL and everybody elses makes them for cafés and whatnot.

… and understanding neighbours.

You could also by an iPod and any number of the good boomboxes around and then drag it out as needed - I supposed it doesn’t need to be heard across a yard the size of a football field.

Squeezeboxes are actually not designed for outside use. Something the feature guide mentions. This is why I got a Altec Lansing inMotion MIX iMT800 Portable Digital Boom Box for iPhone and iPod. It works great. Very boomy though but you can turn down the bass for a more normal sound.

I wasn’t suggesting permanently installing the Squeezebox somewhere uncovered… but of course if there’s a place for covering a Squeezebox he could have the speakers in the same spot.

But making a weatherproof enclosure for a Squeezebox would be easy, or he could have it just inside. The Squeezebox Duet uses a RF remote, so line of sight isn’t an issue.

Trying to stay under the $500 range (an arbitrary number) but I’d like a semi-permanent solution so a portable boom box is out.

Found this interesting article
http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/whole-house-music

No, it uses a Wi-Fi Remote that communicates with the server, which in turn communicates with the base unit via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

(But in effect what you’re saying is true.)

Well Spring has sprung again and I never found a solution to my silent backyard. Any new ideas in the past year for outdoor music?

I can ask my neighbor what his setup is, but please don’t be like my neighbors on each side of me and have dueling outdoor music 24/7.

If you’re installing speakers in that overhang don’t forget to put a vapour barrier above them, you should be able to fit it through the hole. This won’t stop the problem of water flowing along the inside of the roof, but it will help with water dripping onto them. You could get some wireless in ceiling speakers and put them there.

Jaq’s article seems really informative.

Even I too have that. It is really great. I too agree with you


The world is not enough for me

You could get an Airport Express from Apple, set it to extend your existing wireless network, turn on AirTunes, connect speakers to it, and stream music from inside your house. My wife and I have this setup in 3 locations in our house and it works well. It will be even more reliable if you run an ethernet cable to the Airport Express and disable wireless for it (but have it stream AirTunes). The AE is $100 or so and any type of speakers that will connect to a minijack will do.

Just an idea.

p.s. Don’t know about your weatherproofing…

This seems to be the only relevant thread, all 2031 days old of it…

I’m running speaker wires out to the deck from the main AVR (Yamaha 681). The phone app does pretty well as a remote and the 681 can do 2 zones separately as long as zone 2 is using an analog input (so I’ll keep the Chromecast Audio on that), so I don’t want to resort to bluetooth or other forms of powered speakers.

Anyone have non-powered outdoor speakers you particularly like (or dislike)? The main contenders based on review sites seem to be Yamaha NS-AW390, Dayton Audio IO655W and OSD Audio AP670 - but there are plenty of other options. I haven’t found any local shops where the choices can be auditioned.

Bumping this to avoid creating a new topic. I want to purchase an outdoor speaker. I’d like one that is both wifi and bluetooth capable, and that preferably runs off a rechargeable battery, but that is not necessary. I will consider corded. One that is Alexa-enabled would be nice too. I am not an audiophile but I would like high quality sound.

The Sonos Move seems to fit the bill, but it’s expensive. Any other ideas? I’m reading up on them and the more I read the less I think I know. Thanks.

We don’t have a Move, but the rest of our house, incl. TV, uses Sonos. Our deck has an older wired Sonos Amp, too. The Sonos system is fantastic and easily expandable, if you think you’d like more in the future. We have 6 zones. You can get the 2-pack of Sonos One speakers on sale at Costco several times each year. Yes, it’s expensive, but works exactly how you would want it to work. The Sonos sound bar (older larger one) we have with the TV is fantastic and plays music when we aren’t watching TV.

Thanks. We have an older Sonos speaker and really like it. I do like the convenience of voice control with Alexa, and we pay the $10 or whatever for access to Amazon’s millions of songs, so we can hear just about anything it seems.

We have the larger Echo device too and we like that. The sound is good enough for us and we use voice commands to play music, which we’ve gotten used to. It requires an outlet, though, and isn’t weather-resistent. I really want something that I can leave outside and not worry about it, something I don’t have to plug in, and something that lets us use voice command with Alexa. And with a great sound, too. The Sonos Move does all of that but it’s pricey.