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Can some of you good folks out there give me some ideas on what to do for a AG pool stereo system? We use a radio, but it is by the house about 25 foot away and that's to far. We have an electric outlet at the pool. Any ideas would be great. Help me wake the neighbors.
Why not a boom box? You HAVE power out there. But if you want a permanent system, then you'll need outdoor speakers.
You can get everything from cheapies at $50/pair on up to TechNomads for $750 a side--or even more! There's nothing better--cruise ships and the New York Shakespeare Festival's Shakespeare in The Park use Technomads for their outdoor audio.
Boston Acoustics, Niles and others make excellent outdoor speakers (I'm partial to Bostons, but don't like their electronics). Pricing is about what good indoor speakers cost.
I think Bose is terribly overpriced for the quality of the speakers and their sound.
You'll have to run waterproof boxes and underground conduit back to your house, but it doesn't have to be code for speaker wire--I'm assuming you want to keep the equipment inside.
Very little electronics is designed to live outdoors, thus the running of speaker wire back to the house. Some is water and humidity resistant, but that's going to be lousy or expensive.
Or you can find the biggest, loudest boom-box, the kind with removable speakers and just plug that in, and drag it inside when it rains.
I think there was another thread here in the old forum on wireless outdoor speakers? Depending on what you want to spend, you can get some decent ones that will go up to 100' from the indoor stereo system. I checked out some that started around $49 or something at Amazon. We had a solar/wind up radio out there for a while - wireless
I had never really thought about running speakers out to the pool and leaving everything else inside. That sounds like a great idea. I have conduit running out to the pool so that wouldn't be a problem.
We use the Logitech mm50 speaker system with an iPod. It contains a rechargable battery and can simultaneously recharge the iPod and the mm50 when plugged in. Sound quality is very good and the unit is very light so it's not a chore to set it outside during the day and bring it inside at night.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...ONTENTID=10785
It's not completely relevant to your problem, but here's how I did my outdoor speakers. I used conduit, glued up like pvc pipe, and the same method could be applied to remote speakers with in-ground conduit. These are Boston Acoustics Voyager 6 units. Couldn't get the 7s but the 6s are good enough for me and handle 125rms watts each, with surprisingly good sound.
I use an ancient set of Dynaco components--200wpch amp, with pre-amp and tuner. Then I have an ancient but wonderful Nakamichi cassette deck that flips the tape! And I just added a cheapie $80 CD changer than can hold 5 CDs and play MP3 CDs.
Love it.
http://home.earthlink.net/~dashmanc/...olSpeakers.JPG
So CarlD, now I know where you sit to truly relax. NICE. Your speaker mounting setup would work just great for my situation. I could mount them on our sofet and angle them toward the pool. Spaced maybe 10 foot between the two. All the wiring would be in the attic.Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlD
Now going wireless really has my ears perked up. I could set some poles around our pool and mount the speakers to them. I think that might look good also. They would defiantly be closer to the pool than if they were mounted to the house.
Now, I haven't shopped speakers at all yet. But, what are the distance limitations to wireless speakers?
Thanks for the picture and post CarlD, it really has me thinking.
Hey gang, why not go all out. Underwater speakers. Check them out.
http://www.shadebuilder.com/underwater_speakers.html
I would check them out myself if the price were under a hundred. But that's just me.:)
Enjoy the tunes and the pools, Dennis
I've got the bigger Yamaha outdoor speakers on the yacht. :) One pair on the deck, one pair down below. I bought them because they didn't take much power to drive and put out better bass than the smaller speakers. The only caveat is that they have a little bass "hump" somewhere just below a bass voice. You have to eq it out or they sound a little boomy. The upside is that if you eq it out they sound very very good. We tend to range Stan Kenton, AC/DC, Willie/Waylon so it's a mighty mixed bag and the speakers really never disappoint. They easily drown out the diesel, wind, waves, and an occassional angry tugboat pilot honking at., could it be us?
They'd make wonderful pool speakers and Fry's and Best Buy often have them on sale for $99/pair. Plus you can say "Someone from the yacht club recommended them to me, Pip Pip!" :D
Link to said speakers at Amazon
Malibu wire for low voltage outdoor lights works great for speaker wire ... I have 4 speakers in my yard using the malibu wire to power them. I use 2 recievers in the house so I have seperate volume control for inside / outside.
Speakers are Bose 151 Enviromental (10 years outside in the sun, rain and sprinklers and they still sound great) out in the yard and klipsch for under teh patio.
try the malibu wire, you don't even need conduit in the ground then.
That sounds nearly ideal Phillbo. Have you had any trouble with corrosion in the connection or has it held up fine? I'm wondering if I'll need to solder on a terminal...
I've never had any corrosion issues.. I live in Aridzona though.. nothing rust out here ;)
Yeah, I thought of that after I sent it. I think Gold rusts here in Houston... :D
I listened to the Yamahas and the Bose, and to my ears, the Boston Acoustics gave a truer, smoother sound. But, then again, the BA Voyager 6's are at a completely different price point. The great thing about speakers and audio in general is there is NO best, just what you like and makes you happy. That's what's best.
Malibu wire should be OK since it's pretty heavy and stranded, but I preferred to go to 14gauge multistrand. H-D sold it for $.39/foot, which is pretty cheap. I remember Monster Cable selling the same stuff for $16./foot! Yeah, really! Maybe they worked for BioGuard at one point? I try to keep everything covered. The boxes for the speaker connections on the wall are covered, too.
I use short jumpers with gold pins to gold sockets. The speakers are under the eaves so they don't get direct weather--and come the fall, they come down in less than 5 minutes with no tools.
Remember when wiring speakers to make the wire length to each side EXACTLY the same length, even if you have to wrap up a section of cord and hide it. It's very important if you want them both sound the same and not have to struggle with the balance knob.
Hey hey :D
you guys hit on my other hobby...audio :D
I haven't begun looking into outdoor speakers yet...but I plan to put this on next years projects.
should be fun!
dan
http://home.comcast.net/~gone.fishin/sidespeakermed.jpg
All you need is a boat and you can be SURE your kids won't see college!:DQuote:
Originally Posted by gonefishin
Presto! Change-o! See the bank account magically empty!:rolleyes:
BOAT= Break Out Another Thousand ;)
Boat:
A hole in the water
surrounded by wood
into which you pour money!:(
sun, fun and thongs ;)
Carl, how true it is. I sold my last boat the year before my first daughter started college. She is now being paid by Yale to do her doctorate work there. Daughter number two attended Berklee Music college and is now producing CD's at Jenson studios in LA. Daughter number three starts ASU in a few weeks. Daughter four, close behind, wants to be a vet. I have it worked out that I can own a boat again in eight years. Maybe just a rowboat, but I will be on the lake again someday.
Best to all, Dennis
I finally found the sailboat I can afford to buy and store!
http://www.directinflatables.com/product/10-01551
Yeah, it's inflatable....Sorta like an Intex donut with a sail:rolleyes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlD
haha! very true...
We used to be part of the boat world...what a great time we had! Although am I sure glad those days are gone ;) I'm perfectly content being a happy pool owner :)
dan
Yeah, and being an audiophile can be a VERY expensive hobby if you go nuts.
But I generally prefer older speakers I can restore, re-foam (very easy) and re-equalize, if necessary. Got some old Advents (including The New Advent--circa 1980), AR2As, B/As, and some others (who was it had the Heil Air Motion transformer? DSS?--got them too).
Then there's cassettes, turntables, amps, tuners, pre-amps, etc...
Tube/solid state, Class A, B, C, etc....
Carl, I have an old Harman Kardon receiver that I use for the exterior speakers, It runs real hot and on occasion will drop one of the channels. I'm not much for tinkering with electronics (in truth, i should prolly kill the main breaker before changing a light bulb for my safety) but would like to try to diagnose before buying a cheapo to replace it . Any advice where to start ? I thought maybe opening it up and blowing it out real good to start.. An easy fix would be great but if not, i'll just trash it..
and try this sail boat on for size ;)
http://www.pdracer.com/plans/harley-8.pdf
What I think is going on is that H-K's safety circuits are kicking in to prevent more damage. Better to shut down and cool down than burn out. For the last 25-30 years, most amplifier units (and microwave ovens) have had such circuitry. But something is out of spec on the channel that's going down (I assume it's always the same channel). It could be as small as a single resistor or capacitor that's blown. If you really love it and want to play with it, and have the test equipment, you could have a lot of fun. OTOH, you can buy a really nice two-channel receiver these days for under $100--today, Circuit City has a 100wpch Sherwood receiver for $75....You can't repair the H/K for that. They have an Onkyo surround sound for about $190.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phillbo
Easy checks: Try the dusting out first. If it's full of dust, heat can build up. Be sure to check the power supply circuit--it should be near or connected to the power suppply transformer and be a smallish circuit board (if it's separate). Those components tend to throw heat.
Also you might check the power transistors and their heat sinks--they get VERY hot, too and if the sinks are dirty, they can't dissappate heat well. If the heat-conducting goop between the transistors and the sinks is shot or too thick, they'll overheat, too.
You could try a fan, like a PC fan, that's quiet to suck heat out of the unit, too. Might have to be inventive!
VERY cool! Norm, from This Old House and New Yankee Workshop built a small day-sailor as well, called a Clancy. I have the plans and video, but never built it. It's a little more complicated, but it's a similar idea.Quote:
http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct3.cgi?708
Thanks for the advice.. It's always the same channel. I'll get a can of air and see how much dust has accumilated and if anything obvious jumps out at me. If it keeps doing it, I'll just replace it with a cheapo unit.
The amazing thing is that even cheapo units like that Sherwood and an Onkyo I got my mom perform as well if not better than units from the 70's, 80's and 90's. Ordinary stereo at high quality got very, very cheap.
Yup, you guys are taking me for a walk down memory lane. Audio was a hobby of mine when I was a kid. I've got more than one pair of homemade speakers per room in my house. My living room is graced by my father's old pair of AR3/A's driven by a Hafler DH-200.
The main reason I recommended the Yamahas is that with the larger box and woofer you get good efficiency and a high maximum SPL per dollar. Yamaha didn't have to make as many comprimises on the sound to shrink the speakers because they didn't shrink them as much. And at $99 to $150/pair you don't really have to break the bank. Like I said though without the equilizer tweak you WON'T like the sound. I suspect the smaller Yamahas are not as good as the bign's. I completely agree with Carl on the Bose speakers. Sound quality per $$ isn't there.
Now when do we start talking about yacht racing? :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by sailork
this ought to get your blood moving :D
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/138844
A$ $oon a$ we can get lot$ of gue$$ what $ta$hed in our per$onal bank account$!;)Quote:
Originally Posted by sailork
Becau$e what do you think we'll $pend lot$ and lot$ of?:confused:
Haffler: That's a grand old name! I've virtually every kind of amp, pre-amp and tuner Dynaco ever made. Even have some UN-built kits!
We might need to start an audio section! I have been an audio hobbist since the 60's when I was in Jr. High and got my first component system! Built more speaker systems than I care to think about and still remember the day I bought my Dual 1219 turntable/Shure V15 type II cartridge when I was in High School! Worked my way through college by first working in and then becoming the Audio Dept. manager for an Audio/musical instrument store! (That was back in the days of quadraphonic sound! I actually spoke with Joe Grado from Grado labs on the phone many times about his phono cartridges and CD4 demodulator setup. He sent me one of his signature series cartridges as a gift!)
I took the easy way out for my pool sound for now....Have an Advent wireless outdoor speaker...mono only but very good sound for the money (was around $100, sorry to say Thompson sold Advent to audiovox and they no longer offer the unit). Have the transmitter hooked up to my computer right now and listen to MP3s and internet radio by the pool but I used to have it hooked into my home theatre system. Had to run upstairs to the living room to change music which is why I switched it over to the computer. My office is right next to the pool and has sliding glass doors so it's easy to adjust things if I want to. Plan to install outdoor speakers some time in the future but this works fine for now.
Y'know, I think I'm going to move this to the non-pool topic....It's not really an A/G thread.
I just replaced the 19 year old CD player for the pool. My wife looked askance at me, spending more money. It's a beautiful old Yamaha we got as a wedding gift. It stopped opening and closing, so I pulled it apart and found the eject belt was stretched. I replaced it for about $3 or $4 bucks, with a spare, and it was like new!
So why replace it? I replaced it with a 5 CD table changer that can play CD-R, CR-RW, and MP3s on CD. I really got tired of having to get out of the pool every 45 minutes, dry off, run inside and change it. Now it's 5 CDs in a row--and all for $80 new!
I have to watch the pots and switches on the old Dynaco stuff--they can cause a channel to drop. Work 'em a little and they are fine. The amp is scary--big, tall, wide, heavy, and 200wpch. But it's 25 or more years old and still kicks! With the classic Pat-4 pre-amp it all runs nicely.
The ONLY other thing with all equipment is not enough space between RCA sockets, so sometimes the new, heavy RCA plugs are too big to go side-by-side!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlD
There's some great stuff that was made in the days gone by. Some of the older drivers are really top quality. It may be true that some of the voicing of the older speakers may not be fully to someones liking...but in a different speaker/crossover system...the voicing could be quite different. The picture in the previous post is a DIY design using JBL, Fane and TAD drivers.
I've been looking for some Heils to play around with too...one of these days ;) The largest problem my wife has with the audio hobby is that I don't get rid of stuff :p
here's another DIY speaker...and my system in it's room below that...
http://home.comcast.net/~gone.fishin/Altecsmall.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~gone.fishin/system_small.jpg
dan
Carl, my first amp was a Dynaco ST-120. I bought it with a dead channel at a garage sale when I was 14 and fixed it. (Yeah, yeah it was one of the transistor dynacos everybody hates but I loved it....)
Waterbear, I've got a Dual 1019 with a V15 Type 3 sitting in my livingroom right now. :D If I had any decent albums left I'd look into fixing that drive wheel.....
Philbo, I love that video! It's amazing what a few million worth of carbon will do for your speed. :p
Well I took the easy way out.:o I run a linux file server in house hooked to a wireless access point so I have access to my mp3 files wireless. I took an old lap top hooked to a decent pair of speakers and tossed in a wireless network card so now I have access to the mp3 files on the server. I build a play list, start it, and go jump in the pool. I need to build a weather proof storage for it so I don’t have to drag it in and out each time. I guess I may add a universal remote and hack the ir port on the back of the laptop so I can be truely lazy and not have to get out of the pool to adjust the volume and play list.:D
Steve
Ain't THAT the truth! :rolleyes:Quote:
The largest problem my wife has with the audio hobby is that I don't get rid of stuff :p
sailork: I've got a number of ST-120s including a couple that are still brand-new unbuilt kits. The S/S stuff gets a bad rap, but it's a particular sound. The REAL rap on the ST-120s is the earlier ones had poor power supply circuits that blew and were difficult to repair. Somewhere, I have articles on how to upgrade them to the later versions. The ST-80s were a little more reliable, and were combined with the PAT-4 preamp into the SCA-80 and SCA-80Q, integrated amps. The Q stood for quad--using Dynaco's simple but fairly effective phasing trick.Quote:
Originally Posted by sailork
Dynaco made a whole range of S/S power amps, from the ST-80, ST-120, ST-150, and the monster ST400 series (there are some others including if I remember correctly, the ST-300--4 75wpch amps for true quad sound.). They only made 3 integrated amps, the SCA-80, SCA-50 (extremely rare) and the SCA-35--the little tube amp.
I bought an SCA-35 on eBay just to see what the hoopla was about. I wasn't impressed. Then I dug in and found a bad resistor, and a bad cap, and WOW! what a fantastic sound that little 17.5wpch amp had!
The S/S stuff has a little colder sound than the tube stuff-I can hear it and prefer the tubes, but while the audiophiles would have you think the gap is a chasm, it's really very slight.
Curiously, for some reason, in my house, digital tuners work very poorly and the old analogs do better. The tube-based Dynaco FM-1 may have been the ugliest component ever built, and the FM-3 was only slightly better in brushed aluminum--but they work really well.
Consequently, I am also partial to Tivoli radios because they work in m house. Same guy, Kloss, designed them as designed the AR3A speakers, the original Advent speakers, the original KLH speakers and stereo (the Tivoli tuner mech is STRAIGHT off the KLH compact stereo from 40 years ago!) and I don't know what else!
I just haven't messed with the stuff in a couple of years. I used to love to sit and analyze, diagnose, and solder, solder, solder!
you gus are geeks... lets talk about sailboats :D :D
I deleted part of my post because I thought I was going on and on and on. I had written that I was in an Electronics Explorer post and one of the guys had the ST-300. By then Quadrophenia was the only reference left to quadraphonics.
I believe my ST-120 was made in the very late 70's or early 80's. I had one heck of a time cobling together a 51 volt zener diode to replace the one that had blown. (along with a 2035 transistor in the final drive and one in the powersuppy for good measure.) It really was a great sounding amp. I think the tube stuff only sounds better because the distortion harmonics are interpreted differently by the brain. The new amps are so clean that you generally won't hear it at all. Since I was listening to Led Zeppelin and Jimi I wasn't really going to hear "nuance" anyway.
The last pair of speakers I built used a pair of Madisound 6 1/2 inch woofers above and below a cloth domed Peerless tweeter. The design was 100% budget driven but the efficiency was outsanding. They'll still make your ears ring for a week if you aren't careful. Not exactly deep bass, but then I wasn't listening to Rap or Mozart. I think you could almost smell the lighter fluid on Jimi's guitar.
"you gus are geeks... lets talk about sailboats"
Sounds great Phillbo, if Mod Carl doesn't chide us for going off topic.. :D
As can probably be surmized from my screen name I'm a sailboat junky. Virtually all of my time on sailboats has been either "beer and burger run" sailing on Galveston bay or racing on the bay and the Gulf. Since the average crew age seems to be just less than 90 around here I tend to fill in the "yank on things" side of racing. I fly (and generally hoist) the chute. I yank the jib. On most wednesday nights I sail on a Capri 22 on Clear Lake. PHRF Non-spin. I weigh 240 so the boat tends to lean in my direction.. :o
My main ride is my Dad's J/105. That's where the speakers live that I was talking about earlier in this thread. We play a fair amount of Kinky Friedman on board and I suspect everyone on the crew is going to vote for him for Gov'ner. I just can't figure out why he didn't make "Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed" his campaign theme...
(I edited out a more offensive Kinky Friedman song title believe or don't.)
Oh My Gosh, we are going way to far back. Waterbear, my first system in the 60's sounds a lot like yours. I raised my kids on the Beatles and Stones, ect.ect. I mentioned daughter number two was working at Henson studios. I did not mention, in the last year and a half, she has worked with the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. Keith gave her a huge bunch of roses and Paul a big hug. She just did her first side job, third engineer on a Randy Jackson project. This month the first two CD's are being released with her name in the credits. One of her best friends was the drummer for Zappa for many years. She worked an entire week on the sound track that Ozborn used to lip sink opening night of Monday Night Football last year. I just gave her my 500 plus collection of albums. She has carted half of them away and is coming back for the second half. She has become the hit of the studio with this collection.
Carl, the sail boat fits my budget but where would you install the speakers?
Actualy, I would like an inflatable that I could slap a 250 Merc on and use for bass fishing. Any ideas?
I have never been in a thread and so far off topic with a mod. It's fun sometimes and I hope it's OK.:)
Here's to good sounds, in the pool or on the boat. Dennis