[ted_b]

I had no idea where to start this thread so i thought I'd start here.   

I have inexpensive but serviceable outdoor speakers hanging on the outside wall of my house, the wall that is the face of the deck.  The speakers are quite widely spaced and create a huge center fill hole when sitting on the deck, yet create no real ambiance when further out in the yard either.      (I will try to post a picture or drawing by tmrw).   Question:
Has anyone been successful bringing any sort of audiophile quality out to the deck and/or yard?  Is there ANY possible chance for low frequency information out there?  Is it better to have omni-style (look like solar lanterns) speakers placed more into the yard (like right off the deck) as opposed to having speakers hanging on the house?  Speaker rocks?  Hell, I don't know...I have great iPod remote capabilities (Squeeze Center and iPeng app) to sit on the deck and to choose any song amongst my huge 1TB collection, but the sound out there is whacked!  Thx
Ted

[Wayne1]

Ted,

For years I had a pair of small Advent Utilities hanging under the eaves of my house for music on the deck. Like you, I had a huge hole for center. A couple of years ago hail and rain finally did in the Advents.

I decided to try something a little different.



8" coax rock speakers

I bought a pair of these speakers from PartsExpress. I placed them in the garden facing the house and deck. I ran direct burial rated 16awg wire from the speakers to my basement. The speakers are powered by a vintage Kenwood KR-7600.

You do loose low frequencies without any room to reinforce them. To make up for this, I also use an old Radio Shack dual five band equalizer. Far from audiophile grade, but it does help for casual deck listening.

I am very pleased with the sound. There is a bit of midrange resonance from the fiberglass enclosure, but the image they project is to die for. I have spent many an evening playing live recordings and being transported to the venue they were made in.

I do suggest you give them a try. I think you will be happy with these.

[Pirate]

I was going to try these. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. Note the dual sub thats available.http://www.outdoorspeakerdepot.com/rockspeaker.html aa

[Scott F.]

I've had a couple of different sets of outdoors speakers that I regularly use out on my deck. You can get decent sound but there will be some compromises. As you said, the lows will be truncated as the cabinet sizes are typically small and and room gain is non-existent. Expect to get decent bass down to about 60-70Hz but after that it disappears.

Mine are fed from the second zone of my Integra 9.8 pre-pro in my HT rig. Downstream is one of those Audiosource amplifiers I had laying around. The two latest speakers I've had on my deck are the 6" Niles two ways and the 6" Yamaha two ways (from Best Buy). The Niles had a nice sounding soft dome tweeter and decent resolution. The Yamaha's had a metal dome tweeter that is OKish sounding and decent resolution.

The trick with the setup on these speakers will be much like you have inside, seating position should be dead center of the speakers and in an isosceles triangle. There you do get a decent center image, something that almost resembles placement and little depth of stage, Those shortfalls could well be due to the amp, the lack of a head and side wall (for reflected sounds further improving the sense of depth and space).

When you choose your speakers, if they have grills, remove them. The grills have tiny holes drilled in them to protect the drivers but they also absolutely kill the highs and suck the life out of the music. When you are done listening, just pop the grills back on for protection.

Between teh Niles and the Yamaha's, I preferred the Niles by far. They were much more even top to bottom. Trouble with them was the surrounds got physically distorted by the summer heat and the soft dome tweeters disintegrated in about 4 years time. I did audition some B&W outdoor speakers but they had a pretty heavy mid-bass hum that I couldn't get past.

For deeper bass I've seen 8" subwoofers marketed but that could make things complicated with additional interconnects, wires, yada, yada. Might be worth the effort if you feel like going for it.

If you have the money, Niles makes a 8" outdoor speaker. Those will get you a bit more bass. With the Niles, you will have to bring them in over the winter to keep the tweeter from disintegrating too quickly.

I went with the Yamaha's simply due to price and the fact that they sound pretty OK. Knowing the issue with the soft dome tweeter rotting, I didn't want to keep replacing the speakers every 4-5 years.

Hope that helps.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hey Ted,
Not sure if your goal is asking for speaker recommendations, or what you should do with your existing speakers?
However..I've been to Scott's house and heard his Niles speaker mounted on the house, shooting across his wooden gazebo. The did sound very good. In fact, I had an entire 7.1 system in my HT room (many many many years ago) with the very same Niles OS-10 speakers Scott had outside at his house. Not long after I bought the Niles, I found the PartsExpress had the same speakers for sale at a fraction of the price. When I say "the same speakers", I mean the T/S parameters are exactly the same, in addition, the binding posts look the same, the mounting bracket looked the same, the enclosure looked the same...period. The only difference was the logo. What I'm talking about can be found > HERE <.  These are an identical clones of the Niles that (have since been replaced by another model number) Scott and I had at our homes. Partsexpress has another option with larger woofers by the way.

Short of some obscenely huge nasty monster of a subwoofer (sixth order bandpass maybe?), you're not going to get near the bass you've got inside the house. The room gain just isn't there. That can be overcome by displacement and enclosure size, but it's going to be silly huge.

The reflections we've all got in our rooms have been tuned (tamed?) to suit our listening preferences. Having speakers outdoors is an entirely different story. There's no room gain, there's no reflections (or very little). It's a whole other story dude. Cone displacement will rule.

Best of luck my friend. Hope that helps.
Bob

[ted_b]

Thanks for the help so far.  And yes, Bob, sorry not clearer..I am looking for both speaker recommendations and placement recommendations.

We use the deck primarily (and we have some landscaping work we're doing, as you'll see blank spots in the pics, etc.) so the speakers are mostly intended to be somewhat nearfield.  Howoever, the way they are today (hanging on the back wall) they are, at best, surround type sound hitting us in the back of the head...and they are 15 yr old Sonance EC200's.

Here's a shot from the center of the back wall, looking out, showing part of our yard, and the woods behind us.  Maybe locating speakers under the seats, shooting up?  Or on stands in the front beds??



Here is a shot looking back.  Should have used thicker markings.....Orange squares are possible locations??  Yellow circles are present speakers (and someone asked so i pointed out my dedicated SP Tech mancave/music room/HT on the other wing    )



I'm currently interested in everything from this (thanks Bob):
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=310-056

to this, but open to wayy more discussion:
http://www.twacomm.com/catalog/model_A8BLK.htm

Several AVS Forum audiophools love that speaker.  Specs have it going to 45hz, with 8" woofers. 

Maybe if I install the speakers in front of me (beds, etc.) somewhere, I'll get better imaging (or some at least).

[Wayne1]

Thanks for the pictures, Ted.

From my experience, I would suggest placing speakers at the back of your yard, near the woods. Have them aimed toward the house. That will give you the best "image". Mounting them on your house will continue to give you the "surround" effect you are experiencing now.

As Bob has pointed out, go for as large a driver as possible. I used the 8" coax rocks for that reason. Augment the low end electronically. Bass boost or an inexpensive eq.

Good luck and have a good summer.

[ted_b]

Wayne,
thanks..but near the woods is too far away. As i said, I listen on the deck and no need to fill up the yard (and the neighbors) with sound.  The speakers would be 50 ft away.  I need to find a spot in the beds just off the deck i think.  Your rock speakers might work if I can place them somewhere where they radiate directly to me.  How far are you from them?  thx
Ted

[jermmd]

I had these JBL outdoor speakers mounted about 10 feet apart under the eaves of my roof over my deck for years. They were probably 20 feet high. I thought they sounded excellent and they lasted for many years without any problems. I will eventually buy the exact same speakers for my new house when I get around to running the cables.

[Wayne1]

Sorry Ted,

Poor depth perception 

The rocks are 25' from the edge of the deck. Roughly 28-30 feet from listening position.

Out yard is fenced in and I have no one directly behind me. When playing at a moderate volume level, the music cannot be heard outside of the back yard. My neighbors don't seem to mind at all and often compliment me on my wide range of listening material.

Of course, it helps that I have started brewing again and they get to have some free samples 

[pjchappy]

However..I've been to Scott's house. .

I've been to Scott's house, too. . .well, at least his driveway.   

Scott, someday, somehow, you will give me my Pink Floyd vinyl lesson.     I really would love to move back to STL, but I'm stuck here in KC.

Anyways, my brother-in-law has a pair of Infiniti outdoor speakers that cost around $180 (if I remember correctly) about 5-years ago.  They're still going strong and sound pretty good for what they are.  I would estimate they are about 25-feet apart, angled in about 35 degrees.  They sound good on the deck.  Not sure about the yard, though.

[Scott F.]

Scott, someday, somehow, you will give me my Pink Floyd vinyl lesson.     I really would love to move back to STL, but I'm stuck here in KC.

Hiya Paul,

No need to be stuck. Salvation is only four hours away  Seriously, you've got an open invitation. Just drop me a PM next time you are over. I'll see if some of the other guys can make  it by and we'll make it a gathering