Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Outdoor speaker set-up questions

I need help determining how to connect a second set of speakers (outdoor) to my main set-up.

I currently have a Rotel RC1070 pre-amp and a Nad C270 amp with M60's.

I want to connect a set of outdoor speakers to this system. From what I have read here I will need to run a cable from the pre-amp to another amp outside to power the outdoor speakers. What I am tentatively planning on doing is getting a small integrated amp outdoors (it is in a covered screenhouse).

I have two questions. First, the cable run from the pre-amp to the integrated amp will be approximately 50 feet. What do you recommend for cable?

Second, do you have any suggestions for configuring this system other than what I have proposed?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hey Bob -

Sounds like you, me and Scott need to start our own forum

Is there some reason why you could not co-locate the new amp with the existing amp and then run the speaker wire out to the speakers instead of having the amp "outside"?

Likewise, as a bunch of wise-acres pointed out to me, unless you are dead-set on having the same tunes playing simultaneously in both places, it is often cheaper/easier to simply build another whole system (including source components) in the remote location.

I can't help you with the cable question. Although I have heard tell of people using coax for such things. Bren probably posted the answer some time ago; I think I was too busy drinking that night to fully appreciate it, though.

Why not get something like this and have a seperate system for the screen house.All you would need then is a inexpensive cd player.

In reply to:

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it is often cheaper/easier to simply build another whole system (including source components) in the remote location.

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This is just what I did, I have a cheapo Sherwood reciever on the back screen room connected to 4 small PolkAudio speakers, the garage has a small Onkyo connected to a pair of small Pioneer speakers....both systems works just fine. I listen to either XM Satellite radio, a Sony MiniDisc in both areas and I also have a single disc cd player connected to the patio system. I really like the versatility, and the sound for the areas is not bad at all.

Tom, actually I am deadset on having the same music playing simultaneously indoors and outdoors, if I can. I was considering a relatively small integrated amp outdoors with two speakers. As I have indicated in another post that I just posted, I think the outdoor integrated amp is necessary to have independant volume control outdoors, unless ther is some other alternative I am not aware of.

Bob, since you want independent volume control outside, the integrated amp(or even an inexpensive receiver)is the simplest way to go. As far as the 50 foot distance of the run, this is no problem for any stereo audio cables with RCA plugs. If your run is going to be near sources of interference you would want to pay more attention to the shielding and use RG59(or even thinner)coaxial cable.

Actually, if you want independent volume control at the source you can use a speaker selector such at the Russound SDB 2.1 (or higher if you have more than 2 zones)
http://www.russound.com/speaker_selectors.htm
Or you can have an independent volume control on the wall near your speakers such as TomTuttle linked in his post about multizone audio
http://www.partsexpress.com/Tech/300-542.html.

I have both and use the speaker selector to control the volume in the living room with the rest of the equipment and generally have the volume turned up to max on the speaker selector to the other 2 zones - then on the deck or in the bedroom, I control the volume with the volume control on the wall at that location.

Is there a reason why you are not considering the wonderful little T-Amp?
It has a volume control, and all you would need to do is run signal cables out there.
Heck, if the speakers you are going to use are small enough, you could just carry them, and the little T-Amp, out there whenever you want, and not have to worry about buying "outdoor" speakers.
TjB

Ok, so now I am confused, maybe. The manual for my NAD C270 amplifier indicates that it has two sets of speaker outputs "to facilitate connection of multiple pairs of speakers" and states "use the Speaker B connectors for a second pair, for example, extension speakers located in another room." The amp does not have a speaker A/B switch, so I am assuming that this means that you could power both sets of speakers simultaneously.

However, the manual also states "Make sure the speaker impedance is 4 ohms or more when connecting only one pair of speakers; make sure the speaker impedance for all speakers is over 8 ohms when connecting two sets of speakers."

Isnt the impedance issue why I can not simply run a second set of speakers directly from my NAD amp to the outdoor set, and then simply use the outdoor volume control you guys are mentioning here? That would work great for me if I can do it, but I thought from reading other posts, which I can no longer find, that simultaneously running two sets of speakers off one amp, without a second amp for the second pair, would overheat or otherwise harm the single amp.

I don't understand ohms at all. My main speakers are M60's, so what kind of outdoor speakers could I use to satsfy the 8 ohms requirement for two pairs of speakers?

Bob, on your 270 the A and B outputs are simply connected in parallel to the same amp section. When both are used the simple version is that if they're connected to speakers with the same impedance, the resulting impedance is cut in half, e.g. with two 8 ohm speakers in parallel the net result is 4 ohms. The actual formula applicable to any number of speakers or impedances(and possibly more than you ever wanted to know)is that the reciprocal of the net total impedance is equal to the sum of the reciprocals of the impedances of the individual speakers. So if you ran a 8 ohm speaker in parallel with a 4 ohm speaker the result would be 1/8 + 1/4= 3/8, and the reciprocal of 3/8 is 2.67 ohms. The caution in your manual is to not have less than a 4 ohm impedance, either from one speaker or from parallel speakers on A + B. Two sets of 8 ohm speakers in parallel would be no problem.

There are several ways to set up the outside speakers which work. Keep in mind that if you'd simply connect an inexpensive receiver to the preouts that you'd be able to also listen to separate programming outside, besides the same programming playing inside.