what type of wire do you use for outdoor speakers?

Getting ready to install those outdoor speakers you bought in your landscape, huh? You got everything you need, right? I am guessing that your purchased the following: Outdoor speakers, check! Amplifier, check! Burial grade speaker wire...what? You mean you bought just standard speaker wire from the store? This will never do! Sure it might work for a while, but soon the elements will deteriorate it and it will crack. Soon as it does you got a short issue that can result in a blown speaker. Or worse, a blown amplifier!

So what makes burial grade speaker wire better? Lets first look at the make up, shall we? Standard speaker cable you use in your home has either two sets of wire made of either copper or aluminum or a combination of both. Obviously 100% copper is the best conductor to use for your speakers because it transfers the signal with the least amount of resistance. And of course you need to use the recommended wire gage for your speakers, so look at the specifications of yours to determine this. Speaker wires for home or car use have a plastic coating around the inner conductor to protect them from coming into contact with each other and any other exterior metal that might cause a short. This is the most common type of speaker wire. Burial grade cable has some of the same elements as standard wire, but with added weather protection. This type of cable comes in both 2 conductor and 4 conductor versions. Conductors? Okay, speaker wire has a positive (+) wire and a negative (-) wire. This is a 2 conductor cable. A 4 conductor has two sets of positive and two sets of negative wires which allows stereo hook up of both the right and left channels. Make sense? Now back to the "exciting" stuff! Burial cable usually consists of 2 or 4 conductors of copper wire, in individual plastic coating. For example, it can be one red, one black, one green and one blue. Color doesn't really matter, it just helps you to keep them distinguished when hooking them up. These 4 color coded conductors are also encapsulated in a weather resistant outer coating, usually black, that helps protect it from moisture, heat, cold and breakage. Utilizing this type of wire for your outdoor speakers not only will get the sound were you want it but it will last for many, many years to come.

Okay, so what have we learned? We have learned that standard speaker wire and burial grade speaker wire are different when it comes to use outside your home. If you choose to use standard wire for your outdoor speakers, you run the risk of wire breakage and deterioration due to the elements. The chance that the wire will short and cause damage to your speakers and amplifier is possible. So why would you take the chance? Why would you want to have to pull them out of the ground and re-install them again? If this is what you really want to do and you like the thought of having to repeat your burial work a second time, then by all means, use standard wire! But, if you are like me, and don't like doing things twice, then do them right the first time. Don't you agree?

The Outdoor Speaker Guy

How to hook up multiple outdoor speakers to one amplifier

So you are sitting on your patio, with the sounds of your favorite tunes playing through your outdoor speakers. It sounds wonderful! You there relaxing, enjoying a cold beverage in your lazy chair. This is the life isn't it? You decide to get up and take a stroll through your garden, and then suddenly you realize that your wonderful music can no longer be heard! "What can I do?" you say to yourself. Well no worries again! The Outdoor Speaker Guy is here to help.

Okay, so you have experience with hooking up your outdoor stereo speakers. Now you want to add more speakers to your sound system, but you don't know how? In this session we will discuss the ins and outs of hooking up multiple speakers to an amplifier. So before you go trying to just hook up 3, 4, 5 or 6 speakers on to your amplifier, there are some things you need to know before you destroy that amplifier you spent hundreds of dollars on! You want to get the music to more areas of your landscape but you just can't go hooking up speakers all willy-nilly! There are some rules you need to follow.

Speakers are made to handle specific wattage's. This is the number that most people pay attention to when picking out their speakers. Now I know that when you see a pair of speakers advertised they always tell you how much wattage they can handle. And of course we all want the ones that will handle the most, cause we will be rockin' these babies till the neighbors call, right? Speaker wattage is not what we are most worried about when it comes to hooking up multiple sets or pairs of speakers. The real killer is the resistance that comes with added speakers. Most home speakers, whether they are for in your home or outdoor speakers, are rated for 8 ohms resistance. This can be found on the packaging or in the specifications for each individual model. Some other options available for outdoor speakers and car audio speakers are: 6, 4, 2 or even 0 ohm resistance. And most home amplifiers are rated for 8 ohms. Notice I said "most". You can get amplifiers that are rated for 6, 4, 2 and 0 ohms as well. You just need to know what to look for in you planning stages.

So let us try to explain resistance in terms the average homeowner can understand, shall we? Think of it like this: one speaker connected to your amplifier is like hooking your garden hose up to the faucet, the pressure from the waterline feeding your house is, let's say, 8 ohms. No matter how much you open the valve on the faucet, the pressure of the water coming out of the end of the hose can never get any faster. This is because the resistance of the hose is its diameter, or how big around the hole is through the hose. The pressure flowing through the hose allows the water to shoot out the end about four feet before it hits the ground. Now if we add speakers to the line, it is like taking that hose and doubling the inside hole diameter. Now when we have the water turned all the way up, the water coming out the end is the same size as the hose, but only shoots out about two feet before it hits the ground. Then half that when you add another speaker and double the size of that hose. And so on. The resistance goes down by half when you add another speaker, which requires your amplifier to work 2x harder to get the same amount of wattage to both speakers on that line. Add a third speaker, it works 3x harder. Add a fourth speaker, it works 4x harder. Get the idea?

To sum it all up; if you add speakers, you decrease the resistance on the amplifier causing it to have to produce the same amount of wattage, faster and harder. If your amplifier is not designed to work at these resistance levels, you will burn it out faster than say, trying to light a cigarette with a blow torch! Amplifiers are designed to work at certain resistance levels only. If they state that they are stable down to 4, 2, or 0 ohms, then they are made with different circuitry to handle higher loads. You will need to keep this in mind when you want to start adding more outdoor speakers to your garden or landscape.

Totally confused yet? Don't worry, most stereo home amplifiers have two sets of outputs labeled "A" and "B" which you can hook a second set of speakers up to and you don't need to worry about resistance issues. I know, I could have told you this at the beginning, but you would never have learned anything about resistance. I know, call be crazy, but I have a feeling you are reading this to make yourself more-smarter, right?

There are ways to keep the amplifier you have and still add more speakers without blowing it up from the resistance. It has to do with running speakers with different resistances in series or parallel to match your amplifiers, but that is for another time I think! So join me next time and I will take you on another amazing outdoor speaker journey!

The Outdoor Speaker Guy

Connecting your speakers to your amplifier: how to

You are reading this because you purchased some outdoor speakers and you need some guidance on hook up, right? Well then this is the article you have been looking for! In this session we will discuss the tips and techniques on hooking up your stereo/amplifier in your home to your outside sound systems. We will also give you some do's and don'ts along the way to make your install go that much easier.

Step one: place your stereo/amplifier in a convenient place. When I say convenient, I mean so that it can be accessed by you and your guests so that it can be easily operated. If you wish to control it with a remote then you will need to place it somewhere that it has direct line of sight to. If you don't want it messed with, then you will want to place it in a cabinet or on a shelf. Wherever you decide to place it, just make sure it has adequate space to dissipate heat. When they are in full operation they can create a lot of heat and heat build-up can destroy an amplifier in a short amount of time.

Step two: plan out your wire routing so that your wires from your outside speakers gets to your amplifier in the most direct way. What I mean by this, is that you want to keep your wire lengths as short as possible. This keeps the strain off your amplifier and prolongs its life. But I understand that if you have a big slab of concrete between your speakers and your amp, then you will be better off running the lines around rather than trying to punch a hole through the concrete. It is always best to make your wires hidden, no one wants to see stray wires just jetting out of the wall and draped across the floor. You will also need to make sure that you seal the holes you make to the exterior of your home or building with a high quality sealant. You can find these at your local home improvement center and you have many choices in grade and color, so you should be able to find what works for your application. This is a crucial step as moisture and pests can and will get into these holes no matter how small you think they are. Don't skip this step!

Step three: hook up the wires as described by your amplifiers manufacturer. Be sure to keep your polarity correct when hooking up to your outdoor speakers. Most speaker wire is marked with a stripe or color to help you keep this straight, so utilize it. You also will want to make sure that you are not putting too much load on the amplifier by putting too many sets of speakers on one line. For the most part you will be hooking up only one speaker per channel, but if you plan to do this, then you will need to read our article on hooking up multiple sets of speakers. But for now we will just concentrate on hooking up one pair. Check the ohm resistance on the speakers you have. 95% of them will be rated at 8ohms. The same applies to your amplifiers resistance capabilities, although some amps and speakers can have multiple resistance values for more flexible installations. Be sure you check your technical information that came with yours to be sure.

Step four: once you have placed your amplifier, run your wires, concealed them and sealed out the bugs and weather and after you have hooked everything up, make sure you have connected everything right. After you have done this you are ready to sit back, relax and turn up the volume of your favorite tunes relaxing out on your deck or patio!

The Outdoor Speaker Guy

What are the right outdoor speakers for me?

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. After mounting run your wires to your amplifier and hook up. Poof! Done! Just turn on the tunes and your relaxing and enjoying the music. This is a medium skill level job.

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 will need to bury cable to get the sound to these, so you will be doing a bit of digging or hiding of the wires to these speakers so plan out your route to keep it as short as possible. 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. This is a medium skill level job.

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