PDA

View Full Version : Advice re: wired mono outdoor speaker?


Chuck[_5_]
August 22nd 07, 09:39 PM
Greetings all!

My home audio system has a receiver/amplifier with output jacks for
two pairs of speakers. One pair is inside, and I ran cables to the
other two speakers which are outside. However, my backyard is like a
large "L" -- the two-outdoor speakers I have now serve only one side
of the "L" and it is kind of a drag to go around the backyard (doing
gardening, playing with the dog, etc) and having my music disappear
and reappear depending on where I go in the yard. I tried a wireless
speaker hooked up to my headphone jack to relay the sound to the part
of the yard currently without wired speakers, but this did not work
satisfactorily at all. It was a Brookstone wireless speaker, and I
was well within the suggested range, but the sound was horrible
(Brookstone was very good about taking it back).

Anyway, my new plan is this: I want to put a wired mono outdoor
speaker in the part of the yard without speakers, and run the wire
back to the headphone jack on my home system (fortunately, the
placement on my home system makes this potentially awkward arrangement
manageable).

Two questions I have are as follows:

Can anyone recommend any wired outdoor speakers that would be suitable
for this "mono/single speaker" purpose?

Also, I am not sure how the wiring would work, and any advice on this
matter is much appreciated: There would of course be a headphone jack
plug at one end, but then what I'd like to do is reduce that headphone
cable to one regular (heavy gauge) speaker wire for its run outside
and into the mono speaker [Note that when I say "one," I mean two
strands combined as one wire.] How possible is this? I presume that
if I intend to take a stereo signal from the headphone jack and run it
on one speaker wire rather than on two...if that is possible at
all...the signal will be converted to mono; that is fine for me, since
all I want is a mono-speaker for this application. Are there
particular stereo-to-mono, or "headphone-cable-to-single-speaker-wire"
adaptors or techniques I should be aware of?

I don't know if there are speakers that accept signals via a headphone-
style jack, but if there are such things, I appreciate knowing that as
well.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Chuck

ScottW
August 22nd 07, 09:59 PM
On Aug 22, 1:39 pm, Chuck > wrote:
> Greetings all!
>
> My home audio system has a receiver/amplifier with output jacks for
> two pairs of speakers. One pair is inside, and I ran cables to the
> other two speakers which are outside. However, my backyard is like a
> large "L" -- the two-outdoor speakers I have now serve only one side
> of the "L" and it is kind of a drag to go around the backyard (doing
> gardening, playing with the dog, etc) and having my music disappear
> and reappear depending on where I go in the yard. I tried a wireless
> speaker hooked up to my headphone jack to relay the sound to the part
> of the yard currently without wired speakers, but this did not work
> satisfactorily at all. It was a Brookstone wireless speaker, and I
> was well within the suggested range, but the sound was horrible
> (Brookstone was very good about taking it back).
>
> Anyway, my new plan is this: I want to put a wired mono outdoor
> speaker in the part of the yard without speakers, and run the wire
> back to the headphone jack on my home system (fortunately, the
> placement on my home system makes this potentially awkward arrangement
> manageable).
>
> Two questions I have are as follows:
>
> Can anyone recommend any wired outdoor speakers that would be suitable
> for this "mono/single speaker" purpose?
>
> Also, I am not sure how the wiring would work, and any advice on this
> matter is much appreciated: There would of course be a headphone jack
> plug at one end, but then what I'd like to do is reduce that headphone
> cable to one regular (heavy gauge) speaker wire for its run outside
> and into the mono speaker [Note that when I say "one," I mean two
> strands combined as one wire.] How possible is this? I presume that
> if I intend to take a stereo signal from the headphone jack and run it
> on one speaker wire rather than on two...if that is possible at
> all...the signal will be converted to mono; that is fine for me, since
> all I want is a mono-speaker for this application. Are there
> particular stereo-to-mono, or "headphone-cable-to-single-speaker-wire"
> adaptors or techniques I should be aware of?
>
> I don't know if there are speakers that accept signals via a headphone-
> style jack, but if there are such things, I appreciate knowing that as
> well.

Headphone jacks are often wired differently, some use a simple
resistor off the speaker jacks, others have their own little amp.
Anyway, they aren't really suitable for driving a typical 8 ohm
speaker.
You should use an active speaker instead if you really want to drive
something wired off the headphone jack. I'd look into another
wireless brand that works.

ScottW

GregS[_2_]
August 23rd 07, 03:26 PM
In article om>, Chuck > wrote:
>Greetings all!
>
>My home audio system has a receiver/amplifier with output jacks for
>two pairs of speakers. One pair is inside, and I ran cables to the
>other two speakers which are outside. However, my backyard is like a
>large "L" -- the two-outdoor speakers I have now serve only one side
>of the "L" and it is kind of a drag to go around the backyard (doing
>gardening, playing with the dog, etc) and having my music disappear
>and reappear depending on where I go in the yard. I tried a wireless
>speaker hooked up to my headphone jack to relay the sound to the part
>of the yard currently without wired speakers, but this did not work
>satisfactorily at all. It was a Brookstone wireless speaker, and I
>was well within the suggested range, but the sound was horrible
>(Brookstone was very good about taking it back).
>
>Anyway, my new plan is this: I want to put a wired mono outdoor
>speaker in the part of the yard without speakers, and run the wire
>back to the headphone jack on my home system (fortunately, the
>placement on my home system makes this potentially awkward arrangement
>manageable).
>
>Two questions I have are as follows:
>
>Can anyone recommend any wired outdoor speakers that would be suitable
>for this "mono/single speaker" purpose?
>
>Also, I am not sure how the wiring would work, and any advice on this
>matter is much appreciated: There would of course be a headphone jack
>plug at one end, but then what I'd like to do is reduce that headphone
>cable to one regular (heavy gauge) speaker wire for its run outside
>and into the mono speaker [Note that when I say "one," I mean two
>strands combined as one wire.] How possible is this? I presume that
>if I intend to take a stereo signal from the headphone jack and run it
>on one speaker wire rather than on two...if that is possible at
>all...the signal will be converted to mono; that is fine for me, since
>all I want is a mono-speaker for this application. Are there
>particular stereo-to-mono, or "headphone-cable-to-single-speaker-wire"
>adaptors or techniques I should be aware of?
>
>I don't know if there are speakers that accept signals via a headphone-
>style jack, but if there are such things, I appreciate knowing that as
>well.
>
>Thanks in advance for any advice!

Headphone outputs are usually high Z output and will not work well at all.
As far as mono, you could just use a left or a right. You should buy another
cheap amp and do it that way.

greg