Since I finally have a receiver that has dual zone ability(Pioneer VSX74) I'm going to setup the outdoor speakers I've had in my garage for over a year. These are not great speakers by any stretch, but they will server my purpose. They are actually the ones that look like rocks.

Is there specific outdoor speaker wire they any can recommend? I was just going to run the wires outside where my satellite comes in run "tuck" them along the concrete patio. How well would standard home deport lamp cord hold up outside?

I would use speaker cable that would be in-wall rated, the wire has a smooth casing that stands up well against climate changes.

What about something like that?

Home Depot Coleman cable

Wow I should have proof read that post. My spelling/grammar is VERY rough!

Thanks Skyhawk, I'll check that out at the depot.

Hi ChicagoTC,

Do a search on the partsexpress.com site for "Direct Burial Speaker Wire". They sell it in bulk.

Regards,

Direct Burial Wire

GAD! I know it must seem I have a lot of time on my hands, but I actually don't. I'm just anal retentive.

Thanks Alan, I'm guessing that HD link is just 1 pair 12 gauge wire. It's actually a bit cheaper then partsexpress and I can pick up locally.

That HD wire looks like it will do the trick.

Picked up 200' of 12/2 wire today from HD for 35$. The install wasn't as smooth. I currently have 2 cables from my dish coming into my basement from the outside. I decided to drill a 3rd hole for the speaker wire. While I was drilling I noticed what appeared to be rubber shreads coming out with the drill bit.

Turns out one of my satellite holes wasn't straight so I wound up tearing a satellite feed. Back to home depot I go for 50' of RG6 cable. At this point I decide to make the one of the satellite holes much bigger and feed the outdoor speaker wire through. After lots of work with the fish tape I was able to get all 3 through and silicone the new hole.

Another 2hrs of burying the cable along the patio and everything was good to go. All in all took about 6hrs. Now if I could get the multiroom feature to work on the Pioneer. I'm pretty sure I should be able to play a different source on the surround back speakers. In my limited testing I was only able to play the same thing as my front speakers. Any advice on getting this feature to work would be appreciated!

Well, CTC I suppose the first thing would be to try the directions on p.35 of the manual for assigning the back surround channels to multi-room. Then if you've done that, go to p.56, "Using Multi-room Controls", especially 3., which describes using the input selector dial to pick the source material going to the second room.

Johnk,

As a last resort I did read the instructions. I set the SB to MRS but still no luck. I can definitely change the source and volume for the additional room, but no sound. I think it might have something to do with the fact I had to manually "relabel" the digital inputs. I'm not sure there settings are global and apply to the alternate rooms as well.

Wild guess (I have the same A/V) - it may be that you can only use analog sources with remote zones. I seem to recall trying to verify my rear speaker wiring by temporarily setting up a zone and it would only play something analog.

-Brian

I think you're on to something. I pulled down the owners manual at work. I did notice that, but I thought it was only for zone 2. For zone 3, it says "only digital sources(the input source must already be assigned using the setup) menu are available.

It must be something with my digital inputs labeling, I'm not using any analog inputs on the AVR.