The magic of outdoor listening

Very interesting topic, johnk.  I started thinking about the title before I read the responses.  My first thought was how difficult it would be to put all equipment (turntable, CD player, DAC, preamp, amp, etc.) into a cabinet for protection against wind, moisture, dust, heat, cold and more.  I then opened the responses and read each one.  NO ONE mentioned anything about equipment needing protection from anything.  The gist of the thread is how the listener felt when listening outside and the experience gained from listening outside. Everyone had a simple way to have music outside.  Funny, sad and embarrassing how I thought first about the equipment and secondly about the music.

rayd: so the way i have my set-up is all the gear is inside my back room. i run the speaker wires from the amp to the speakers outside, which are on stands. this allows me to swap out speakers as mood dictates. different speakers for different moods.

@soix  +1 for Sonance Landscape Series. I had a system with (8) LS6T satellite speakers (4L+4R channel) and (1) LS12T in-ground subwoofer running off a Crown CDi 1000 Amp with equalizer. System was controlled by Control4.
We sold the home, but it was an amazing system at both low and high volumes.

there are many factors - the street, the volume, the number of people, but the main content of the music

 

The comments made on this topic were sensible and I'll add a few from my experience with outdoor sound when doing DJ work for parties and functions held outdoors. First, alert those living nearby about the outdoor music and the hours you intend to play it by. If it's a private party maybe the nearby neighbors can be invited or at least given the option to let you know the sound is too loud before they call the police to report it. Second, directional speakers will always perform better outdoors than cone & dome hi fi speakers, think Klipsch, JBL or Altec and put the sound where the party is and not where the neighbors are. Third, bass travels better than high frequencies so keep the bass down. Fourth, sound gets bent up during warm summer days and hugs the ground after dark. I would always advise my client that we need to reduce the volume after dark as the police might show up soon after dark when the neighbors, who couldn't hear much of it during daylight hours, hear it too well after dark. The right set-up and preparation will allow for some great outdoor listening when you want it or need it! 

Looking forward to warmer weather soon to get in more outdoor listening. 

I put my tube amps and source on a rolling stand so I can move it in and out of the garage, same with speakers I make sure it's set up in the shade.

*simply DYING to hear a definition of "boomer rock".......*

I love my outdoor system, a Marantz 2245 receiver, Adcom GCD575 cd player, with Klipsch KG2's...then the magic starts...I open the big garage bay door and it's open air season for another summer.....

Have EV outdoor speakers on back deck for decades(not years) for the purpose they’re great!

I have a portable battery powered diy system I take to the sandbar when boating in the summer.   Next to the fire, in the open sand, sounds wonderful.    No boundaries, no reflections is great place to listen.

We went camping one year and the guy next to us in an Airstream, in the peace and quiet of the majestic woods, started playing loud music on a massive ghettoblaster. That lasted 5 minutes as I was compelled to ask him to turn it off. After some consternation on his part, he did. And everyone that was there in the entire state park got back to enjoying the reason they were there. You’ve got to be aware. Don't be the guy everyone hates.

Not sure l know what Boomer Rock is, possibly referring to baby boomer Rock? I don't blast outside like I used to, but when we did we asked all the neighbors anywhere near us if it was bothering them and we got positive response from everyone. Now once in a while I will call some friends to come over for some indoor music listening at high spls that we call simply "Blam Blam". This includes a large variety of music, the definition being music that is intended to be listened to loud! 

Living in the AZ desert it's amazing how far sound carries--i can hear someone blasting music over a mile away so i figure they can hear me too--but the OP s right about how good music can sound outdoors where standing waves are gone--the good thing about desert listening is that you can listen at low volumes and still get enough impact to enjoy.  The other benefit---so many old folks in the desert that their hearing is gone--i've accidentally blasted music (ok maybe not accidentally) and asked my immediate neighbors about it the next day and often gotten "never heard a thing"--but i didn't ask everyone within a 1 miles radius...

Don’t know if it’s boomer rock, but I have learned from my neighbors that there apparently is a streaming channel called something like “Top AM Top 40 hits of the early 80’s.”  They have an impressively loud and distorted Bluetooth speaker of some sort.  An earlier post has me fantasizing about the Turtle Box and revenge.

Martin Mull had a great lyric -  “I got so darned upset I threw my drink across the lawn.”  And Joe Walsh - “I can’t complain, but sometimes I still do.”  (It may be on the aforementioned channel too)

or something like that

 

I’ll take a mood elevator regardless 

As a former bike racer I can tell you with a certainty that they are as reliable as fruit flies hovering over a piece of rotting durian.