Amanda was busy enjoying the weather outside as many people do this time of year. She had just finished her landscaping and thought “I should have a nice summer BBQ with a bunch of people to break in the new outdoor space.” A couple of trips to Costco later, she had everything she thought she needed for a great party. Then it occurred to her, “how am I going to play music in the backyard?”
We get this type of question a lot this time of year and have a few different solutions to meet those needs.
If you already have an Audio/Video Receiver (AVR) in your Home Theater in Los Angeles, then more than likely you have a Zone 2 feature that you can take advantage of. Many AVRs made by Onkyo, Denon and Sony have this features which allows you to send a separate audio source to a diferent location. Many of the AVRs with the Zone 2 feature are even amplified, so all you need to do is connect a pair of speakers to them. Then you can play your ipod playlist in the backyard while someone else is watching a DVD in your Home Theater.
Apple has a wireless protocol they call “Airplay,” and is built into just about all of their products. Airplay allows you to wirelessly stream audio from the computer that you have iTunes on to a variety of different locations. An Airplay compatible amplified speaker like the Russound AirGo can give you Playlist glory in any part of your home within Wifi range of your Home Network. Using an Apple Airport Express attached to any kind of separate amplifier can get your iTunes crankin’ on as many speakers as the amplifier can power.
If you are not an Apple fan or have not yet in invested in Apple equipment, there are wireless speakers from a variety of other manufactures that can plug in directly to any analog source you have and stream sound to a speaker in an outdoor location. Manufacturers like Audio Vox and Logitech have wireless speaker solutions with a little transmitter that sits by your Audio/Video source and sends audio via an RF frequency to your wireless speaker. Volume is then adjusted on the speaker itself to the desired level.
Our Final solution is a bit more costly, but essential for those folks that want ultimate flexibility in spreading sound throughout a home. Investing in an Audio Matrix/Amplifier will allow you to play any combination of audio sources in any combination of rooms in your home. Want DirecTV music in your backyard, Ipod Music in the Kitchen, Pandora in the Master Bedroom and Sirius XM in the Study? No problem! Want to send one audio sources to 8 or more pairs of speakers in the home? Volume and source manipulation can be done on a variety of interfaces varying from a Universal Remote to an iPad.
For Amanda, we went with the Zone 2 solution as she had an AVR already in her Home Theater in Los Angeles. We then set her up with a Universal Remote where she could control her ipod from the backyard as well as the volume on a couple of outdoor Rock speakers we blended in with her new landscaping. She was very happy with our solution and reported later on that the music in the backyard kept her guests there 2 hours longer than she anticipated!
Want to know more about these various options for getting quality sound in your Backyard this summer? Give is a call at 855-832-4775 or 310-677-6730 or find us on the web at www.technospeakco.com to find out more about how we can help.
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