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Outdoor/pool.deck system

Recently purchased a home with a pool area, nice covered patio. I'm looking to do a nice little reasonably priced system to stream music from a phone. My initial thought was to get something like a bluesound power node and a couple of ceiling mount speakers for the covered area. Should do the trick for pool days, backyard parties etc. I do have a blue sound node used for streaming in my main rig, so I thought it would be convenient to be able to stream same music inside and outside at the same time. At least I think that's how it works...

 

Just curious what my fellow HiFi'era are doing for outdoor systems. Are there any particular speakers you can suggest? Is there something that I should consider other than a power node? 

 

Thanks for any opinions on the matter!

128x128jin78
mitch2
4,006 posts
 

I basically have a separate system in my garage. Since the streamer/server in my main system uses Roon and we have a mesh router system, I have a mesh node in the garage connected by Ethernet to a Roon endpoint then a DAC with volume control going directly into monoblocks that power three sets of speakers, one set by the pool area, another in a large covered back porch area, and a third inside the garage. The speakers are hard wired and I have not added a sub.

I was smart (or lazy) enough to hang on to my Rotel speaker selector (see below), which compensates for impedance changes resulting from running multiple speakers and allows me to choose any combination of the three sets of speakers.

This year, I replaced my 20-year old Speakercraft/Weathercraft speakers with Bogen/Near A8T, 8-inch Indoor/Outdoor Speakers and have been very pleased with the improvement.

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jerryg123's avatar
jerryg123
3,429 posts
 

I have a Yamaha WXA 50 Streaming Integrated Amplifier I use for our pool/deck system with these inexpensive Dual Outdoor 3 ways.

Amazon.com: Dual LU47PB 4" 3-Way Indoor/Outdoor Speakers (Black) : Electronics

 

Amazon.com: Yamaha WXC-50 MusicCast Wireless Streaming Preamplifier (Dark Silver) : Electronics

 

jin78's avatar
jin78 OP
37 posts
 

Wow, so just as I thought you guys have "enlightened" me to various options. I didn't think about the mono thing, which makes total sense. Also, I didn't think about the speaker "zones" and impedance issues. I guess my best bet is to try and anticipate where I want to end up with this system and build it accordingly.  The more I think about it, I know I'm going to want multiple zones eventually, so might as well plan ahead. Thanks for all the suggestions, you guys def gave me plenty to think about.

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