Summer's here so we're back on the deck. We are trying to figure out how to get music out there. The iMac with iTunes is at the far end of the house. The Bell wireless modem is over there too, in the basement, in the farthest corner from the deck. We have Apple TV at the deck end of the house and regularly use it to stream music wirelessly from our iTunes playlists on the iMac, but the wired sound system inside the living room is too far from the outside deck. Our home network seems to reach the deck, barely. We have an Airport Express that we use in hotel rooms travelling. All we need I think are wireless speakers. What's a good way to put all this together?

Get some half-decent powered speakers and plug them into your Airport Express outside. Done.

Move the wireless router to a more central location, preferably not in the basement.

Just plug in some decent powered speakers into the express...it really is just that easy.

Get some half-decent powered speakers and plug them into your Airport Express outside. Done.

Just plug in some decent powered speakers into the express...it really is just that easy.

Assuming the Express can get a decent signal......... :rolleyes:

Summer's here so we're back on the deck. We are trying to figure out how to get music out there. The iMac with iTunes is at the far end of the house. The Bell wireless modem is over there too, in the basement, in the farthest corner from the deck. We have Apple TV at the deck end of the house and regularly use it to stream music wirelessly from our iTunes playlists on the iMac, but the wired sound system inside the living room is too far from the outside deck. Our home network seems to reach the deck, barely. We have an Airport Express that we use in hotel rooms travelling. All we need I think are wireless speakers. What's a good way to put all this together?

i have used this when I go up to friends' cottages
Jawbone JAMBOX Wireless Speaker | Hi-Fi Audio, Speakerphone & more (http://jawbone.com/speakers/jambox/overview)
there are to versions - small and large
they work very well.

Stream music from your iPhone to a Bluetooth outdoor speaker such as this one:

Acoustic Research AR Indoor/Outdoor Bluetooth Wireless Speaker | Wireless & Bluetooth Speakers | Ratings & Reviews | TheSource.ca (http://bit.ly/JzudL5)

There are probably ones that are more attractive out there, say ones that look like a rock or ones that are planters. You still have full access to your music either via Home Sharing or iTunes Match, and you don't have to run in every once in awhile if there are requests for a specific songs or if your party guests aren't quite digging songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Advantage: No wires (well except for AC Adapter but you could use 6 rechargeable AAs as well), no non-outdoor rated electronics outside (AE, ATV)

Disadvantage: Likely can only be paired to one device at a time.

From the thread-title, I thought you were looking for song recommendations... ;) :D

cuJqB4GTRB4

AE will work for us, along with the Remote app on iPhone and iPad, now the trick is to find a pair of speakers we can carry fairly easily between dining room and patio. Looked at the Bose C20s this evening at Future Shop: expensive, nice size, but wonder if they might be a bit thin on the patio.

Bose is first and foremost a marketing company...the only good value stuff they make is hidden away in from consumers. Its like paying Apple prices for Dell quality :)

Bose is first and foremost a marketing company...the only good value stuff they make is hidden away in from consumers. Its like paying Apple prices for Dell quality :)

While I agree about the marketing aspect of Bose for most things I have used the Portable Sound dock for many years and find the sound excellent. I am a traveling music teacher and have used it hooked up to my MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPad (with a cable extension).

I have yet to find something as portable with the sound and volume that this speaker can create.


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Bose is first and foremost a marketing company...the only good value stuff they make is hidden away in from consumers. Its like paying Apple prices for Dell quality :)

I sure have to agree to such a comment after dealing with them many years ago now with a then needed very high end and very directional needed commercial outdoor speaker setup which worked very well.

Maybe things have changed lately but I doubt it, and the lone consumer level customer is left expecting that they may get similar results - NOT!!! At least not with most of the consumer products, and I doubt that many consumers could afford some of their high end outdoor directional speaker setups.

While I agree about the marketing aspect of Bose for most things I have used the Portable Sound dock for many years and find the sound excellent. I am a traveling music teacher and have used it hooked up to my MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPad (with a cable extension).

I have yet to find something as portable with the sound and volume that this speaker can create.

Nice and thanks.

Sounds like a good Bose consumer recommendation. ;)

At the other end of the scale, and maybe not up to some of you audiophiles expectations, I recently picked up some $30.00 Phillips 2:1 speakers from our local Costco for myself (they work great for my use) and cousin, and she's thrilled with them connected to her MacBook playing all her iTunes mouldy stuff in and/or on her townhouse patio deck.

From the thread-title, I thought you were looking for song recommendations... ;) :D

cuJqB4GTRB4
Thought the exact same thing CubaMark AND the exact same song too! Scary!

Hmmm... "This video contains content from UMG. It is not available in your country".

OP Update:

I tried a pair of wireless AR speakers from The Source but we did not like the sound (to each their own) and could not control the volume without physically going to each speaker from song to song, so took them back. But this trial did demonstrate how easy it is to use Airport Express to get iTunes from iMac to speakers, and I was able to control iTunes using the Remote app on my iPhone.

But the iphone was only getting flakey wireless connection on the patio to our home wireless network. Bell came by the house and the tech and I looked over the situation. MacBook gets 5 bar reception at that end of the house, but iPhone only gets flakey 1-2 bars inside and drops entirely on the deck. We decided it would be to much of a hassle moving the modem from its present location (although they offered) so I tried a $60 Netgear Extender from Futureshop which worked very well. Very easy to configure. Plugged it into a spot halfway along the house and now get good iPad and iPhone reception everywhere including patio and even in the garage shop.

So now I just need to find the right speakers.

have you considered a boom box? i have an old sony one which works for me on my deck. supposedly the kaboom boxes offer good portable sound.

i.e something like this :

JVC RV-NB70B "Kaboom" Portable Boom Box (Black) (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/762732-REG/JVC_RVNB70B_RV_NB70B_Kaboom_Portable_Boom.html)

but the kabooms are pretty big. (but IMO bigger speakers usually equals better sound). basically any boombox with an auxiliary/line in can be hooked up to the airport express and you're good to go.

I picked up a pair of Bose C20 speakers after pouring over the forums and reviews. I've always been skeptical of the Bose claims and price tag, and I was fully prepared to carefully rebox and return them if they didn't work out. But ... Wow. Far exceeded my expectations. I was prepared to compromise for the sake of portability, but this is no compromise at all. Going to be perfect on our patio, front porch or dining room. Not only is the sound quality and volume range outstanding to my ears, I can fully control volume and playlists using the Remote app on my iPhone or iPad when streaming from iTunes on our iMac in the far end of the house while simultaneously streaming to the main wired sound system in the living room through Apple TV. Hard to believe these are "computer" speakers. They even compete with our main wired sound system. Sweet.

Pros:
Sound quality: fills our good sized open living room and dining room.
Reasonably portable, thought not built for that.
Very nice build quality and long cords. Unboxing was Apple-like.
Direct audio input through the volume control puck, or directly into the right speaker (Airport Express in our case, but computer, iPad, iPod, or mp3 player would work too).
The volume/on-off puck is very handy. Even has a headphone port.

Cons:
Cannot replace big 2.1 or 5.1 speakers for full audio experience, but way beyond any 2.0 speakers I've listened to. We won't need a subwoofer.
Needs AC power.
Not outdoor rated.
Wired: needs to be tethered with cords (speaker to speaker, and to power and audio input sources).

Thanks all, got it wrapped.

Good to hear it! (pun intended)