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Outdoor Speaker Installation Tips
You need to decide exactly where you want to enjoy your music outdoors before you even think about outdoor speaker installation. How many outdoor speakers will you need to buy to pump decent quality sound to all your prime outside locations? Many home owners today choose to set up multiple independent "listening zones" both inside and outside their house and have complete control over the listening source (iPod/iPhone, CD, radio, home network, etc.) and the volume that is being played in each individual area. An extremely popular way to achieve all of this is by installing a whole house audio system. For a package price, you typically get an audio distribution amplifier, wall mountable keypads that allow to control music volume and listening source from each individual zone, and a system handheld remote control.
Outdoor Speaker Volume Control
At a bare minimum, you will want to be able to control the volume of your outdoor speakers from outside. Direct burial / outdoor speaker wire will need to be run from your amplifier to each individual outdoor volume control, then to your speakers.
If you are doing anything more elaborate than just adding a single pair of 8 ohm outdoor speakers to the B channel on your home theater receiver, you may need to invest in an additional power amplifier to drive multiple speakers. |
Choosing the Best Outdoor Speaker
Weatherproof speakers are the best at handling the harsh outdoor elements and allow you the most flexibility where you locate them. Consider rock speakers, stone speakers, and landscape speakers. Weather-resistant speakers, on the other hand, should be installed where they will receive minimal direct exposure to rain, moisture, sunlight, etc. A great place to mount outdoor speakers is under an eave. Looking for garden speakers, or speakers for listening to your favorite music in the courtyard or backyard? Consider going with patio speakers and planter speakers.
If you want to hear deeper bass outdoors, consider adding an outdoor subwoofer to go along with each pair of mounted outdoor speakers.
If you want the maximum flexibility in how and where they listen to their music outside, wireless outdoor speakers might be the best choice, especially if you will have difficulty properly running speaker wire from your amplifier to each of your listening areas. |
