affordable outdoor speakers - opinions please

[matt4x4]

Hi all,
Well, it's time to make a few changes around the house, one is going to be tearing the deck off and building a new one about 4 times as large, since this will keep me busy for a bit come spring time, i'd like to be able to have some music while building this monstrosity. My wife has pretty much emptied my pockets with the deck she wants, but i would really like to install a nice set of outdoor speakers on our covered portion of the deck (pre build).
The deck will be about 30x40 so you have an idea of the soundfield i'm trying to fill - anything beyond that is pointless and i will be installing a completely separate system for our pool located another 100 feet beyond the deck.
Any input/personal reviews would be greatly appreciated!

[SeanB.]

What's the budget on the speakers?

For under $200, I recommend these:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6328976&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03051&id=1077626340419


For over $200, I recommend these:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6331873&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03051&id=1082742914946

Or, if you want a one speaker solution, this one should be pretty good:
http://www.legacyaudiovideo.com/klipschaw500sm.html

Everyone's ears are different though, so it's best to audition them for yourself first, but these might give you a good place to start. HTH.

[mneal]

Like Sean said, everyone ears are slightly different. I have two different sets of outdoor speakers, one is a set of mid range Niles OS10, and the other is Evids 6.2. The Evids are made by Electrovoice and are commercial outdoor concert type so pretty durable and I am pleased with sound quality. They are pretty good bang for the buck in my opinion. (about $375)

[CarlD]

I was very interested in the Niles myself, but I ended up with the Boston Acoustic Voyager 6 model--they are competitive at about $400 a pair. I have been delighted with the sound quality. B/A is a funky company, and I'm not crazy about their electronics but I think they make FABULOUS speakers. I would have gotten the Voyager 7's but they weren't available to listen to and I've been very satisfied with the 6s. There's a thread somewhere on pool sound systems.

If you REALLY want to go high-end, go TechNomad--you can get them color coded and you'll spend anything for $1200 to $Boo-Coo for totally indestructable speakers--they use them on cruise ships and at the New York Shakespeare Festival's Shakespeare In The Park.

I would strongly avoid Bose. They are over-priced and the sound does not justify it--the Voyagers will simply give you a wider range, flatter response, and a better-defined sound.

There are several kinds of speakers: Cheap, Inexpensive, Expensive and Over-Priced. I would stick to Inexpensive or Expensive!:rolleyes:

Mine are wired through the wall into our family room and use an old cluster of Dynaco equipment that is simple, powerful and clear-sounding. Add a cheap CD changer and we have music for hours!

Remember: The BEST way to get even sound is to be sure that the wiring to both speakers is EXACTLY the same length. Simply wrap up the wire for the one that is closer to the amp. Even a foot difference may be heard, and 3-5 feet WILL be heard. Speaker wire is cheap! It's also better to use heavier wire, especially for longer runs. The heavier the wire, the lower the resistance, and the longer the run you can make without sound loss. Home Depot had 14 guage multi-strand for .33/foot when I got it. No need to pay insane prices for Monster Cable!

http://home.earthlink.net/~dashmanc/pool/PoolSpeakers.JPG

[Phillbo]

I have 4 BOSE 151's around my yard... love 'em. They sound great and one set is over 10 years old. Daily sprinkler dousing has not caused them any harm. Quality.


go ahead, someone start the BOSE bashing ;)

[CarlD]

I have 4 BOSE 151's around my yard... love 'em. They sound great and one set is over 10 years old. Daily sprinkler dousing has not caused them any harm. Quality.


go ahead, someone start the BOSE bashing ;)

Too late--already did!:D

I've listened to Bose outdoors a number of times, various models. I don't think any of them sound as good as the Boston Acoustics. Then again, I think the same thing about the INDOOR speakers too.

But, as it's been said, everyone's ears are different. The speakers that YOU love are the best speakers in the world.:rolleyes:

[matt4x4]

Thanks for all the info everyone, Sean - most of what you posted is on my list to check out, hopefully, some will be displayed for listening purposes when i get around to it, otherwise, I'm sure I'll be coming home with about 10 sets and returning 9.
I've also got some Advents, Acoustic Research, Polk, Energy and Paradigms on the list to review, I've always been partial to Paradigms for indoor speakers, may as well check their outdoor stuff out.
Well, this will give me a little fall project to do, the wiring will probably get done over the winter since most of it will get pulled through my attic which is the most direct route and winter is a good time to work up there.
Heck, maybe if I go big I won't need to get another system near the pool - although our town may not appreciate THAT!

[SeanB.]

I like the Bose and have a couple of friends with their outdoor speakers, but in a side by side, to my ears, they don't quite match up to the Klipsch. I do like them better than the less expensive Yamaha's I listed though. Bose is not the junk that bashers would have you believe.

I have the cubes/acoustimass in our gameroom and am very happy with them. I have no doubt I could get better sound quality for the same dollars but for aesthetics/sound they work for me.

[CarlD]

I thought the Paradigms were pretty good, too. But I only heard the smaller ones--no larger ones avail in the shop. Go for the larger models and I'll bet you get good response. A long time ago Advent made one of the best speakers you could buy--to this day they sound fantastic. But now it's just a name, not the old company. This is true of AR as well.

Henry Kloss invented the modern speaker--he was working for AR and came up with the legendary AR-3a's. Then he went to Advent and designed The Advent Speaker and The Advent Small Speaker. He left them for KLH (guess what the K stood for). His last design was the original Tivoli table radio with AMAZING base response and tuning.

You have to listen to speakers and you have to remember that theywill be heard OUTSIDE!

[matt4x4]

Carl, that's why I asked for opinions from all here, unfortunately, the stores are NOT going to be able to make the speakers sound as they will in their final environment, all these speakers will sound really good in the store since there will be walls for the sound to bounce off and give you a fuller sound field over what will be the final outdoor experince.
I am basically going to judge thse speakers based on a couple of listening criteria only:
1. Base response - the more base they'll have in the showroom, the more I can expect outside - if they have none in the show room, they'll have less than none outside.
2. The sound from a good distance away - I htink I've decised to listen to the speakers from about 30 feet away in the stoire, if they still sound full and have nice crisp sound, then they should work for the 20 or so feet of distance i will require in my outdoor environment.


I have one plus with our deck, approximately 12 feet of it from the house out is covered, and we have walls on 2 adjoining sides of it, giving us somewhat of a better environment to contain the sound in and some walls to use for bouncing the sound out to the remaining deck area.