How to choose the right outdoor speakers - Explained

Okay, so you're sitting on your deck or patio, watching the neighbors mowing their lawn and you think to yourself, "do I have to listen to this orchestra of lawn mowers, weed eaters and leaf blowers?" Well, the unfortunate answer to this is yes, unless you or they move away, you are stuck with this barrage of summers sounds, constantly filling the air. But there is a way to bring yourself back to that calm and soothing place you were before this metal chopping symphony began. It is right there on your deck or patio and even in your backyard, think of it, the soothing sounds of your own music filling the landscape. Your garden areas lightly sprinkled with your favorite music. Your music, of your choice, not the sounds from the street or even next door, but the soothing tunes that you enjoy hearing. The music that takes you to another place or even back in time. Is this possible for your yard or garden-scape? The answer is, Yes!

So you want to hear your music while relaxing in your backyard, but how do you do it? It's simple, get quality outdoor speakers that will blend into your décor. Sound hard to do? Start by deciding where in your outdoor areas you would like to have music. Next sketch on paper your landscape layout and decide the places that you and your guests will be spending most of their time and concentrate on those areas first. These most likely will be the sitting areas on your deck, patio or garden. Now decide how involved you want to get. What do I mean by "involved"? How much work do you want to do? I know, I know, we all want this to be easy and to require next to no work. Some of us would like to cross our arms, close our eyes and do that "I dream of Genie head bop" and poof! The work is done! Well, you can hire out this chore if it fits your budget and that is great. Just make sure you research what you want and relay that on to your contractor. And you should be fine. But if you are like me, we would love to have the extra cash around to have someone else do it, but we don't. So we are stuck doing it ourselves. You know this is really not that hard of job to do. It can be just as easy as purchasing wireless outdoor speakers.

These gems are great! Just grab your CD or MP3 player, plug into the base unit of your wireless speakers, place the wireless speakers where you want them and let the good times roll! Wireless outdoor speakers can also have add on speakers that can expand your listening area even farther in your yard. With a range of around 150-200 feet, you should be able to get your tunes where you want and with really no extra work. Now you do have to keep the batteries charged in some units and fresh batteries on hand in others to make the system work. Some even come with power cords or adapters that can be plugged in at electrical outlets, but that defeats the whole wireless speaker thing don't you think? All "outdoor" wireless speakers are weather "resistant", which just means that if it starts to rain or you leave them out over night or even a couple days, they will be fine. They should not be used as permanent outdoor speakers though unless you have a well protected place to put them. We suggest you put them away after usage just to be safe. There are completely "waterproof" wireless speakers that float in your pool or hot tub and can be completely submerged! These are pretty cool and get the music in there where its gonna be wet! This is the easy installation way to go!

Now if you don't want the hassle of making sure your wireless speakers are charged up or have fresh batteries in them, you can opt to do a little bit more work. Patio speakers are designed to be placed/mounted in outdoor areas where the weather is going to get to them. And don't worry, they are made for this. The requirement is to find a place on your house, deck or gazebo that they can be mounted. You will need to be handy with a drill and screw drivers to do this and you will be putting holes in your mounting areas to run speaker wires. These will have to be of course sealed to keep the creepie-crawlies out, but not a big deal. You will need some basic wiring skills as well as basic wiring tools such as: wire cutters, wire strippers, pliers, screwdrivers, drill bits and a drill. All of which are likely to be in your tool box if you are even a basic handyman. Once you have found the place to mount your speakers, follow the directions that come with your particular speakers and mount them. Just make sure that at this location you have a direct way to get the speaker wires run into your house to your amplifier. Amplifier you say? We will cover that in another article, so lets get back to the speakers. Hook up your wires to your amplifier after mounting the speakers. Poof! Done! Just turn on the tunes and your relaxing and enjoying the music. Skill level: medium.

Okay, so the mounted patio speakers are not enough for you and you need more from your music. Or maybe you have gardens that you want to be able to stroll though and hear your music. This is where garden speakers come into play. They come in different varieties to work with your décor. Rock speakers look just like rocks and come in many different colors, shapes and sizes. You can get animal shaped ones, birdbath shaped ones, stump shaped, planters, bowls etc. Just pick what works for you. Some can be buried in the ground so that only the tops of them are seen. Lots to choose from here, just pick what suits your skill level and needs. You are going to have to bury some speaker cable to get sound to the speakers, so keep the route short. You will have to get these wires back to your amplifier which will be inside your house or elsewhere, so holes will have to be most likely drilled and sealed too. Skill level: medium.

Keep your eyes peeled for our next edition, where we will discuss the options for hooking up your outdoor speakers to your amplifier.

The Outdoor Speaker Guy

An avid music lover and musician, specializing in home audio sales, service and installation for over 20 years.
http://www.outdoorspeakerguy.com
http://www.outdoorspeakerguy.com/rock_speakers