Hey guys. A client of mine is moving into a new home. Beautiful place. The back yard is fully landscaped with a pool (with a cave!) , a couple of hundred rocks, deck, fire pit, yadda yadda blah blah. I'm doing a bunch of things in the house. There is a media room pre-wired, a dozen pairs of in ceiling speakers through out the house, and he wants speakers out side too. Great I say.... until I go outside and see that the builder ran a single piece of 16-4 outside for outdoor speakers. The same 16-4 he ran everywhere else including the media room. I hate 16-4 and tend to avoid it but in this case it's there and the house and landscaping are completely, and beautifully, finished so it's what I'm using. The one blessing is that the whole yard is held in by a short retaining wall on three sides and it faces green space and has a hedge surrounding it so it is no problem to run wires to any perimeter location without messing with the landscaping.

I think we will do four, or six, speakers outside. One (or two) by the deck, one (or two) by the fire pit, and two by the pool. This not a huge yard and this will provide good coverage. Here is what I thought I could do. I would like to hear your opinions and input.

Option one.

A big 2ch amp inside. Outside where the wire exits the brick, I terminate the 16-4 in a box and change to burial cable. I create three parallel runs of cable, each with it's own weather proof impedance matching volume control. The first to a single point stereo speaker at the deck, another to a single point stereo speaker by the fire pit, and a third to two speakers by the pool.

Why I like this: Stereo at all three locations, individual volume control in three areas, one amp (limited storage area for amps so as few as possible are better).

Why I don't like this: Basically six speakers running through impedance matching volume controls, maybe 150 ft for the longest run, then through another 50ft or so 16-4 back to the amp. My instinct tells me 16awg won't cut it.

Option two:

Same idea only combine the 16-4 creating 14-2(?) and go mono. Either a big stereo amp bridged or find a mono amp (likely go bridged). Use the same configuration of volume controls and speakers but using only one side of the volume control obviously.

Why I like it: 14-2.

Why I don't: It's not stereo.... but does that really matter in an outdoor environment. I think maybe not so much.

Option three:

As above only using 70 volt.

Why I like it: 16-2 or 14-2. I don't think it matters in this case because it's 70 volt.

Why I don't: It's again mono, I think it would cost more than solution one and two, and I've only ever done one 70v system and IT was not outdoors. It went fine and I would do one again but it's still a little foreign to me.

Please support, crap on, or otherwise alter and input too my plans!

Thanks, Craig

 70v Sonance or Episode landscape series with a sub and a 70v amp (Crown?)


I bet 2 donuts and a monkey that everyones says the same thing. 

 i would go with 71 volts.


keep the donuts.  where is my monkey?

Yep! +1

Or JBLs.

Keep it to 70v. Get a beefy amp to allow for growth to the system because it will grow. The more speakers the better the coverage at lower volumes.

+again on 70 volt. More players here everyday: Sonance, Episode, JBL, OneSystems, etc. IMO mono is better outside than stereo, so this is a plus.

Use on pair of the 164 for the 70 volt sats and 1 pair for the sub(s). That way, the level controls on your amp (channel 1 and channel 2) can be used independently to achieve the best sub to sat gain ratio.

If you use a 70 volt amp (Crown CDi series is good and cheap for this application), don't forget this between the consumer audio unit and the amp: [Link: parts-express.com]

+1

don't misquote me.  there is a friggen monkey involved here!

Lol

This is an absolute no brainer...70V w/ crown CDi

Episodes Landscape series, 6". Im going to go out on a limb and say your not an SLS dealer so stick with episodes. Early reviews are very favorable. Ordering a demo kit myself to pit against my demo sls system.

The more speakers you have the better for an outdoor setting. Nothing worse then having too few speakers and the client having to crank them making it hard to have a conversation with the person standing next to you.

70V allows you to use the 16/4, run two of the conductors and daisy chain to your hearts content for the speakers and use the other pair for the sub (keep it closer to the head end since its 8ohm) (ONCE AGAIN [email protected] WTH DID YOU NOT MAKE THIS SUB 70V??)

Crown CDi is your amplifier platform, super high quality amps and packed with features at a price that is crazy low considering the capabilities it offers. us an ART "Clean Box" to take your unbalanced signal and turn it into a balanced signal properly, Sonos Connect?

If you dont want to go the route of episodes LS system then make your own system using sonance FMS660's or JBL control series, this may be the route to go if your client wants more oomph then background music.

Lastly, why no love for 16/4?

Feel free to PM me with any outdoor speaker questions you have or system design. Ill help you as much as I can.

You could use the Crown 2 channel and run 16-4 and alternate pairs on each speaker, connect right to one channel left to the other and still have stereo.

Thanks for all of the input. To be honest, I thought 70v as soon as I saw the 16-4. Didn't think to add a sub though. It's just not something I've done outdoors before. Shame on me.

If I use one amp for the sub, and another for the sats, is there a way to control the speakers in each of the "zones" i described with the same vc I use for the sub?
The way envision this set up it would have a separate vc for sats and sub, where the client has to adjust each. Is that a pain or is it awesome?

Am I over complicating? Do I use one vc for the whole yard and tap each of the speakers so they are an appropriate volume for their individual location and the whole yard is balanced. That sounds like a good idea?

Do I add a sub in each of the "zones"? i agree too few speakers sucks, so is one sub enough for the whole back yard. It's about 30ft x 60ft with a pool in the middle. I can imagine pitting a sub under the deck for instance and having it sound good everywhere.

No love for 16-4? Wire is so cheap I've just always run 14awg for just about everything and 12 guage in my theaters. I started in car audio where everything was 4awg and 000. Maybe I have wire envy.

From one of my suppliers I can get JBL and Crown. I'm in Canada and Snap is distributed from another supplier across the country. I would prefer not to ship across Canada if I can avoid it. I have three good suppliers I can drive to withing 30 minutes and that is great for service, returns, etc. Does JBL make a decent passive outdoor sub?

Thanks, Craig

I'm planning on putting together a couple of options for the client. Can option one be a couple of pairs of 8 ohm speakers with volume controls and an amp just to keep it cheap? In other words, am I inviting trouble with that single run of 16-4 being the back bone of the system?

Then I can offer some bitchin' 70v options with subs? I like to give people options.

Craig

Actually, I could put a single sub in the bushes above the cave behind the pool. No one would be too close to it. It would be equidistant to the deck and fire pit.

Hmmmmm.

Craig

On a Crown CDi, can I run one channel 70v, and the other 8ohm? The manual wasn't clear on this.

Sweet amp by the way.

Craig