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Here are some guidelines for outdoor speaker placement, this article will give you some tips, including proper speaker positioning, how speakers classify according to their function & size, a few details about installing a home theater system, a few words about how speakers placement can enhance the sound to cover larger areas and the placement of outdoor volume controls.

When you have an oversized or a particularly large outdoor area, it’s always better to add more speakers than more power. You could just boost the amplifier power so the patio speakers play loud enough to reach the poo.

Professional installers generally recommend using one pair of outdoor speakers to cover an outdoor area between 200 and 400 square feet, which means a patio or deck measuring about 20 x 20 feet should be the maximum area served by a speaker pair. It’s worthwhile using a couple of stepladders as temporary speaker supports while you judge the sound coverage to the patio, deck or pool area from different locations.

You will get more sound projection the higher you mount your speakers which will extend the listening area. Most outdoor speakers include mounting brackets that allow you to adjust the tilt of the speaker. The speakers should be angled down to project within the 12? to 15? range. Angling your speakers down will also assist with proper drainage for wet locations.

By positioning your outdoor speakers between 12? to 15? of the listening area, you provide quality sound for the listeners at comfortable volume levels — without the need for huge amounts of amplifier power.

Rectangular speaker boxes are best positioned near walls to maximise their bass output. Otherwise, outdoor speakers have a tendency to sound like they have no bottom end because bass frequencies will dissipate quickly when there are no walls to reflect the sound off.

The greatest thing about in-wall/ in-ceiling speakers is they fuse with the decor, mastering the aesthetics of the room. However, the sound quality and efficiency is lower than that of normal speakers, because of the wall, which doesn’t have the acoustics of the usual speaker-cabinet.

The walls reflect the sound waves. When we listen to music inside, we hear a mix of direct and reflected sounds. Some frequencies are reinforced, some are suppressed. Thus, the original sound is altered. In this conditions, attention is required towards the following aspects:

• Distance to the side and back wall: place the speakers as far from the walls as possible, but not less than 1-2 feet; this helps reducing early reflections (link to glossary); the distances from the side- and back-wall must be (most preferable) unequal;
• The distance among speakers: usually, increasing the distance between speakers widens the sound-stage up to a point, when the center image is broken; the speakers should be symmetrical to one another, if possible.

When selecting outdoor speakers, be sure to choose speakers that will provide enough bass for a satisfying listening experience. Mounting your outdoor speakers close to a wall or other solid surface will increase the bass performance of your speakers

The fact is that almost all outdoor speakers use small sealed enclosures, but this severely limits bass output where you need it most—outside. First thing to do is try to put yourself or, if possible, your audience in the center of the audio area. In a stereo system, the speakers and the stereo should create a triangle with the audience placed in the center. This center should have the best possible acoustics, just like trying to recreate a complete image by overlapping two negatives of different tonalities. That’s what we call imaging. In a home theater system, imaging is the tridimensional efect of the sound.

Front speakers, left and right, are the main stereo speakers in the system. Floor-standing, bookshelf, and satellite/subwoofer speakers can be successfully used as main speakers in a home theater system.

The center channel speaker is crucial in the home theater system, because it reproduces almost 50% of the soundtrack information. The center channel must perfectly syncronize with the main speakers, as it also reproduces most of the voices and dialogues.

The surround speakers create the depth of sound by reproducing atmospheric and ambient sounds. They will be placed in the background of the audio field. The powered subwoofer is able to reproduce deep bass frequencies and is usually placed to a side.

Outdoor Speaker Wire Placement
Most speakers don’t include wires. The reason is that you buy the exact amount of wire you need for your home needs. On the other hand, choosing the right type of wire is often confusing.

First, it is important how thick the wire is. Thicker wires are better conductors, thus more efficient. On the other hand, thicker wire is more expensive. The wires are identified by their AWG number (American Wire Gauge), or just “gauge”. The smaller the number, the thicker the wire. For speakers, most users recommend wire gauges ranging from 12 to 16. Anything thinner than 16 gauge is not recommended for home audio.

For wiring runs longer than 40 feet, use 12-gauge speaker cable if you want to avoid losses from resistance. You can certainly use 14-gauge cable for distances of less than 40 feet with insignificant losses. For speaker locations away from the house at a pool or patio area, you should consider using 12-gauge direct-burial cable rather than running cable along the ground.

The speaker wire carries amplified signals from the amplifier’s output to the speaker’s input, where the signals are usually routed through a crossover and out to individual drivers. In order to carry the amplified signal, speaker wire consists of two leads, typically encased and bundled in plastic insulation — one for the positive signal, and one for the negative. Sometimes, the speaker wire is marked (+) and (-) to help the user distinguish the two leads — if not, there will be other way to tell them apart.

To various surfaces, with brick homes, you will need to use a masonry drill (available at hardware stores for a few dollars) of sufficient diameter to accept a concrete anchor or plug somewhat like the drywall plugs used indoors for bracket mounting. After drilling the hole, tap the concrete anchor into the hole and use stainless-steel (non-rusting) screws shorter than the concrete anchors to affix the bracket. Use some silicone seal or Goop around the screws to prevent moisture from getting into the brick. Concrete block surfaces may require using a hammer drill that both rotates and pounds the bit to penetrate the material.

If you have aluminum or vinyl siding, you’ll need to drill through the siding (go through the narrower part at the top) to the material beneath—likely wood, plywood or studs—to anchor the wood screws. The vinyl or aluminum siding by itself isn’t strong enough to support the weight of a speaker and the bracket will sag. Seal around the screws and bracket with silicone or Goop to keep moisture out.

Be very careful with stucco walls not to crack the stucco. Use a masonry drill to go through the stucco to the material beneath, likely wood, and wood screws for that material. With some cement-board or composite siding materials, a wood drill bit and screws will usually work fine. Again, be sure and use rust-proof screws and silicone seal around the screws and bracket. Wood or log siding is the easiest of all to anchor brackets to. Just use rust-proof wood screws of an appropriate size and length.

Once you’ve determined where you are going to mount the speakers, you’ll still need to drill a hole through the wall for the speaker cable. You can locate that behind the speaker to conceal the wiring. Follow the aforementioned guidelines as to drill bits and wall materials. As to the speaker cabling, you can run that inside the walls to the exit holes you’ve just drilled through the wall surface. Leave enough extra cable outside the drill hole to form a drip loop—a U-shaped jog in the cable between the wall surface and the speaker terminals that will allow water to run down the cable and drip off the bottom of the loop, rather than flowing into the speaker terminals or running back into the hole for the speaker cable. Seal the hole in the wall with silicone or Goop.

Wireless Outdoor Speaker Placement
These are the types of speakers that are the best replacement to the battered and old wired speaker system that you have. If you believe that now is the high time to change your devices, then this is your better option. The four special features of these speakers are as follows:

1. 1. Wide transmission area

The first concern about wireless devices would be their range. How strong will the signal be? And up to what point can it go? Will the wireless range reach the front porch and the backyard? These questions have to be answered before you proceed to buy any wireless device. To have a good estimate of the speaker’s range, check its specifications. An acceptable range is usually 100 feet or more. Anything beyond that is best. Some devices can go up to 300 feet in range. The longer the range, the better it performs.

1. 2. Durable

Outdoor speakers have to be resilient. For starters, they will be exposed to the weather. Humidity and the cold weather can do damage to speakers if they are not built for the wide outdoors. Well, wireless outdoor speakers are exactly that. They can be subjected to the cold and warm weather, wet or dry seasons without any problem. However, being weatherproof doesn’t mean the same as waterproof. So don’t make the mistake of leaving these devices in the rain. That would ruin the device for sure.

1. 3. Compatibility

These speakers don’t need another wireless device or audio player for it to work. More often than not, the box containing wireless outdoor speakers contains an adaptor that would easily fit into the speaker port of any audio playing device. You just have to plug that to your existing DVD player, media player, or even a television set. And it would work seamlessly with the wireless speakers. No special installation required even.

1. 4. Rechargeable

Wireless devices need power to work. And because they don’t have wires, they would have to be supplied by power from batteries. But don’t worry about that either. You don’t have to buy cells every time you want the wireless outdoor speakers to work. These devices are fully equipped with rechargeable battery cells or solar panels so it can store the power it needs. These devices can work up to a maximum of eight hours on a single charge.

Volume Controls
Provide Volume Controls for Each Listening Area. Ideally, each listening area should be equipped with a way to adjust the volume. A volume control or keypad in each listening area will do just that. You want the people sitting at the table to be able to adjust their music to a comfortable level while allowing the swimmers in the pool to enjoy their music at their own volume level.

Individual zone volume controls are the best solution for large, single zone outdoor areas with multiple listening areas. Of course, if your outdoor area is made up of more than one zone, a combination of the two above scenarios might be appropriate. So keep in mind the importance of volume controls. It will make the difference between a good outdoor sound system and a truly great one.

When positioning speakers outside, be sure to select speakers that are rated for extreme conditions and are designed as outdoor speakers. Also, when mounting the speakers, tilt the speakers so the cones face slightly down for drainage. Experiment with placement before permanently mounting the speakers. Place the speakers in a likely location, and walk around to determine how well the sound travels throughout the listening area.

You should use a placement tips when mounting them,

• Placing the speakers near a wall: improves bass output
• Mounting the speakers higher: the sound travels farther, and the quality is better.
• Choose a drier place to place them.
• Don’t point the port upward.
• Place the speaker near the place you are to sit more often; In open air, there’s less reflection and speakers may sound weaker.
• Measure the area you want the speakers to cover, preferable before you buy them. A pair usually covers 200 to 400 sq. ft.

Now with proper speaker placement, the guests sitting at the table can enjoy music at a comfortable volume level, while everyone in the pool also gets just the right amount of sound. Everyone’s happy and the party rocks.