Speaker setup

spazmanaught

Apprentice elf
Joined
Dec 17, 2015
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61
Location
Gledswood Hills
How has everyone who has music playing setup their speakers outside and what speakers do you use? I've been looking and can't decide on a portable wireless FM speaker or a permanently wired one? I'm just wondering if theft is something that is common with this type of thing?
 

Mark_M

Annoying Elf
Joined
Dec 30, 2018
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914
Location
Christmas Light world
I've used wired ones to stereo inside, I plan on using a 12v car radio to drive these speakers in the future.
IMG_20191216_195424741.jpg

Buy small speakers to hide somewhere if you're worried about them being stolen.
I haven't had anyone find these yet in the bushes (except for kids standing on them [video by me in media]).
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
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Dec 27, 2010
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Eaglehawk
I don't have anything in the way of neighbours so I use some nice big 100W speakers driven off an old turntable/cassette/cd player that I had lying around. If you are in a residential area and are wanting it for foot traffic then a small radio can be used if you are using FM transmitter. They can be waterproofed easily with a green/black garbage bag as they are acoustically transparent so you can easily stash it out of sight under a bush or something close to the footpath. The closer you are to the footpath the more of a pinpoint source of music it will be with it being nice and loud right adjacent to it and potentially too quiet at the limits of your display.
 

djgra79

My name is Graham & I love flashing lights!
Global moderator
Generous elf
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Dec 27, 2011
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Cranbourne West
I bought a pair of outdoor speakers similar to this but from Bunnings a few years ago on clearance:
I connect just one to an old Teac hifi stereo in my garage which is tuned to my fm broadcast. Its only kept very low for walk up visitors.
 

cwguinther

New elf
Joined
Feb 10, 2020
Messages
27
Bluetooth is likely to lag. Not by much but possibly more than ocd folks can stand.
I ran a few tests and it seemed ok, I will have to wait until I get it all done. Back up is to just put a small FM radio in the post box.
 

Katekate

Senior elf
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
542
Location
Portland, Vic
bluetooth delays depend a lot on how recent the gear is, modern stuff is a lot better with it.

I remember not being able to watch videos with bluetooth headphones because of the delay.
 

abundy

Full time elf
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
107
Location
Doncaster East
@Katekate....the device I got was not bluetooth....this link was the one I found on eBay as the original link to the thingy I bought doesn't exist anymore.
Everything is hard wired.
 

bxsl

New elf
Joined
Nov 9, 2019
Messages
16
I use a 360deg speaker has much better sound then most out door speakers and good even coverage from the whole front of my block, I do also have FM. Speaker is place in my front garden near the road, this way I do not have it turned up to loud for people to hear it.speaker1.jpg
 

Mark_M

Annoying Elf
Joined
Dec 30, 2018
Messages
914
Location
Christmas Light world
I use a 360deg speaker has much better sound then most out door speakers and good even coverage from the whole front of my block, I do also have FM. Speaker is place in my front garden near the road, this way I do not have it turned up to loud for people to hear it.
View attachment 14999
I've heard that some of these garden audio systems are very directional and can have serious punch.
These particular speaker are omnidirectional but some speakers look like garden lights with decent sound projection.
 

bxsl

New elf
Joined
Nov 9, 2019
Messages
16
I've heard that some of these garden audio systems are very directional and can have serious punch.
These particular speaker are omnidirectional but some speakers look like garden lights with decent sound projection.
Yes they are good, I run an Event hire company and am very tempted to setup one of my bigger Concert PA systems one day to relay give it some punch but the wife always talks me out of it....
 

Mark_M

Annoying Elf
Joined
Dec 30, 2018
Messages
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Christmas Light world
Yes they are good, I run an Event hire company and am very tempted to setup one of my bigger Concert PA systems one day to relay give it some punch but the wife always talks me out of it....
Just go ahead... ;)
Warn the neighbours first.

The theatre I work in suffers from the speakers being too directional. Some of the audience at the front doesn't hear anything. [Venue is too small for speaker arrays].
Directional sound is good and bad.
 
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