Outdoor speaker amplification

edbert

Alright, so my parents are in the process of creating their dream backyard. It is going to be amazing but I think it will be missing one thing... audio. If having an indoor power source is out of the question, what would you recommend as an outdoor amp/receiver. This would be under a covered patio, but still exposed to high humidity and temps from single digits to 100+.

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

mdaudioguy

There are some outdoor "weather-proof" amps, but personally, I'd make some sort of enclosure and use an old receiver.

jimmydep

+1 on using an old receiver, it should'nt be too difficult to make a semi-weather proof enclosure.

steveinaz

I buy and use inexpensive used receivers. The Yamaha out on my patio now, has been outside 24/7 for 6 years, and is still running fine! I think I paid $40 bucks for it.

Here's a video of our place, towards the end you'll see the patio rig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxFGhUq7X5M

Sherardp

I would use the Zone 2 speaker terminals of a receiver or just buy cheap receiver and hide it in the bar area/pool house or something similar. Atrium 60s are a great choice for outdoor speakers also.

madmax

So long as you have it plugged into a gfci (or whatever it is) circuit I see no problem with a receiver in a box.

mantis

It's not a good idea to have gear in extreme weather conditions especially heat. They will fail prematurely. I suggest putting the gear inside the house , in a basement or at least in a location with controlled temperature.
You can run speaker wire out to all of your outdoor speakers with Direct burial wire which can get wet and be put in the ground.
Pay attention to your connections at the outdoor speakers use silicon or a dielectric grease on the speaker binding posts.
As far as what to use , use a Niles multichannel amp and a preamp of your choice. It's good to have control RF or IP outside so you can bring a controller out like a Ipad , Iphone or a Universal RF remote.