Speaker advise

[stan780953]

This will be my second year of displaying lights and I wanted to add music this year. I’m only looking to play one song a night at a pre-planned time. I have connected a Bluetooth speaker to the Raspberry Pi running FFP using an aux cable and this works fine. I'm thinking about hiding the speaker under a bush in a carrier bag. I just need to figure out how to supply power to it so that I don’t have to keep recharging. It would be great to hear how others have built basic setups without amps etc.

 

[Skymaster]

How is it charged? Is it a custom charger, or something simple like USB?

 

[stan780953]

@Skymaster
It's using USB so was thinking about just running a separate power cable.

 

[Skymaster]

You could do that and run mains out there...... or possibly a long USB cable. Just need to watch voltage drop as it'd be drawing an amp or two and USB wire is pretty thin.
On the mains side, obviously usual power / weather precautions need to be taken.

As for other suggestions - may people run battery operated radios; and just deal with the charging side of things. Personally, I run long speaker cables back to an amp in my shed, but that amp is then controlled by home automation for the press-to-listen, so it's a bit different to most setups.

 

[stan780953]

@Skymaster Thanks for the advice. I will probably look at running the mains out but will look into the radio option also.

 

[Mark_M]

If you're wanting to buy a different pair of speakers, rock speakers are weather resistant and great to camouflage into a garden.
Here's my rock speakers, rocking around the Christmas tree .


Used boat speakers or other garden speakers off eBay can be bought for cheap.
Waterproofing a speaker is a little hard, because you don't want the sound to be muffled. A plastic garbage bag over a small speaker might be okay.

 

[Skymaster]

I used a pool chlorine bucket over my outdoor speakers. Their are designed to be under cover like a patio area.
Drilled a heap of holes in the front. Worked a treat.

 

[Johnnyboy]

Have a look at your local Buy Nothing pages, I’ve got a bunch of speakers for free. Even found a few outdoor speakers for free

 

[Notenoughlights]

Wrapped my speakers in big rubbish bags and tucked them in bushes, invisible but very functional.
They are powered by a 24v power supply that you'd use to run your lights, and the amplifier is a cheap pcb based one from Aliexpress, Bluetooth/aux in, less than $10 from memory.

 

[Kartman]

I run USB speakers with audio cable from the RPI as well. I do run a splitter to run multiple speakers. USB is 5V as are my lights, so I use the power from the lights to run the speakers. It works well except for a few little issues.

1. If the speaker cable runs are too long and too close to the data runs I get some interference in the form of a hum when the system is off, ie after the show runs before the power switches off and also in the morning while the battery runs down. I know it is an earth loop problem but haven't been able to 100% cure yet.

2. You have to make sure the USB speaker defaults to AUX in when turned on, and that it automatically turns on when power is applied, most do but have bought a few that don't and you end up running around the yard to start all the speakers every night.

This year I am experimenting with a little FM radio receiver and a small 5V amp with speakers, to hopefully get around the two problems, and if it works I will look at adding a mute controlled by the data signal so I can make it look like props only 'sing' when they are lit. It also means I can put speakers anywhere I want, ie across the road where the display is extending to and use the radio to run them and not deal with audio cable across the road, paths or driveways.

So much to do, not enough time.......

 

[optykmuse]

I use outdoor 'rock' speakers also and just run amplified audio via standard zip-cord wire from a small (10 watt i think) amplifier. The amp is manually set to an acceptable audio level that sounds good on the street but will not be heard inside the neighbor's homes. I also included a timer relay (settable time delay) in the amplifier's power circuit that is activated by a button on a LED lit pole at street-side for those on foot. The FM transmitter is always there for those in cars with radios.
My rock speakers have great sound fidelity but not sure if all of them sound as good. Of course the amp needs to have a good freq. response also.
I like the low-tech approach which does require a few more wires to be laid out, but not as likely to have problems as some of the wireless solutions might have. It's probably less expensive also.

 

[Domestos]

Here is what I use.
Speakers
Amp

Will work you out about 55 quid.

The sound is going from the Rasp Pi via a micro jack splitter to the Amp and the FM transmitter. That way the live sound and the broadcast sound is in sync.

To be honnest I was expecting the sound output to be horrible, but was pleasantly surprised at the quality and volume of this setup. If you are using 12V pixels you can use the PS driving the pixels to drive the small amp.

 

[Hoogieburner2]

Old school amplifier with 4 bookshelf speakers and a 10" subwoofer that you can hear down the block. All sourced through craigslist under 200$

 

[stan780953]

Thanks for the advice guy. I have decided to go down the route of waterproof speaker and amp from AliExpress.