How to do speakers outside?

[wildredhead]

I live on a busy street, but in a small town that gets alot of foot traffic. I was thinking about a transmitter but I wouldn't need a huge range. So then I thought of speakers. What type should I get (weatherproofing required) and how do I set them up? Do I just use the speaker plug on the back of my Computer? and would I need and external power source?

[LightORamaDan]

You will need either powered speakers or an amplifier and speakers. I had a bunch of small cheap outdoor speakers connected to an amplifier and that worked well on my display.

The PC's sound card cannot provide the current required to drive speakers directly.

[LENNY RUEL]

I bought a $50 "special" stereo at Walmart. Has a 5 disc CD changer, casette tape and AM/FM tuner with two speakers. I set that up in the house and picked up 100' of meduim sized speaker wire (about lamp cord size) and ran that outside to the speakers which I have mounted up under the eaves in front. When the system is on the FM radio picks it up and punches it out to the speakers for the foot traffic we have on our court. Of course the drive bys have there own radio they can tune to.

When the system is off I'll play CD's, usually weekends during the day when people are out and walking around. I also use this a lot during the summer when I'm outside working so it stays up year round. If there is a Brewer game on I'll play that. If not just a good local station. Once football starts and I'm out putting up lights I'll listen to the Packer games also.

Lenny

[RI_Pilot]

I use an old stereo amplifier and a pair of "rock" speakers that I got from Parts Express.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=309-220

They work well and are designed for outdoor use. I mounted a weatherproof box on the side of my house with speaker binding posts and RJ45 jacks to connect to the speakers and LOR controllers.

I connect the audio output from my computer sound card to both an EDM LCD FM transmitter and the stereo amp using Y cables.

Howard


Attached files

[zman]

I used the rock speakers as well. I ran into a problem with the wiring. A rat decided to chew clean through my SPT2 wire I used to connect them. We had a very severe December as far as weather. I thought they failed due to the snow and ice. and did not find the wire problem till tear down. So I ended up buying a small job stereo from HD. The Milwuakee brand. I used it for the latter part of the season covered in a black plastic yard waste bag. It worked great as well with great sound.

So for the price of a decent set of ourdoor/rock speakers you can get that job stereo too. Just giving you some options.

[wildredhead]

Thanks for all the input!

I will start to come up with something and have it figured out before I go back to school.

[Dan Ancona]

This may sound strange, but I just used an old pair of computer speakers that ran off a 5 disk CD changer. (now I didn't have music squenced lights) I only had then under a bush, no waterproofing or anything and they still work! $3 at the flee market.

[toddmoon]

My first year I used the headphone plug on my computer speakers and plugged into an old boom box I had sitting around. I ran the speaker outside and put a plastic bag over them. They survived rain and snow and are still working fine.

This year I am going to mount some speakers under my font porch and hard wire them to my office computer that will run my show this year. I am hard wiring as much as I can and the rest will be wireless.

[Dale J]

Howard, where did you get your outside box and did you modify it or did it come with that plate installed, i just have a hole threw the siding and caulked around it for my cat 5 cable, i've looked at menards but no luck,Thanks Dale

[RI_Pilot]

Dale,

I got a standard weatherproof outdoor electrical box and cover (seperate items) from either Home Depot or Lowes. The cover came with a gasket to seal it against the box. If I remember correctly the cover was advertised as having 60 configuations. It comes with different fillers to handle a wide variety of outlets in horizontal or vertical mounting. I did not use the fillers since I fitted a wallplate.

I used a Leviton 6 port wallplate that accepts their quickport snap in multimedia modules. I used a couple of Cat5 snap ins and 2 pairs of speaker snap ins. I had to file the edges of the wall plate to fit into the weatherproof cover since they are intended for indoor use. This came from Home Depot.

Howard

[R Weiland]

Howard;

Great Idea thanks for sharing!!

[Dale J]

Thanks Howard, i will try and check tomorrow i will be off, i hate having just a hole thru the wall. i do have it sealed up but doesn't look good from out side or in, and i want that to be the place where i send my info out to the controllers so instead of having the cable just laying on the roof i would like to have some kind of sealed box i also want to try and have an ac outlet for one of my controllers that is located on the roof, Thanks again for the info, Dale

[EthanP]

Leviton also makes a decora-style 6-snap-in plate that you can use. Just use the outdoor box's GFCI template. it's the same shape. Home Depot carries it, and Lowes should too, but if you can't find it there, get it at smarthome. http://www.smarthome.com/85516W/6-Port-Quickport-Frame-White-41646-W/p.aspx

[ChrisBMacon]

:?
If you have a DVD surround sound and you want to copy a portion and keep the surround, can this be played in the system without the video but keeping the surround? Also, I’ve noticed a few displays they record the video of their setup with the camcorder and loose the stereo effect. Can’t you run a output cord for audio to the camcorder and not pick up outside distractions?

[Jack Stevens]

Are you also going to be using an FM transmitter? If so, instead of running a long cable that may get hung up on things, use an FM radio (maybe an MP3 player with an FM receiver in it?) to feed the camcorder.

[michael.farney]

wildredhead wrote:

I live on a busy street, but in a small town that gets alot of foot traffic. I was thinking about a transmitter but I wouldn't need a huge range. So then I thought of speakers. What type should I get (weatherproofing required) and how do I set them up? Do I just use the speaker plug on the back of my Computer? and would I need and external power source?

I bought a receiver i use for the purpose. It's made for 7 channel surround. During Christmastime, I move the receiver into the computer room, hook up the computer audio, and change the output setting. I believe i get 3 stereo (L+R) and one mono channel. So I just run speaker wire out the window to the 7 speakers outside. The speakers outside are the outdoor type but i wrap them up inside a black trash bag.

The speakers are out at the sidewalk facing UP in the air, not out. This lets the people on the sidewalk can hear it better since the speakers are inches from their toes. Facing them up also helps reduce the noise heading towards the neighbors while increasing the volume for those on foot.