I heard the Sonaray at a disty demo day and it sounded great, but you limit yourself to exactly 8 speakers and the sub. You cannot use any less or any more, so if you plan to upgrade later you will be replacing the system, something to consider.

Thanks Goldenzrule. I have heard from others that it sounds good too. I am aware you can't upgrade or reconfigure. I just like what it is for the price as it would present as a good middle of the road option. The customer will be aware of it's limitations.

Craig

Instead of Sonarray you can do Snap's SLS knock off. Similar price point.

I installed Klipsch AW-650's at my home & my in-laws. We couldn't be any happier with them.

Sonance basically offers three levels of performance options for this specific application.

For one pair of speaker in each of several areas, the 8-ohm/70v FMS660 as mentioned previously is a good choice. These are essentially our best-selling Mariner 62 with an internal high quality multi-tap transformer. The transformer also has an 8-ohm bypass setting in case you just want to use a few speakers’. Also as previously suggested, the Crown CDi Series amps are a good choice and can be switched between 8-ohm and 70v output, depending on your final product count.

If you want to develop a continuous sweep of sound around the yard and budget is somewhat of an issue, you might want to consider SONARRAY. SONARRAY is supplied with 8 SATS (30 ohms each) and 1 SUB (8-ohm) and has an overall 8-ohm rating. The recommended placement of the SATs is 8-10 feet apart with an alternating left/right arrangement. The SUB should be placed after the first 4 SATS so it’s located in the middle. The existing single-run of 16/4 home run will work fine for this system. One system will cover about 2000 square feet. As mentioned, the SONARRAY system is not expandable; however, if you could pull a second 16/4, you could specify a second SONARRY system to cover up to 4000 square feet. A high quality AV receiver with 125-150 watts/channel or Crown CDi-1000 set for 8-ohm operation will produce optimum results.

For larger systems, budgets and better performance, the Sonance Landscape Series 70v systems will sound better, can generate higher SPL and are easily expandable. Again, your existing 16/4 wire run can be used with SLS if you only need a single zone. If you want an above ground system, you can also mount the SLS Satellite models using SM1 Surface Mount Brackets with an above-ground HS10 (Hard Scape) Subwoofer.

Lastly, we and our dealers have listened to many of these systems set for mono and stereo. Stereo always provides better fidelity. This is partly due to recorded sound being mixed into both the left and right channels but slightly out-of-phase due to path length difference between multiple microphones. When this stereo signal is combined into mono, the tonality of the signal will be altered due to partial cancellation of this out-of-phase information. However, mono will provide better distribution of both channels if the speakers are separated more than about 12 feet apart or the listeners will be closer to the speakers than they are separated from each other.

To help you decide which system would be best suited for this client and their budget, please contact our Canadian distributor Trends Inc. at 604-988-2966.

If you have additional questions or want to discuss further, please contact me at your convenience.

Are they any IC\IW speakers are can match the performance of the surface mount JBL's?

We need two inwalls and two inceiling 8ohm - sucks but this job already had spk wires homeran to the rack..

Craig, Just wanted to post some pictures for you of a job i completed before i left for vacation.

I use a Middle Atlantic amplifier shelf (WMS-20) and put the CDi,cleanbox and connect amp on it. Makes for a clean looking install especially when there isnt any other equipment. Disclaimer: My pictures of this shelf and setup in this closet didnt exactly go as planned. Client the morning of the job changed the location from a closet originally discussed to the utility closet without an outlet in the location i needed it. It looks like absolute crap AND not to mention the mounting of the shelf and termination of the wires was done literally blindly because the closet was so small and once the shelf was installed i couldnt get in there and above to see what i was doing and do proper wire management. Not to mention the outlet wasn't anywhere close so dont judge, again this was blindly done using the brail method ;)

6 speakers around the pool, 1 facing into the "football area" client has since called and would like the speaker facing back towards thepool (as i suggested) and will be adding 6 more speakers to evenly cover the "football" area

wifi is done using a single Pico for ubiquiti which covers 98% of the backyard

CDi ch1 is set to 8ohm to drive the two Madison fielding speakers and ch2 is set to 70v for the FMS660's. client has since had a landscaper in to plant grasses around the fms 660's and adjust the gravel so it looks "proper" the planter speakers also got the flower treatment. I havent been back to see but will tkae pictures when we add the additional speakers this fall.

The speakers around the pool are further then i would have liked but provide an even coverage of sound which was acceptable. the main focus for the client was the hot tub and the area where the chairs are located for sun bathing. Obviously this is a modern yard and pool with the landscaping so it was hard to hide the speakers. Most of my other outdoor installations are much more hidden ;)

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Shelf mounted to concrete foundation in extemly small utility closet:
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Is that the job you rented the trencher for?

What is the best way to adapt the stereo output of the Connect to mono for the Crown?

Yup! well, it was practice for my really large outdoor job that i start on friday. It worked really really well!


Use A.R.T. cleanbox then sum ch1 & ch2 IN on the CDi in the software that is built into the CDi

One method approved by Crown’s tech support is to cut the RCA ends off the cables, tie the positive left and right channels together on the input 1 plus terminal and the negative leads together on the input 1 minus terminal. Next, connect jumper wires from input 1 to input 2. Jumping the inputs together like this still allows both front panel gain pots to control the channels independently. If you use the front panel display and buttons to configure the amp for mono, then you give-up independent channel volume adjustability. Depending on system variables, this may or may not be an important consideration. For example, if you wanted to run mono and put the SATs on channel 1 and the SUBs on channel 2 and balance their outputs accordingly, then you'd want independent channel volume. According to the Crown guys, this method is done every day in the field without any issues.

Ideally, to prevent any losses or compromises of any sort, a buffer amp should be used between the pre-amp and the unbalanced inputs on the Crown. Our resourceful friends at Radio Design Labs make a nice mono-summing buffer amp called the TX-MX2R. It runs on a plus and minus 24v power supply, part number PS-24AS. With this product in the signal chain, each pre-amp channel never sees the other channel as a load. Keep in mind you can get different opinions on this subject from different people; some line-level pre-amps would not have an issue, but others' may.

What does everyone think of the Crown XLS Drivecore series as a cheaper, (less features I know), alternative to the CDi?

Craig

XLS does not have 70V or a full DSP. This pretty much rules them out for most systems. They could be a good match for some systems I suppose.

Yes I was thinking for the Sonaray. I read one review though that mentioned a high noise floor. Not something I want but i was curious to hear if that is the truth or maybe a defective unit.

Threepedal..... I forgot to mention thanks very much for posting the outdoor instal pictures. Nice job. We've all had those zero clearance braille installs.

Craig