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speaker help?

symphony

By symphony
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symphony Member

symphony

Posted
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This is my first time doing a show, and I'm pretty confused on what I need to get in specifications of outdoor speakers.

Would something like this do? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-NSAW392-120w-Weather-Speakers/dp/B002WBWH9W/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1353625356&sr=8-8

We don't want to use FM Transmitters becase most of our visitors to see the displays will most likely be on foot - I live on a road, not in an estate, and we're surrounded by detached houses, so parking / traffic could become a huge issue if we were encouraging people to drive to the house and listen from their cars.

I'll attach a picture of our house so you can see the general size / scope. The lights display will be taking place around the five main windows, patio/deckng and front lawn.

http://i53.tinypic.com/67o787.jpg

I have no knowledge of speakers etc so all the letter-number talk confuses me. From my research, I think what we need is two outdoor speakers and then an indoor amp? I am also confused as to how we run the amp-speakers-computer-plug connections?

Apologies for my literal lack of know-how, any advice hugely apprecaited :)

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Loutampa Member

Loutampa

Posted
Posted

I have a similar problem.

I do use an FM transmitter as I have parking on a side street across the road.

But I do need speakers outside on the sidewalk.

So I looked all over for some speakers that would work in conjunction with an FM transmitter or

a 3.5mm jack that I could run out to the front.

I had the hardest time because of the timer switching on automatically. I do not want to walk out

and switch on the speakers every night.

In the end, I got some wireless indoor speakers but work off a ON/OFF switch, which is important for

the timer to work.

Then I got some plastic supermarket bags and weatherproofed the speakers.

Works great now.

Good luck in solving your problem

Lou

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olduffer Member

olduffer

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Check out outdoorspeakerdepot.com. They are kind of pricey, but their wireless speakers sound great, and their customer support is excellent. When I bought my set, they worked great at first, then the power supply went bad..they sent a new one no charge, and it went bad. Seems they had problems with their supplier, so they sent me a third one..no charge..working great now, and they really do sound good, and no problems with being out in the weather.

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djg64 Member

djg64

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thoes speakers will work but you have to run the speakers from a reciver.. I run a cable from my headphone plug on my computer to my reciver which supplies power to the speakers.

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dgrant Member

dgrant

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I do both. Since I'm connected to the LOR controllers using the wireless light linkers, rather than run audio from the computer, I mounted a regular AM/FM Receiver in the garage, tuned to my FM frequency, then outdoor speakers to the outside. Got them from Amazon and they look lile rocks but seem to work very well. Nice sound from them, not expensive and they are even set up for 70volt speaker systems if desired but work great as a normal speaker. I didn't wish to run wires all the way out from the computer, through the house to get to the outside.

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m1ke05 Member

m1ke05

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Posted (edited)

I just bought a set of Klipsch Outdoor speakers from Best Buy and although they were $300 for the pair they were the best sounding pair I have heard so far. I figure I'm putting in this much time and money to make a nice show, I might as well buy a nice sounding speakers. Here's the link Klipsch

You will also need a receiver like this one. Its actually a 270 watt 2 channel receiver which should be good enough for running a show. You can hook 4 speakers to it if you need to.

To connect from your computer to your receiver you will most likely need a Mini to Mini Audio Cable. These also come with RCA on the other end.

And lets not forget your Speaker Cable. These obviously run from your receiver to your speakers.

I've just linked everything I bought today to get my Audio up and running. Hope this helps getting you started, and questions feel free to ask.

Edited by m1ke05
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scubado Member

scubado

Posted
Posted

Rumage sales or pawn shops can be a great place to get speakers and amps. What you need all depends on your situation. I have a school yard across from me and neighbors are out of speaker range for the most part. So I can crank it if I want, but we can hear it in the house, so it can get old, so I have limited playing time. Another thing to concider is Halloween. If you plan to do thunder, it will be hard on speakers and amps.

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symphony Member

symphony

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Thanks so much to everyone for all the advice - particularly mk1e05, for all the links ; that's exactly what an electric-fail-tech like me needed ;-)

As for running wires - I'm using a regular controller in the house, connected to the laptop so we already have arrangements for the wires to be running in - extra wires from the speakers shouldn't cause too much hassle I think :)

Will have to start ordering tomorrow!

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paralegalnc Member

paralegalnc

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I just bought a set of Klipsch Outdoor speakers from Best Buy and although they were $300 for the pair they were the best sounding pair I have heard so far. I figure I'm putting in this much time and money to make a nice show, I might as well buy a nice sounding speakers. Here's the link Klipsch

You will also need a receiver like this one. Its actually a 270 watt 2 channel receiver which should be good enough for running a show. You can hook 4 speakers to it if you need to.

To connect from your computer to your receiver you will most likely need a Mini to Mini Audio Cable. These also come with RCA on the other end.

And lets not forget your Speaker Cable. These obviously run from your receiver to your speakers.

I've just linked everything I bought today to get my Audio up and running. Hope this helps getting you started, and questions feel free to ask.

I am using both too, sorta.... I have the fm transmittor...but I have a radio dialed in to the channel and running speakers from it. Had issues with my wireless speaker, it was interferring with fm transmittor and made the music on the radio sound terrible! so, until I figure out something else...which my brain is too clogged right now to think...I'll work it this way

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m1ke05 Member

m1ke05

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Glad I could be of some help Symphony. Technology can get confusing at times.

Paralegalnc I was going to do something similar, but thankfully decided against it. I wasn't overly impressed with wireless speakers and so I thought I would just use some nice wired ones for the house. The biggest problem I face is having a house that is 400 feet from the road. So an FM transmitter is in the works for next year. On the plus side, I have close to a 2 acre front yard... I'm thinking BIG plans in the future :)

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paralegalnc Member

paralegalnc

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Glad I could be of some help Symphony. Technology can get confusing at times.

Paralegalnc I was going to do something similar, but thankfully decided against it. I wasn't overly impressed with wireless speakers and so I thought I would just use some nice wired ones for the house. The biggest problem I face is having a house that is 400 feet from the road. So an FM transmitter is in the works for next year. On the plus side, I have close to a 2 acre front yard... I'm thinking BIG plans in the future :)

fyi... our fm transmittor only goes like 400 feet.... once you get to the end of the block you can't hear it anymore...so keep that into consideration. My husband was joking last night (at least I hope) to buy the empty house next to us... tear it down....for a huge display... I think he has CLAP now.

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LORisAwesome Member

LORisAwesome

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I just got a cheap amplifier and some indoor/outdoor speakers from Amazon.com. They seem to work well. I did run speaker wires and jacks from the amplifer to the outside.

This year I decided to use Zara Radio during non-show times to play Christmas music. So I use an Insteon appliance module and some programming in the ISY-99I to turn on amplifier before the light show and off after the show. Don't want to have music playing all night outside and bother the neighbors. The music from Zara Radioi can still be heard on the FM radios's during this time.

Jerry

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csimmon5 Member

csimmon5

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Get your hands on a Gemmy controller with speaker. Its the whole package and work great. I use mine that I got a few years back before i switched to LOR. I is amplified, made for outdoors, has volume control, and is relatively affordable. http://www.hsn.com/home-decor/winter-lane-musical-holiday-light-show-timer_pf-177381_xp.aspx?&mr:referralID=a7b6cf35-37d2-11e2-97b3-001b2166becc&rdr=1&cm_mmc=Shopping%20Engine-_-PLA-_-Home%20Decor-_-6743601

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