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What would you do? AKA, Please help! (1 Viewer)

Howie R

Auditioning
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
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3
Real Name
Howie Reyer
I'm interested in a ton of suggestions and advice for an outdoor patio speaker system. I am looking for the following layout:

A multi-source system with multi-zone capability. I have at least 3 or 4 sources that I could connect. Two of the zones would be outside: one on the deck and one by the pool. An additional zone would be for inside (I’ll get to that in a moment).

The deck is 30ft. x 15ft. The pool is partially surrounded by an extension of the deck that begins past the side of the house (almost like an L-shaped surround). The deck measures 17ft x 15ft. The remainder of the pool that extends beyond the deck adds another 100sq ft.

I’m not looking to blast the music – no rock concerts or anything. I also don’t need the music to play past the deck (we have a yard that extends another 30ft beyond the deck).

The only place in the house that would make sense to hook up the equipment would be in the basement where most of the sources are located. This would be the additional zone that I mentioned earlier. I do not have a receiver, but I have a surround system hooked up directly to the TV (Panasonic 60” LCD) (another dilemma in which I’m wondering if a multi-channel receiver for this would be beneficial). The only way that I could run the wires would be through the wall, up to the drop ceiling, run it against the joist, to the crawl space, out under the deck and then up through the deck and up the side of the house. I have very limited access to the wall directly behind the rear of the house (e.g., kitchen bulkhead, ceramic bathroom tiles, etc.) The run from the system to the first and second deck speakers would be approx. 40 ft. and 60 ft., respectively. The run to the first and second pool speakers from the source would be approx. 70 ft. and 90 ft., respectively.

So, I’ve looked at the Niles ZR-4630 as providing for the multi-source and multi-zone capability (I figured it can’t hurt to have additional zones in case I want to expand in the future).
I’ve also looked at the Niles SI-1230 as a multi-channel amp (12 channels).
And . . . I’ve also looked at the AP650 HD Cinema Patio Speakers (140W, 8 ohms).

At this point, I have no idea if this is the right direction, too much power, too little power, wouldn’t even work, etc. I also have to consider outdoor volume controls as well as remotes, etc. to switch sources while outside. The way my house is situated I’m not quite sure if I need to run CL3 wire then immediately switch to burial cable once I’m outside (or I can continue the CL3 run by encasing it in PVC).

I’m not on a tight budget, but don’t want to spend my life savings. As you can see, I am of no help to myself. I’ve managed to successfully make myself neurotic and I am passing on my dilemma to you . . . :eek:
 

DougEW

Auditioning
Joined
May 24, 2006
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12
Real Name
Doug White
Well I'm cheap so I would just by a $100 boom box for outside!:laugh:

The Niles setup is one way to go. I'm no expert and have never done it but I believe you good pick up a nice home theater receiver that could be used for your tv in the basement. I believe all the major brands make units that are dual zone, meaning they could be playing a movie on your tv and also be playing the radio for another room/outside. If you don't need this I believe most at least have an a/b selector meaning you can have more then one pair of speakers hooked up to it, but it can only run one pair at a time. Either way you could run the speaker wire to the outside and into a speaker selector box. You could then use the selector box to either power the speakers on the deck or at the pool. These can range from $50 to $400+ depending on what features you need. Sounds like in your case you could get by with a cheaper one. Now if you are wanting to run both sets of speakers outside at the same time then I'm not sure a selector will allow this. Some of the more expensive ones might.

As for the remote, get one with RF capabilities such as the Home Theater Master MX-800 and that should work for controling your equipment downstairs. I've never used one with RF capabilities so I'm not positive it will reach that far.


Doug
 

Howie R

Auditioning
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
3
Real Name
Howie Reyer
In fact, I'm looking to have more than one zone playing at the same time so that, for example, one could listen to relaxing music by the pool while listening to dance music on the deck.
 

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