- Sep 22, 2011
- 211
Hi everyone,
I wanted to add some speakers for my backyard patio/pool area. I had a stereo receiver inside my family room and I ran a speaker wire outback to power two outdoor Bose speakers. This setup has a couple of disadvantages, mostly the volume control. I'd have to set the volume inside, and then go outside only to find it was either too low and I couldn't hear it, or blasting me out of my chair. Also, because it was the same receiver used for my home theater, you couldn't watch something inside and listen to music outside.
I started searching for outdoor speakers that were Bluetooth enabled. Surprisingly, I didn't really find anything. Mostly all such speaker systems were designed to be wireless, so you'd have to charge the speaker inside and then bring it outside. I have a enough devices in my life that need to be charged, so I didn't want to have to remember the charge the speaker before using it. Also, brining it outside every time I wanted to listen to music was sort of a PIA too. Basically, I wanted something hardwired, that would be ready and waiting when I got outside, so all I'd have to do is pickup my phone and push play.
Here's what I came up with... It's actually pretty simple. It uses a cheap 20 watt, two channel amplifier, connected to a small Bluetooth module. I put everything in a water-tight enclosure and ran a 15 amp receptacle into the box to power it all. I then connected my existing speakers and viola! A Bluetooth speaker system that is always on and ready to play music.
For the power, I tapped an existing outlet and just ran conduit down into the ground and then up into the new box. I installed the enclosure under an overhang, to keep water from hitting it directly.
Here's what I used:
Amp: $18.49 (free shipping)
http://www.amazon.com/LP-2020A-Lepa...cs&ie=UTF8&qid=1396980800&sr=1-1&keywords=amp
Enclosure box: ($16.63)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AAU5D5W/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bluetooh receiver ($18.99)
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8Z492...d=1396980964&sr=8-2&keywords=belkin+bluetooth
You also need some indoor/outdoor speakers. I went with Bose that I got from BJ's. They were ridiculously expensive (I think $169 for the pair) and don't sound that good. I'd definitely search for some $20 speakers if I had to do it again.
Here's some pictures:
Here's the amp and the outlet box inside the enclosure:
Here's everything mounted and wired up. I just used double-sided tape to attach the bluetooth reciever to the door of the enclosure box:
Here's the outlet I tapped for the A/C to the new enclosure:
Here's the conduit I ran down, into the ground, and back up into the enclsoure:
Here's the end-result:
I wanted to add some speakers for my backyard patio/pool area. I had a stereo receiver inside my family room and I ran a speaker wire outback to power two outdoor Bose speakers. This setup has a couple of disadvantages, mostly the volume control. I'd have to set the volume inside, and then go outside only to find it was either too low and I couldn't hear it, or blasting me out of my chair. Also, because it was the same receiver used for my home theater, you couldn't watch something inside and listen to music outside.
I started searching for outdoor speakers that were Bluetooth enabled. Surprisingly, I didn't really find anything. Mostly all such speaker systems were designed to be wireless, so you'd have to charge the speaker inside and then bring it outside. I have a enough devices in my life that need to be charged, so I didn't want to have to remember the charge the speaker before using it. Also, brining it outside every time I wanted to listen to music was sort of a PIA too. Basically, I wanted something hardwired, that would be ready and waiting when I got outside, so all I'd have to do is pickup my phone and push play.
Here's what I came up with... It's actually pretty simple. It uses a cheap 20 watt, two channel amplifier, connected to a small Bluetooth module. I put everything in a water-tight enclosure and ran a 15 amp receptacle into the box to power it all. I then connected my existing speakers and viola! A Bluetooth speaker system that is always on and ready to play music.
For the power, I tapped an existing outlet and just ran conduit down into the ground and then up into the new box. I installed the enclosure under an overhang, to keep water from hitting it directly.
Here's what I used:
Amp: $18.49 (free shipping)
http://www.amazon.com/LP-2020A-Lepa...cs&ie=UTF8&qid=1396980800&sr=1-1&keywords=amp
Enclosure box: ($16.63)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AAU5D5W/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bluetooh receiver ($18.99)
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8Z492...d=1396980964&sr=8-2&keywords=belkin+bluetooth
You also need some indoor/outdoor speakers. I went with Bose that I got from BJ's. They were ridiculously expensive (I think $169 for the pair) and don't sound that good. I'd definitely search for some $20 speakers if I had to do it again.
Here's some pictures:
Here's the amp and the outlet box inside the enclosure:
Here's everything mounted and wired up. I just used double-sided tape to attach the bluetooth reciever to the door of the enclosure box:
Here's the outlet I tapped for the A/C to the new enclosure:
Here's the conduit I ran down, into the ground, and back up into the enclsoure:
Here's the end-result:
