Good Stereo Speakers for outside use during BBQs, evening pot luck dinners etc


I want to purchase (preferably used) a pair of good speakers to place in our back yard for get togethers with friends. I would like speakers that resolve well with clean highs and decent bass but nothing on the level of very high end. I will probably be running around 40 ft of speaker wire from a Pass X250.8

I'm just looking to have quality music in the back yard to enjoy with food, drink and non-audiophile friends. Easy set up and take down is desired as I really don't want to schlep my Vandersteen's in and out of the house every time I want music outside. Any suggestions for speakers and wire would be appreciated.

Bruce

brskie
I have a system that I roll out onto my back deck. During the spring, summer and fall seasons often get played more than my main system. I have used several monitor speakers. One of my favorites was a used pair of B&W 685 which worked well. They could broadcast well, loud or soft, and the bass was suitable even without reinforcement. I would stick with 6-7" monitors, maybe build some outdoor stands what wouldn't need to be moved, at least not taken inside. 
Forgot to add that I would try 12ga in-wall speaker wire from monoprice. A 100ft roll can be had for <$60 I believe. Otherwise maybe the Canare 4S11 which I use, not for your length however. Canare is ~3X the cost of the Monoprice.
Check out these new portable line array systems from electro-voice.  

https://products.electrovoice.com/na/en/30m/

https://products.electrovoice.com/na/en/evolve-50/

They sound great. Are powered and easy to transport.  Have built in bluetooth and dsp.  Just one stack should be more then enough volume.  The clarity on the mids and highs are so much better with these line arrays compared to horn loaded compression drivers most PA speakers use.
Get a pair of Used Mackire Srm 450’s.  Mount them on the adjustable pole mounts with the 3 legs...

The pole on the stand is height adjustable and you can lift the speakers up high so that the sound isn’t blocked by people standing in front of the speakers.  They have a horn waveguide on the tweeter and therefore a very wide dispersion pattern.

buy something like a parasound z dac; something with balanced outputs.  Plug an i phone or ipad into the zdac streaming soundcloud or spotify or tidal, whatever.  Plug the z dac into the speakers with xlr cables.  All in, speakers, dac, stands, i pad, you will spend $1500 but will have a system worthy of a serious dance party!